Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

Tláloc is the god of rain in Aztec religion. He was also a deity of earthly fertility and water, worshipped as a giver of life and sustenance. This came to be due to many rituals, and sacrifices that were held in his name. He was feared, but not maliciously, for his power over hail, thunder, lightning, and even rain. He is also associated with caves, springs, and mountains, most specifically the sacred mountain where he was believed to reside. Cerro Tláloc is very important in understanding how rituals surrounding this deity played out. His followers were one of the oldest and most universal in ancient Mexico.

The Luisón is one of the seven legendary beasts of Paraguay, and is the seventh and last son of Tau and Kerana. He appeared to be a giant dog, and was said to be extremely ugly, even horrendous looking. The myth says that in a family with seven male children, the last child will become Luisón.

Propaganda from the submitter:

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

Huītzilōpōchtli is the solar and war deity of sacrifice in Aztec religion. He was also the patron god of the Aztecs and their capital city, Tenochtitlan. He wielded Xiuhcoatl, the fire serpent, as a weapon, thus also associating Huitzilopochtli with fire. One origin story for him has him as one of four sibings, children of the creator couple Tōnacātēcuhtli and Tōnacācihuātl. His mother and father instructed him and his brother Quetzalcoatl to bring order to the world. Together, Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl created fire, the first male and female humans, the Earth, and the Sun.

Boitatá is the Brazilian equivalent of the will-o'-the-wisp. The name comes from the Old Tupi language and means "fiery serpent" (mboî tatá). Its great fiery eyes leave it almost blind by day, but by night, it can see everything. According to legend, Boi-tatá was a big serpent which survived a great deluge. A "boiguaçu" (cave anaconda) left its cave after the deluge and, in the dark, went through the fields preying on the animals and corpses, eating exclusively its favourite morsel, the eyes. The collected light from the eaten eyes gave boitatá its fiery gaze. [image credit]

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

In Aztec mythology, Xochiquetzal, also called Ichpochtli , was a goddess associated with fertility, beauty, and love, serving as a protector of young mothers and a patroness of pregnancy, childbirth, and the crafts practiced by women such as weaving and embroidery. Unlike several other figures in the complex of Aztec female earth deities connected with agricultural and sexual fecundity, Xochiquetzal is always depicted as an alluring and youthful woman, richly attired and symbolically associated with vegetation and in particular flowers. By connotation, Xochiquetzal is also representative of human desire, pleasure, and excess, appearing also as patroness of artisans involved in the manufacture of luxury items.

Ulmo, also known as Ulubôz or Ullubôz, was an Ainu, one of the Aratar, and the Vala responsible for the control over the oceans of Arda. A lover of water, Ulmo was one of the Arda's chief architects and was always in a close friendship with Manwë. He always distrusted Melkor, and the Dark Lord feared the Sea almost as much as he feared Varda because the sea cannot be tamed. Ulmo had no dwelling in Valinor or any permanent dwelling on land, as he preferred the deeps of the seas and the rivers. Ulmo seldom came to the Councils of Máhanaxar, and only when in great need. He preferred to stay in Arda, not by walking on the land, as his form would fill man or Elf with great dread.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

In Aztec religion, Coyolxāuhqui ("Painted with Bells") is a daughter of the goddess Cōātlīcue ("Serpent Skirt"). She was the leader of her brothers, the Centzon Huitznahua ("Four Hundred Huitznahua"). She led her brothers in an attack against their mother, Cōātlīcue, when they learned she was pregnant, convinced she dishonored them all. The attack is thwarted by Coyolxāuhqui's other brother, Huitzilopochtli, the national deity of the Mexicas.

Jaci (of Ya-cy or Ia-cy, from the Tupi, "mother of the animals"), in Brazilian mythology, is the moon goddess, protector of the animals, lovers, reproduction, plants, night, moonlight, offerings and maidens. She avoided wars as she is goddess who prefers to observe before saying something. According to tradition, Guaraci, the sun god once got tired of his eternal job and had to sleep. When he closed his eyes the world fell into darkness. To brighten the darkness while sleeping, Tupã created Jaci, the moon, to illuminate the night and bring softness and charm to the world.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

In Aztec mythology, Xolotl was a god of fire and lightning. He was commonly depicted as a dog-headed man and was a soul-guide for the dead. He was also god of twins, monsters, death, misfortune, sickness, and deformities. Xolotl is the canine brother and twin of Quetzalcoatl, the pair being sons of the virgin Chimalma. He is the dark personification of Venus, the evening star, and was associated with heavenly fire. The axolotl is named after him. Xolotl was the sinister god of monstrosities who wears the spirally-twisted wind jewel and the ear ornaments of Quetzalcoatl. His job was to protect the sun from the dangers of the underworld.

