Many tattoos serve as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, marks of fertility, pledges of love, amulets and talismans, protection, and as punishment, like the marks of outcasts, slaves, and convicts.
Tattoos are expressive and can be inked for many reasons. These include reminding yourself of the important things in your life, honoring a loved one and your bond, or sharing your interests and passions.
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Quetzalcoatl was the Aztec’s Feathered Serpent god, controller of winds and bringer of maize. A clever shapeshifter, he used his wits to trick the Lord and Lady of Death into giving him the bones that he shaped into mankind.
Tezcatlipoca, the “Smoking Mirror,” was a powerful Aztec creator deity represented by an obsidian mirror. Frequently in conflict with his brother Quetzalcoatl, he sacrificed his foot to a sea monster to create the world from its body.
Mictlantecuhtli was the Aztec god of death, who ruled over the land of the dead with his wife Mictecacihuatl. He was tricked into giving up the bones that would become the humans of the fifth age by Quetzalcoatl.
His older brothers included Xipe Totec (god of agriculture, rebirth, and goldsmiths), Tezcatlipoca (omnipresent god of the night sky and knower of all thoughts), and Quetzalcoatl (god of the wind, giver of maize, and inventor of books and calendars). In the second story, Huitzilopochtli was born to Coatlicue, a primordial earth goddess.