In the Land of the Feathered Serpent PDF Download

Author: Richard Brusca
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781794544727
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 473

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Book Description
In the 1980s, many countries in Latin America were struggling to break free from decades of dictatorial rule by despots propped up by the U.S. government. In the Land of the Feathered Serpent is the story of a bright but naïve young marine biologist, with an outsized libido and a hypersensitive nose, who finds himself on a Homeric journey of discovery in Central America and Mexico during this period. As with Odysseus, Odel Bernini's journey takes place both in the physical terrain and in the landscape of his mind as he travels through the lowland jungles of the Petén rainforest and the 10,000-foot high sierras of Guatemala's Maya realm. Odel gets caught up with dirty politics and the CIA, is seduced by a dark siren, is nearly killed by a Cyclops, and is swept into the world of Maya mysticism. In the end, Odel finds himself transformed in unexpected ways. An adventure story and mystery, Odel's journey explores themes of truth and deception, trust and love, the dark heart and bright hope of humankind, and personal growth. The facts, places, and most characters in the story are real. Odel Bernini and his close friends are, however, purely fictional. See the Feathered Serpent website for further details www.featheredserpent.online

Author: Colin Falconer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781621250944
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
The daughter if a prophet and the child slave of Spanish adventurer Hernan Cortes, the life of the Aztec princess Malinali is one of the most enduring legends of Mexico. Her role in history divides opinion even today. Reviled by some as a traitor responsible for the destruction of the Indians, worshiped by others as a heroine and symbolic mother of the nation, hers is the most extraordinary story in the history of the Americas. The legendary Aztec civilization is here brought to life in blazing colour, as the author traces the story of the enigmatic Malinali who held for a moment the future of an entire country in her hands. Contradictory, sensuous and fiercely intelligent, Malinali became the key to Cortes conquest of Mexico. It is a story of impossible odds, unimaginable cruelty, extraordinary courage and craven betrayal. Who were the heroes and who the villains? Today the Aztecs are a distant memory. But Malinali's name lives on. This book spent four months on the best seller lists in Mexico, re-igniting debate yet again about the true heritage of a people and the very nature of western colonisation of the natural world.

Author: Paul M. Hanson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Central America
Languages : en
Pages : 138

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Author: D. Bruce Means
Publisher: Pineapple Press
ISBN: 1561646229
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Based on his more than 40 years of field research, Means, an expert on the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, reveals the biological complexity and beauty of the animals he has studied. In Australia, Means searches for the fiercey, reputed to be the worlds deadliest terrestrial snake. In Mexico, he stalks the rattlesnake that might have served as the model for the mythical plumed serpent of Mayan art. In Florida, he is chased by cottonmouth moccasins. Through his experiences, Means hopes that readers will gain a new appreciation for animals called herps, or creepy-crawly things.

Author: Neil Baldwin
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610392698
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
Meticulously pieced together from personal experiences that come with years of travel, an extensive knowledge of the historic and scholarly works, and a deep appreciation of Latin American art and culture—both ancient and modern—critically-acclaimed biographer Neil Baldwin has created a mosaic of words and images retelling the myth of the Plumed Serpent (or Quetzalcóatl) as it has evolved through the millennia. He has also created an essential guidebook for the armchair traveller and passionate tourist alike. Only a few hours by air from the United States are the mysteries and hauntingly beautiful ruins of Mexico. Among the vines intertwined in the frail latticework of crumbling palaces, spiraling geometric motifs covering vast walls that sink beneath the jungle, and nearly vertical temple steps leading hundreds of feet to a dizzying view of sky and earth, images of Quetzalcóatl abound. The fanged, bug-eyed feathered serpent thrusts his malevolent, sneering head from the pyramid at Teotihuacán; he swims in a river of rock around the temple at Xochicalco; and at Chichén Itzá, serpent and jaguar dance on a trail of stone, their embrace spawning a monstrous snake with clawed forefeet. Depicted as part man, snake, and bird, the Plumed Serpent is the earliest known creation myth from Mesoamerica, the region spanning Mexico and most of Central America. He embodies good and evil, sky and earth, feast and famine—the duality of life itself. Steep, massive temples were built in his honor at Teotihuacán, the vast city of ruins near today’s Mexico City, and at Chichén Itzá in northern Yucatán, the intricate complex that includes the famed ballcourt. Moctezuma, the ruler of the Aztecs, mistook Hernán Cortéz and the invasion of the Spanish in 1519 for the return of Quetzalcóatl. The Catholic Church with its army of Franciscan monks adapted his legend to introduce the indigenous people to Catholicism. The myth enhanced Emiliano Zapata’s stature as a latter-day Quetzalcóatl during the Mexican Revolution. Diego Rivera and the modern muralists invoked his image to include indigenous themes in their state-sponsored art. And Quetzalcóatl inspired English author D. H. Lawrence to write a new “American novel.” These and many other tales are recounted in the words and images of Neil Baldwin’s Legends of the Plumed Serpent. Whether sharing a moment of reflection among the breathtaking ruins, delving into the historic role of Quetzalcóatl during the Spanish Conquest, or tracing the themes of revolution and rebirth in the art of Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros, Neil Baldwin’s enlightening prose captures the imagination. Accompanied by numerous illustrations—many photographs taken by the author, and others painstakingly researched and gathered over the past decade—Legends of the Plumed Serpent is a true labor of love.