In Tolkien's books, Melkor is the most powerful of the Valar, but he turns to darkness and is renamed Morgoth, the primary antagonist of Arda. All evil in the world of Middle-earth ultimately stems from him. One of the Maiar of Aulë betrays his kind and becomes Morgoth's principal lieutenant and successor, Sauron. Melkor has been interpreted as analogous to Satan, once the greatest of all God's angels, Lucifer, but fallen through pride; he rebels against his creator. Morgoth has been likened, too, to John Milton's fallen angel in Paradise Lost, again a Satan-figure. Tolkien used the Norse god Odin to create aspects of several characters, the wizard Gandalf getting some of his good characteristics, while Morgoth gets his destructiveness, malevolence, and deceit.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

Cihuacōātl was one of a number of motherhood and fertility goddesses in Aztec mythology. She was sometimes known as Quilaztli. Cihuacōātl was especially associated with midwives, and with the sweat lodges where midwives practiced. She is paired with Quilaztli and was considered a protectress of the Chalmeca people and patroness of the city of Culhuacan. She helped Quetzalcoatl create the current race of humanity by grinding up bones from the previous ages, and mixing it with his blood. She is also the mother of Mixcoatl, whom she abandoned at a crossroads. Tradition says that she often returns there to weep for her lost son, only to find a sacrificial knife.

Tupã is considered to be the creator of the universe, of humanity and of the spirits of good and evil in Guarani mythology referred to as Angatupyry and Tau respectively. Tupã is more specifically considered the creator of light and his residence is the Sun. Tupã was not actually a god, but rather a manifestation of God, in the form of thunder. Tupã, according to Câmara Cascudo, is an adaptation of catechism, which also existed in concept for the Amerindians, but as the "sound of thunder" (tu-pá or tu-pã), an unknown (and thus feared) phenomenon. [image credit]

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

Tezcatlipoca or Tezcatl Ipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion. He is associated with a variety of concepts, including the night sky, hurricanes, obsidian, and conflict. Tezcatlipoca's nagual, his animal counterpart, was the jaguar. In the form of a jaguar he became the deity Tepeyollotl ("Mountainheart"). In one of the two main Aztec calendars (the Tonalpohualli), Tezcatlipoca ruled the trecena 1 Ocelotl ("1 Jaguar"); he was also patron of the days with the name Acatl ("reed"). A strong connection with the calendar as a whole is suggested by his depiction in texts such as the Codex Borgia and Codex Fejéváry-Mayer, where Tezcatlipoca is surrounded by day signs, implying a sort of mastery over them.

The Tupinambá people believed that Anhangá could take many different forms. Despite being a bigger threat to the dead, he would be seen often by the living, who could also have their bodies and souls punished. The mere memory of the suffering inflicted by Anhangá was enough to torment them. The tupinambás were said to fear this malignant spirit more than anything else. This spirit would be one of the biggest concerns when it came the time to prepare the dead for their journey to Guajupiá, the "Land Without Evils". Food offerings would be made alongside a fire to warm the body. Food was offered to sustain the dead as well as to ensure Anhangá would eat the food instead of the dead. The fire, meanwhile, had the goal of not only providing warmth, but also protection to the dead, as it would keep Anhangá away. The living would also encourage the dead who had already reached Guajupiá as to not let their fires go out.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

Quetzalcoatl (Nahuatl: "Feathered Serpent") is a deity in Aztec culture and literature. Among the Aztecs, he was related to wind, Venus, Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning. He was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood. He was one of several important gods in the Aztec pantheon, along with the gods Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli. In Mesoamerican history, many different ethnopolitical groups worshiped a feathered-serpent deity.

Araci, a Tupi-Guarani goddess, means "mother of the day". No further propaganda was submitted or could be found. [art credit]