Aztec God Quetzalcoatl
When the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl died at his own hands, burning his own body to ash, it is said his heart was all that remained. The Aztecs called him the God of the Morning Star because they believed that when he burned up, his heart rose into the sky and became the morning star.
People commonly believe that the Aztec religion stated that the god would return and Quetzalcoatl would usher in a time of peace and tranquility for the world. Evidence of this prophecy has never been found in Aztec writing. Every piece of writing found on the subject has been written in post Hispanic tongue. There is little to no evidence that the belief of the great feather dragon like god would return... ever.
Mexican history
As a matter of fact, the first recorded writing of the god’s return are in Spanish writing by Cortes himself assuming that the Aztecs had mistaken him and his party for their gods. Cortes also reports to the King and Queen of Spain of the Aztecs ignorance and naïveness towards the Spanish Conquistadors.
The real rumor that Cortes was considered a god by the Aztecs started a full half century after, in a paper called "Florentine Codex." This codex suggests that the ruler of the Aztecs, Moctezuma II was taken by Cortes as a god from the very first meeting. The Aztec king offered words of peace such as, "You have graciously come on earth, you have graciously approached your water, your high place of Mexico, you have come down to your mat, your throne, which I have briefly kept for you, I who used to keep it for you."
Perhaps Cortes should have realized, being a world traveler, that not all civilizations have words for certain things and speak in a very friendly manner to honored visitors and members of their own tribes. The famous Hispanic saying, mi casa, es su casa, comes to mind almost instantly. But, there is no real proof that the Aztecs saw Cortes and his men as gods from a single sentence upon their first meeting. The Aztec King said, "You have graciously arrived, you have known pain, you have known weariness, now come on earth, take your rest, enter into your palace, rest your limbs; may our lords come on earth."
If you read that last sentence carefully, you'll see that the Aztec King says that have suffered pain... no god suffers pain or needs to rest their wary limbs. Gods have no pain and never need to rest. The Aztecs may have been gullible, but they weren't completely dumb. By the time the Aztecs had put together that the Spanish were there for gold and for domination, there was little the Aztecs could do about it.
There has never been proof that the Aztecs took the Cortes landing party as gods; not until 50 years later when this rumor really started to take grip around the known world. Cortes was surely dead by then and so was never able to cash in on his new found divinity.
