Feathered Serpent

For other uses, see Feathered Serpent (disambiguation).
"Plumed Serpent" redirects here. For the D.H. Lawrence novel, see The Plumed Serpent. For the Grimm episode, see Plumed Serpent (Grimm).
Aztec era stone sculptures of feathered serpents on display at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City
Feathered Serpent heads cover the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Teotihuacan.
A Feathered Serpent from deep in the Juxtlahuaca cave. Stylistically tied to the Olmec, this red Feathered Serpent has a crest of now-faded green feathers.[1]
Annotated image of the Feathered Serpent or Plumed Serpent Sculpture from the top and bottom. It is currently on display at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

The Feathered Serpent is a prominent supernatural entity or deity, found in many Mesoamerican religions. It is still called Quetzalcoatl among the Aztecs; Kukulkan among the Yucatec Maya; and Q'uq'umatz and Tohil among the K'iche' Maya.

The double symbolism used by the Feathered Serpent is considered allegoric to the dual nature of the deity: Being feathered represents its divine nature or ability to fly to reach the skies; being a serpent represents its human nature or ability to creep on the ground among other animals of the Earth, a dualism very common in Mesoamerican deities.[2]

  1. ^ Image "Juxtlahuaca Serpent (M Lachniet).jpg" provided courtesy of Matt Lachniet, used with permission.
  2. ^ The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Culture.