War of Angels and the Fall: The legends of the Old World which underlie Genesis, and were used by Milton in the "Paradise Lost," appear in the Mexican legends of a war of angels in heaven, and the fall of Zou-tem-que (Soutem, Satan—Arabic, Shatana?) and the other rebellious spirits.
Both Jews and Mexicans worshipped toward the east.
The ancient Mexicans had a myth of Xolotl, making out of a man's bone the primeval mother in the heavenly Paradise; and he called the woman he had made Cihuacouhatl, which means "The woman with the serpent," or Quilatzli, which means "The woman of our flesh."
She was the mother of twins and is represented in a Mexican hieroglyph as speaking with the serpent, whilst behind her stand the twins, whose different characters are represented by different colors, one of whom is represented slaying the other.
That the Mexicans had other traditions, now lost, touching this matter is probable, for they had a form of baptism for children in which they prayed that those baptized might be washed from "the original sin committed before the founding of the world." And this had to do, in all probability, with a legend akin to that of the Iroquois, who told of the primeval mother falling and then of the earth being built up to receive her when precipitated out of heaven.
Torquemada admits the existence of this tradition among them, and agrees with the Indian historians, who affirm that this was the first woman in the world, who bore children, and from whom all mankind are descended." ("Mexican Antiquities," vol.
("Mexican Antiquities," vol.
The legends of the Old World which underlie Genesis, and were used by Milton in the "Paradise Lost," appear in the Mexican legends of a war of angels in heaven, and the fall of Zou-tem-que (Soutem, Satan--Arabic, Shatana?) and the other rebellious spirits.
"They scattered its builders to all parts of the earth," says the Mexican legend.
Both the Jews and Mexicans worshipped toward the east.
As David leaped and danced before the ark of the Lord, so did the Mexican monarchs before their idols.
"They scattered its builders to all parts of the earth," says the Mexican legend.