Editing Mictlān (section)

==Relationship to Nahuatl creation mythology==
[[File:Codex Borgia page 52.jpg|thumb|350px|Mictlampa, the Northern hemisphere of Mictlan according to the [[Codex Borgia]].]]
The nine regions of Mictlán (also known as Chiconauhmictlán) in [[Mexica mythology|Aztec mythology]] take shape within the Nahua worldview of space and time as parts of a universe composed of living forces. According to [[Mexica]] mythology, in the beginning, there were two primordial gods, [[Ometeotl|Omecíhuatl]] and Ometecuhtli, whose children became the creator gods. The names of these creator gods were [[Xipe Totec|Xipetótec]], [[Tezcatlipoca]], [[Quetzalcóatl]], and [[Huitzilopochtli]], and they inherited the art of creation from their parents. From the preexisting matter, after 600 years of inactivity, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcóatl organized the vertical and horizontal universes, where the horizontal universe was composed of cardinal or hemispheric directions and the vertical universe was composed of two parts, a higher and a lower. The higher part was supported by four gigantic trees, growing in each corner of the [[Tlalocan|Tlalocán]] (the central part of the universe). Such imagery is also found in the idea of a [[world tree]], such as [[Yggdrasil]] in Norse mythology, Jian Mu in Chinese mythology or the [[Ashvattha]] fig in Hindu mythology. These trees impeded the joining of the Overworld (the higher world) and the [[Underworld]] (the lower world) to Tlaltícpac (the earth). The earth was a land formed from the body of [[Cipactli]], the crocodilomorphic sea monster, and was a solid, living land that generated food for humankind. Cipactli was [[mother nature]], from whom was created the surface and soil that was Tlaltícpac.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hall |first1=Linda B. |title=The Cipactli Monster: Woman as Destroyer in Carlos Fuentes |journal=Southwest Review |date=1975 |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=246–255 |jstor=43471223 }}</ref>

The myth recounts the following. From Cipactli's hair sprang trees, flowers and plants, from her skin sprang plains, valleys and river sediments, from her eyes came wells, caves, and fountains, from her mouth sprang rivers, lakes and streams, from her nose came valleys, ranges and mesas, from her shoulders the saw-toothed mountain ranges, volcanoes and mountains. As they organized the universe horizontally and vertically, the four creator gods forged the pairs<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stross |first1=Brian |title=Oppositional Pairing in Mesoamerican Divinatory Day Names |journal=Anthropological Linguistics |date=1983 |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=211–273 |jstor=30027669 }}</ref> of gods who would control each area of power: the water ([[Tláloc|Tlaloc]] and [[Chalchiuhtlicue]]), the earth ([[Tlaltecuhtli]] and Tlalcíhuatl), fire ([[Xiuhtecuhtli]] and [[Xantico|Chantico]]) and the dead ([[Mictlantecuhtli]] and [[Mictecacihuatl|Mictecacíhuatl]]).