Editing Cipactli

{{Short description|First day of the Aztec calendar and mythological creature}}
[[File:Cipactli.jpg|thumb|Cipactli]]

'''Cipactli''' ({{langx|nci|Cipactli}} "crocodile" or "[[caiman]]") was the first day of the Aztec divinatory count of 13 X 20 days (the ''[[tonalpohualli]]'') and ''Cipactonal'' "Sign of Cipactli" was considered to have been the first diviner.<ref>Brundage</ref> In Aztec cosmology, the crocodile symbolized the earth floating in the primeval waters. According to one Aztec tradition, ''Teocipactli'' "Divine Crocodile" was the name of a survivor of the flood who rescued himself in a canoe and again repopulated the earth.<ref>Brundage</ref> In the Mixtec Vienna Codex ([[Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I]]), Crocodile is a day associated with dynastic beginnings.<ref>Furst</ref>

In [[Aztec mythology]], Cipactli was a primeval [[sea monster]], part [[crocodilian]], part [[fish]], and part [[Frog|toad or frog]], with indefinite gender. Always hungry, every joint on its body was adorned with an extra mouth. The deity [[Tezcatlipoca]] sacrificed a foot when he used it as bait to draw the monster nearer. He and [[Quetzalcoatl]] created the earth from its body.

Karl A. Taube has noted that among the Formative-period [[Olmecs|Olmec]] and the pre-Hispanic Maya peoples, crocodilians were identified with rain-bringing wind, probably because of the widespread belief that wind and rain clouds are "breathed" out of cave openings in the earth. A series of Olmec-style basreliefs from [[Chalcatzingo]] in the state of [[Morelos]] portrays crocodilians breathing rain clouds from their upturned mouths. Portable green stone Olmec sculptures depict crocodilians in similar positions, indicating that they are probably also breathing.<ref>Taube, Karl A. "Cipactli." In [[David Carrasco|Davíd Carrasco]] (ed). ''[https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195108156.001.0001/acref-9780195108156 The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures]''. : Oxford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|9780195188431|}}</ref>

In the Maya [[tzolk'in]], the day Cipactli corresponds to Imix. In the Mayan [[Popol Vuh]], the name of the earthquake demon, Sipakna, apparently derives from Cipactli.<ref>Christenson</ref> Sipakna is the demon Sipak of 20th century Highland Maya oral tradition. In Migian, Cipactli is Quanai.
[[File:Earth Monster (Cipactli), 15th century,37.399.jpg|thumbnail|right|''Earth Monster (Cipactli)'', 15th century, [[Brooklyn Museum]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/47976 | title=Brooklyn Museum }}</ref>]]

In other versions, Cipactli is called [[Tlaltecuhtli]], a deity referred to as the "earth monster".

==See also==
*[[Aztec calendar]]
*[[Five suns]]
*[[Leviathan]]
*[[Makara]]
*[[Tiamat]] in Mesopotamian mythology
*[[Zipacna]]
*[[Ymir]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Brundage, Burr Cartwright, ''The Fifth Sun. Aztec Gods, Aztec World''. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1979.
*Christenson, ''Popol Vuh''.
*Furst, Jill L., ''Codex Vindobonensis''.
*Taube, Karl A. "Cipactli." In [[David Carrasco|Davíd Carrasco]] (ed). ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures''. : Oxford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|9780195188431}}

[[Category:Aztec calendars]]
[[Category:Legendary creatures in Aztec mythology]]
[[Category:Chaos gods]]
[[Category:Legendary reptiles]]
[[Category:Sea monsters]]
[[Category:Mythological hybrids]]
[[Category:Fictional crocodilians]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic crocodilians]]
[[Category:Legendary fish]]
[[Category:Fictional frogs]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic frogs]]


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