Afterpants: Nether Regions pt 29 (Tlalocan)

So, the next Nether Region on the wiki-list is the "3rd Heaven" but after all this...we get it...there are levels of heaven, the deity resides in the top most level...blah blah blah.

(There is of course a parallel here in more ancient cultures, the Ancient Egyptians had a separate place for dead humans from where their gods lived)

But, in general...3rd heaven, 7th heaven etc...Fits like a pair of boxer briefs your aunty got you that are about a size and half too big.

What was more interesting to me is the entry after that which is Mictlan in general, but Tlalocan specifically.

Mictlan is the Aztec underworld. 9 levels. A curious note re: this Nether Region is that, like Yomi/Jigoku there is a JOURNEY which is dangerous and it is populated with supernatural creatures etc...BUT...unlike Buddhist concepts of "you have to go through this because you are a sinner" it accepts that all these perils are simply just the natural (supernatural) environment of the afterlife.

Like the Buddhist/Hindu afterlife, the journey is not instantaneous (for most ppl), but for the Aztecs, it seems to have taken MUCH longer...4 years in fact!

(The Mayan "Xibalba" is much the same, but the there are 2 different entries @ Wiki)

In another interesting ideal, the Aztecs had a separate Nether Region specifically for people that had drowned called Tlalocan. This was overseen by Tlaloc (the deity of Rain and Night who lives in the lowest underworld) Funny that, as rain is such a prevalent factor in South America, you'd think the idea of Tlaloc wouldn't be one where he was literally the farthest away of all the gods but I'm not judging...just an observation.

Tlalocan (as mentioned) was the lowest of all the 9 circles of the underworld.

In the Florentine Codex (written in the 16th century) It is described as a beautiful and lush place, filled with all sorts of vegetation and flowers (and for some reason, also the first level of the 13 upper worlds)

There were some "extra' denizens of Tlalocan, essentially anyone who died of "water related" deaths including ppl struck by lightning (the storm itself is the water association), people who died of diseases and curiously enough, people who were considered "malformed"

There are still ppl in Mexico that believe in, and ritually use Tlalocan as a spiritual destination.

It is apparently divided into the 4 cardinal directions and in each section is a giant cave.

In each cave are supernatural creatures/deities which govern.

Wiki says;

"In the North "are the ehecatagat, the lord of the winds, and the miquitagat, the lord of death. They are the ones that care for souls for the first year after death. Both of the lords live in great caves. ... there are two caves, one on top of the other, and ... death lives in the lowest realm."

""From the cave of the winds in the northern reaches of t[l]alocan issue the mal aires or evil winds, the feared ahmo cualli ehecat[l], the sombra de muerte or shadow of death, the miquicihual, and the miquiehecat[l], the nortes, 'the winds of death'." "The cave of the winds ... is where the lord of the winds resides with his various assistants who guard the cooking pots ["According to numerous tales, the assistants are toads who keep the pots."

(I like the idea that the servants of the deities are toads...)

"In the South "is a spring of boiling water shrouded in mist and clouds. This spring is found in the depths of a cave illuminated by the fires of the popocameh. In the depths of this boiling spring, ... lives ... a giant worm, the cuiluhuexi. The cuiluhuexi eats the earth and fashions the caverns ... Its fiery breath and boiling saliva eat away the earth as it crawls beneath the surface.'

"In the East "is the place known as apan, the waters ... . Apan is a great lake or sea in the underworld that is united in its depths with all the waters of the surface of the world. In its depths live atagat and acihuat[l], the lord and lady of the waters."

"In the West "is actually a cave inhabited only by truly dangerous women such as miquicihuauh, 'death woman,' and the ehecacihuauh, 'wind woman'." "the women from this side of the underworld ... went in search of the souls of men"

There remains an idea that women who died in childbirth (water association re: placenta) went to the Western section and men who died in battle (water association re: blood)

would go the the Eastern section.

(This is from Devart..."The gate of Mictlan")

There has been a lot written on the Mayan and Aztec religion. I'm inclined, however, to disregard a large portion of that info as over-generalization or complete untruth BECAUSE regardless of whether or not scholars believe they have decoded the glyphs, they still have no understanding of the context. The same is true for Ancient Egyptian and Sumerian religion. But...as modern ppl, we have to go with information that's currently available.

So my underwear context for Tlalocan is more like a pair of boxers you get at Goodwill. It might have a neat print on it, and it IS clean...but really? Why would you wear used underwear????

While the idea of an afterlife which is harsh by nature (without or without human interaction) AND a separate afterlife for people who drowned is interesting...over all, because of lack of context or incorrect interpretation...Afterpants awards Tlalocan 2 Hellsbriefs out of 5.