The old gods in their many shapes and sizes are as diverse as the people who worshiped them. Before the arrival of monotheism on the world stage, tribes and or other pagan kingdoms were bowing down to an entire pantheon of deities, some good, and some bad and all responsible for everything that's happening around the world. Each of these gods has a story to tell in terms of its origins, its purpose, and its relation to its worshipers.
10. Crnobog – The Slavs
Among all of the Slavic deities, none was more feared than Crnobog. Also known as Cert or Cernobog, this "dark master" was the god of night, chaos, misfortune, and winter, generating all the evils around the world. It was said that his reign of power started with the winter solstice, when night is longest, and lasts until spring when power changed hands in favor of Belobog, the god of light, goodness and summer.
These two deities were seen in contrast with each other, even though, due of their joined efforts, the world was born. During their creation, they came into conflict and the universe as we know it came into being as a direct result of their discord. How the Slavs saw this duality between good and evil, however, is quite different from how Christianity does today. Crnobog was by no means a lesser god and was worshiped by people regardless of what he brought forth. Death, chaos, and misfortune were seen as part of everyday life, like a sort of equilibrium with all the good things that were happening to them.
Most of what we know about Slavic mythology and customs come from Helmold of Bosau, who was a Saxon priest and historian in the 12th century town of Bosau, in what is now present day Germany. He was responsible for the Christianizing of the Polabian Slavs. In one of his records he mentions how, during feasts, these "pagan" people would all drink from the same cup, uttering a curse and not a prayer. This curse was intended not towards others, but towards themselves, showing that the Slavs were welcoming hardship and bad luck as the will of the divine and necessary to life.
9. Coatlicue – The Aztecs
To better understand this Mother Goddess and how she was regarded by the Aztecs, we have to first look at how these mighty people of Central America viewed the world. They believed that the Earth is currently in its 5th era (or sun). In order for these eras and, in fact, each day to come forth, the sun needed a constant source of human blood as sacrifice. This is the reason why the Aztecs were seen by the Spanish Conquistadors in the early 16th century as savage, bloodthirsty barbarians worshiping demons. Blood was sacred to the natives and they rarely killed their opponents in battle, instead opting for capturing and sacrificing them atop their high altars. This was seen as a great honor and the best way for a human to die since the ones sacrificed were able to live as kings in the afterlife.
The story of Coatlicue tells us that before the dawn of the 5th age, she was an earth goddess sweeping the shrine on top of Mount Coatepec (or Snake Mountain) when a feather fell from the sky into her apron. This led to her immaculate impregnation, and birth of the mighty Aztec god of war and the sun, Huitzilopochtli.
Hearing of this "abomination", her daughter Coyolxauhqui ("Painted with Bells" and representing the Moon) rallied her 400 brothers, the Centzon Huitznahua ("Four Hundred Huiztnaua", who represented the stars of the southern sky) in order to kill Coatlicue. Fortunately, one of her sons had a change of heart and warned her of the imminent attack. Huitzilopochtli then emerged from his mother's womb, fully grown and sword in hand, killing the attackers including Coyolxauhqui herself, portraying the victory of the Sun over the Moon and stars.
Back in 1790, Antonio León y Gama, a historian living in Mexico City made a "terrifying" discovery when he uncovered a 2.5 meter (8.4 feet) tall basalt statue, in the heart of the city. Since the capital of present day Mexico was built right on top the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan, this is no surprise, but the fact that this imposing statue is covered with snakes, human hearts, and skulls, however, was.