Author: Ernesto Novato
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781077874022
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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*Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading Gilgamesh, Hercules, Aeneas, and Lancelot are instantly recognized as mythological heroes in the West, evoking visions of Persian monsters, ghastly labors, and the founding and glorification of cities, but the name Quetzalcoatl is as mysterious as its spelling. Even those who have come across his name when learning about the history of Mesoamerica - particularly the Aztec and the god's role in the Spanish conquest of their empire - are often unaware that the Mesoamerican deity has tales that equal any of those in the repertoire of the mythological figures mentioned above, and the tale of his transmission into modern times is no less fascinating. As archaeologists quickly learned, there are numerous temples dedicated to Quetzalcoatl all across Mesoamerica. From the Aztec to the Maya, Quetzalcoatl - the Feathered Serpent - rears his beautiful head from magnificent relief carvings in temples no less grandiose than the largest pyramid in the region, that of Cholula in Mexico. Furthermore, thousands of people still gather in the great Mayan city of Chichén Itzá during the spring and autumn equinoxes to watch the shadow of the Feathered Serpent slither its way down the temple known as El Castillo. Worship of the Feathered Serpent can be traced back 2,000 years, and the Serpent's cults appear all across Mesoamerica. The Olmec, the Aztec, and both the Yucatec and K'iche Mayans all had different names for this deity, including Kukulkan, Q'uq'umatz, and Tohil, but his iconography is curiously consistent over several centuries across the region. Depending on who was worshipping him, the Feathered Serpent was a creator-god, the god of the winds, the god of the rains, or merely a near-divine ancestor whose militaristic ways won his followers land and riches before he was eventually marred by lavishness and iniquity, resulting in his demise. To some of the invading Spanish conquistadores, Quetzalcoatl was little more than another demon the "natives" had been worshipping before they were kind enough to bring God to the New World. To others, however, Quetzalcoatl was precisely evidence of the spread of Christianity reaching Mesoamerica long before the conquistadores ever arrived. Much of what modern scholars depend on to understand Quetzalcoatl, however, comes from the period of the Spanish invasion of Mesoamerica, and therefore stories of his blowing the sun across the sky have become mixed with those linking him with Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, this makes for a fascinating picture of a deity whose image has been shaped by some of the most famous civilizations in history and continues to be adopted by people today, often for more than spiritual purposes (as is evident in the adoption of Quetzalcoatl imagery in Mexico's struggle for independence). As a result, Quetzalcoatl was and remains one of the most interesting and enlightening stories ever to have come out of any civilization, and his stories offer a better understanding of the Mesoamerican world. Quetzalcoatl: The History and Legacy of the Feathered Serpent God in Mesoamerican Mythology examines the origins of the deity and his place in the pantheon of gods. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Quetzalcoatl like never before.

Author: Terry J. O'Brien
Publisher: Horizon Pub & Dist Incorporated
ISBN: 9780882906089
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Everywhere they went in the New World, missionaries, trappers, colonizers and conquistadores encountered strange stories of bearded, white visitor who came in ancient times-long before Columbus-and brought a higher civilization with him. So remarkable was this visitor and his advanced civilization that natives built huge monuments and great structures in his honor, and many worshiped him as a God. His symbol, the feathered serpent, appeared in ceremonies, paintings, carvings and architecture which can still be seen at various site throughout the Americas. Carefully researched and documented but writeen for the layman as well as the scholar, this exciting book will lead readers along the fascinating path of discovery, insight and deduction as it attempts to slove the most baffling riddle ever produced by the ancient Americas-the identity of its mysterious beareded white visitor.

Author: Virginia M. Fields
Publisher: Scala Arts Publishers Incorporated
ISBN: 9781857597417
Category : Indian art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Published on the occasion of an exhibition held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Apr. 1-July 1, 2012 and at the Dallas Museum of Art, July 29-Nov. 25, 2012.

Author: David Bowles
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
ISBN: 1941026737
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The stories in Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky trace the history of the world from its beginnings in the dreams of the dual god, Ometeotl, to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and the fall of the great city Tenochtitlan. In the course of that history we learn about the Creator Twins—Feathered Serpent and Dark Heart of Sky—and how they built the world on a leviathan's back; of the shape-shifting nahualli; and the aluxes, elfish beings known to help out the occasional wanderer. And finally, we read Aztec tales about the arrival of the blonde strangers from across the sea, the strangers who seek to upend the rule of Motecuhzoma and destroy the very stories we are reading. David Bowles stitches together the fragmented mythology of pre-Colombian Mexico into an exciting, unified narrative in the tradition of William Buck's Ramayana, Robert Fagles's Iliad, and Neil Gaiman's Norse Myths. Readers of Norse and Greek mythologies will delight in this rich retelling of stories less explored. Legends and myths captured David Bowles's imagination as a young Latino reader; he was fascinated with epics like the Iliad and the Odyssey. Despite growing up on the United States/Mexico border, he had never read a single Aztec or Mayan myth until he was in college. This experience inspired him to reconnect with that forgotten past. Several of his previous books have incorporated themes from ancient Mexican myths.

Author: Junius Podrug
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429949511
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
December 21, 2012: The fabled Feathered Serpent begins his relentless ascent out of the bowels of the earth, escaping thousands of years of torturous confinement. Controversial astrobiologist and archaeologist Caden Montez—who believes Teotihuacan is the best site on earth to find alien life forms, such as the Serpent—is on his trail. While exploring this so-called "City of the Gods"—a place so eerie it terrified even the most ferocious Aztecs—she discovers that the Serpent has broken free. Ancient Mayan priests prophesied that when the God-King returned, he would open the gates to the End Time. Together with an ancient 1000-year-old Mayan warrior—who has crossed the Gulf of Time to save humanity from extinction—the outrageous and beautiful Caden must stop him. Scientists, political leaders, and journalists who have long ridiculed Caden's theories have no one else to turn to. The Mayans' Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse is on the move, and humanity's survival hangs in the balance. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.