[Aztlan] 1491 and Quetazlcoatl redux

[martha noyes]

Aloha  all

To a like matter, the identification of a European explorer with a deity prophesied to return, Marshall Sahlins's "How Natives Think" (University of Chicago Press) makes a fair argument that yes, there was recognition of a prophecy fulfilled, but no, not in the way Europeans understood/understand it.  Sahlins's point is that deities, at least major deities, have more than one form or appearance, and that just as a priest or chief "stands for" a deity at certain times, so, too may an outsider/foreigner, just as an animal, celestial phenomenon, or a geographical element does.  This "standing for" a deity is sometimes, maybe often, restricted to a specific circumstance - a ritual period or function - after which circumstance the stand-in is again a mortal.

Some cultures are quite comfortable with a "both/and" view.  

my two cents
Martha