Aztec Antichrist: A Performance of the Apocalypse

Excerpted from Aztec Antichrist by Ben Leeming. © 2022 by the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies. Published by University Press of Colorado. Courtesy of University Press of Colorado.

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In 2014, at the Hispanic Society of America in New York, I examined a long-forgotten notebook written by a Nahua nobleman named Fabián de Aquino sometime after 1560. [1] [1] Nahuas are speakers of Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, who migrated to what is now Central Mexico around the 13th century and developed a powerful empire. Since the Aztec Empire was brought to an end by the Spanish-Aztec War of 1519–1521, Nahuatl speakers from the colonial period onward are referred to as Nahuas. I use “Aztec” for the period before 1521 and “Nahua” for the period afterward. To my surprise, the notebook contained two religious plays that may be the earliest surviving presentations of the medieval legend of the Antichrist in the Americas. They could also very well be the earliest surviving play scripts in the Americas.

These often-shocking plays and the remarkable writings in Aquino’s notebook offer unique insights into the early encounters between Christianity and Indigenous cultures. I have written about these findings in my new book, Aztec Antichrist, and in SAPIENS in the essay “The Aztec Antichrist Chronicles Stories of Indigenous Resistance and Religious Conversion.” Within the book, I also translated the two plays, which I have given the titles Antichrist and the Final Judgment and Antichrist and the Hermit, from Nahuatl into English.

I want to live suffering for the true God so that he will have mercy on me, so that I will merit the joy of the heavens. God says in order for there to be saving of people and going to the heavens, there must be weeping, there must be sadness, there must be abandoning of sin on Earth, there must be suffering. But you say, “Let there be happiness, enjoyment, riches everywhere!” This confirms that you are not the true Christ.

The following excerpt comes from the second act of the play, in which a character called Hermit interrogates damned sinners and Aztec gods. This inquisition of Aztec deities—all of whom confess they are not gods but mere creations of the Christian God—is one of the most shocking and unique features of the play.

Huitzilopochtli

Then Hermit will say,

Tell me, you, what is your name?

[Huitzilopochtli] will say,

It is I, Huitzilopochtli. [9] [9] Huitzilopochtli was the patron deity of the Aztecs and was associated with the sun and war. He was a warrior god who led the Aztecs’ ancestors from their place of origin to the site where their capital city of Tenochtitlan was founded. Here, Huitzilopochtli represents “anger,” one of the Seven Deadly Sins. I went around deceiving the common people. They used to consider me a deity, [but] I’m only God’s creation. Because of my sins, he cast me into Mictlan where I am continually burning. The common people used to celebrate a feast in my honor when it was my feast day, et cetera. Now my heart is sad because the Christians have arrived.

I have been weeping greatly because the priests came to teach you. If only it had been just the Christians who had come, perhaps I would have been able to deceive them; perhaps I would have been able to fool them; perhaps I would have brought some others to Mictlan because of their sins. [10] [10] The author makes a distinction between “priests” and “Christians.” It seems that the latter refers to Spaniards, who were infamous for being poor representatives of the faith. The priests tried to keep Spaniards away from Indigenous Christian communities because of their negative influence. Those priests just hold me back when they go around teaching them, and as a result, there is life-changing, there is confessing, there is abandoning of sins. The hearts of those priests are exceedingly strong, and, thus, they cause [people] to abandon their sins. Even though many times I place bad, improper things within them, they don’t obey me at all. If some priest does it, then they confess and cleanse their souls, earnestly doing penance. With this God is placated so that it is impossible for me to bring them to Mictlan.

But the other Christians, the bad ones, they live devoted to sin. Even though they confess every year, they’re doing it in [a state of] sin. I am satisfied when some die in mortal sin because I bring them to Mictlan. But I am sad because my house was knocked down, my image was destroyed. [11] [11] The temple dedicated to him was destroyed. The destruction of temples in the Central Valley of Mexico happened quite early in the colonial period. I am very sad because the cross of Jesus Christ arrived. I am really afraid when a person willingly raises it up, then it is not possible for me to deceive him.

Then Hermit will say,

Alas! Please go, you wicked one! The common people have now recognized you. And furthermore tell me, what is in your hands?

[Huitzilopochtli will say,]

Know that this potion is called “anger-potion.” With it I bathe them, and I place anger inside others so that they scold each other, so that they become angry with each other, so that they kill each other, so that they devour each other, so that they will not go to God’s home. They will burn forever with me. This is my job forever.

And then Hermit will say,

Yes, indeed. If you were truly the deity, you wouldn’t want there to be devouring of people. This confirms that you are wicked! Please go!

Young Woman

Then Hermit will say,

I ask you, who are you?

Then she will say,

I am a young woman. I am Cecilia.

[Hermit will say,]

Why did you go to Mictlan?

Then she will say,

Because when I was a young woman, I would devote myself to serving God to the point where I didn’t want to live as a married woman. [12] [12] Even though she was utterly devoted to God, the young woman’s sin was refusing to get married. In the church’s teaching, this refusal threatened to lead a woman into sexual sin. Teaching on this subject was part of the church’s program targeting the sexual mores and marriage practices of Indigenous peoples. But just one time, the were-owl deceived me. I secretly grabbed this boy and laid him down on me. Even though it was not possible for him to commit adultery with me, I greatly offended God. If only I had married! Then the were-owl would not have deceived me so many times.

I confessed frequently, but this one single sin I never revealed. I never said it to the priest. I just hid it because my sins shamed me greatly. Even though I lived very penitently, because I died in sin, God cast me into Mictlan. If only I had confessed, God would have had mercy on me. But now I will never be saved; he will never have mercy on me. I will always suffer, always go around carrying that boy on my back because he slept with me, and with him, I am continually burning. It is like this also for the many others who are there.

Then Hermit will say,

So be it! Please go, you wicked one!

Healer

Then Hermit will say,

I ask you, who are you?

Then [Healer] will say, [13] [13] A healer (ticitl) is a practitioner of Indigenous medicine and curing rituals. The Spanish priests were deeply concerned about this kind of Indigenous ritual specialist, both for their supposed collaboration with the devil and for the central importance they played in the lives of the commoner class.

It is I, Antonio. I am a healer.

[Hermit will say,]

And why did you go to Mictlan?

Then [Healer] will say,

Because I really devoted myself to healing and so deceived many because of it. My job was this: I scattered shelled maize grains before people; I used to count them. And those who I hated, I treated in such a way that they would die. Even though I heard the sacred words many times, I absolutely didn’t want to confess; I absolutely didn’t want to abandon my wickedness. And now because of this God has cast me down to Mictlan. Now I will always go along carrying on my back everything with which I divined. [14] [14] This probably refers to the objects the healer used in divining rituals. Because of this I am suffering greatly, and those who I considered deities are whipping me; they’re just the were-owls I called upon when I was divining.

Then Hermit will say,

Come now! How did you divine and so deceive the common people? Please, divine it!

Then here the diviner will make his prognostication. [15] [15] Presumably, the character will perform an impromptu divination ritual. This is another shocking aspect of the plays, since such performances would have been deemed heretical and were unheard of in other colonial Nahuatl religious theater.

Then Hermit will say,

Alas, you liar! Don’t you know what God taught while you were still living on Earth?

Then he will say,

So be it! Please go, you wicked one!

[Addressing the audience:]

Moreover, O healers, don’t do this! Don’t make women drink potions. [16] [16] By potions, the author meant abortifacients. It is absolutely not good that women who are pregnant abort their children. Don’t make them drink bad potions in order to become sterilized so that you will not go to Mictlan.

Cuiloni

Then Hermit will say,

I ask you, who are you?

Then [Cuiloni] will say, [17] [17] Since early colonial times, cuiloni has been translated as “sodomite” and cuilontia as “sodomy.” Because these terms are considered deeply hurtful today and because Indigenous sexual mores differed in important ways from European one, I follow the practice of leaving them untranslated.

It is I, Gonzalo.

[Hermit will say,]

Why did you go to Mictlan?

Then [Cuiloni] will say,

Because of one single, great mortal sin. It is very frightening, let me not utter it! It is really frightening, it really shames me, it really renders me mute!

Then [Hermit] will say,

Alas! It didn’t shame you when you did it! And now afterward it shames you? By God’s command I say to you, declare it now!

Then Cuiloni will say,

Woe is me! Now you will know that I am a cuiloni. I satisfied myself greatly when they did cuiloni to me. It was I who provoked others to sleep with me. If only I hadn’t been such a coward, they would not have done cuiloni to me. God really despises that particular sin. This was the reason that long ago the flood spread over the world. Everyone was carried away by the water; they died by the water because they went around doing cuiloni. By God’s command only eight were saved in the boat. And one person, God’s beloved, was saved along with his two children. His name was Lot. [18] [18] Here the author of the play conflates two different passages from scripture: the story of Noah and the flood, and the story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Along with other passages like it, I interpret this as evidence that the play was written with little to no supervision by a Spanish priest.

Because of this you will know that God greatly despises those who go along doing cuiloni to others. If only I had desisted from my bad way of life, if only I had confessed, God would have had mercy on me. But I didn’t confess, and because of this I am suffering terribly. Those who did cuiloni to me go along whipping me. They descended to Mictlan because of me. This is my sin.

Then Hermit will say,

So be it! Please go, you wicked one!

Then he will say [to the audience],

Now spit on them, all of you! It is necessary that the cuilonimeh be [cast] into the fire. [19] [19] Cuilonimeh is the plural of cuiloni.