Teaching Choral Concepts

Review

Everywhere they went in the New World, missionaries, trappers, colonizers and conquistadores encountered strange stories of a bearded, white visitor who came in ancient times--long before Columbus--and brought a higher civilizaiton with him. So remarkable was this visitor and his advanced civilization that natives built huge monuments and great structures in his honor, and many worshipped him as a God. His symbol, the feathered serpent, appeared in ceremonies, paintings, carvings and architecture which can still be seen at various sites throughout the Americas.

When the stranger departed, he left the people with a promise that he would eventually return to rule, bringing with him a golden age. That promise later helped the Spanish to conquer the magnificent native cities of Mexico and Peru with only a handful of men.

Fair Gods and Feathered Serpents reviews intriguing legends and archaeological evidence from myriad American cultures to discover the identity of this mysterious fair god, called by various tribes and cultures Quetzalcoatl, Kukulcan, Wiracocha, Votan, Ioskeha, Paye-tome, Bochica, Wixepecocha and many more. Was he a Viking, a Welshman, an Irish Monk, Celtic, Oriental, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Phoenician, Israelite, or Christian? Or is there some other answer to the mystery?

Clues come from early Spanish and native records, archaeological findings, and interviews with lead authorities on the subject. Startling new discoveries that have recently come to light are included. The views of both "isolationists," who claim that no foreigners came to the Americas, and "diffusionists," who claim that many foreign groups came, are aired.

Carefully researched and documented, but written for the layman as well as the scholar, this exciting book will lead readers along the fascinating path of discovery, insight and deduction as it attempts to solve the most baffling riddle ever produced by the ancient Americans--the identity of its mysterious bearded white visitor.

Table of Contents

Contents, 7

List of Illustrations, 12

Introduction, 13
Acknowledgments, 15
How This Book Was Written, 16

Part 1--A Mystery Discovered

1. Fair Gods and Fallen Empires, 19
Columbus Discovers a Mystery, 19
How to Host a Returning God, 20
Daily Blood Baths, 22
Coincidence Favors Cortez, 24
Spanish Gratitude, 26
Pizarro and the Peruvian Prophecy, 27
Legend Topples Two Great Civilizations, 28

2. A Lingering Legend, 31
Ancient America Rediscovered, 33
Documents Preserve Ancient Legends, 34
Manuscripts, Myths, and Mysteries, 36
The Legend Spreads, 38
The Enduring Legend, 40

Part 2--Fair Gods in Fair Places

3. Mystery Men in Mexico, 43
Quetzalcoatl--Legend in His Own Time and Beyond, 44
A Super Hero, 45
The Golden Age is Tarnished, 48
The Serpent Sails Away, 49
A Bearded Visitor in Yucatan, 50
The Dark Side of Kukulcan, 51
An Unlikely Metaphor, 53
Prophesied Return, 55
Gukumatz of the Maya, 56
And Still Another Feathered Serpent, 57

4. The Serpent Sheds an Ancient Skin, 59
Ancestors in Ships, 60
Ancient Secrets, 62
Stones Leave Few Fingerprints, 63
It's Raining Chacs and Gods, 63
A Stranger Called Itzamná, 64
And Yet Another Stranger Called Votan, 65
Kings Who Would Be Gods, 66
The Many Faces of a God, 66
Masks of the Gods, 68
An Archaeological Oversight, 69
An Impatient Royal Son, 72
Gods Leave Few Footprints, 73
A Familiar Figure, 73
Where Men Became Gods, 75
Bearded Men in Oaxaca, 78
Adios to Mexican Heroes, 79

5. Bearded Visitors in South America, 81
A Visitor to Columbia, 83
More Visitors on the Continent, 84
Colonizers From the Western Sea, 86
A Congregation of Gods, 88
City in the Clouds, 89
Still Earlier Symbols, 92
Gods on Loan, 93
A God of Gods, 95

6. Fair Gods in North America, 98
Early Legends Ignored, 98
Strange Legend Survives, 99
Tales from the East Coast, 99
West Coast Legends, 103
Stories of the Southwest, 104
Fair Gods in Numbers, 105
Evidence for Higher Civilization, 107
Great Mound Builders, 108
Symbols of a Fair God, 110
The Hero Departs, 111

Part 3--The Theories: Searching for Bearded Visitors

7. Culture Heroes and Colonies, 113
Northern Immigrants, 113
Wonder Leads to Wander, 115
Visitors From Across the Atlantic, 115
Vikings to North America,117
A Viking Culture Hero, 119
Other Viking Candidates, 121
Norse and Natives, 123
Vikings Inland?, 125
Vanishing Vikings, 126

8. Fair-skinned Natives and the Welsh, 127
Familiar Stories, 128
Welsh up the Mississippi, 130
Another Side of the Coin, 132
Conflicting Reports, 134
Contact From the Past, But Whose?, 136
The Remarkable John Evans, 138
Some Thorny Questions, 141

9. Middle Ages Contacts from East and West, 144
Prospects from Old Ireland, 145
Celtic Intrusion, 148
Root Cellars or Shrines, 150
Celtic Culture Heroes, 151
The Celtic Genius, 153
Prospects from the Pacific, 154
Oriental Monks in a Distant Land, 157
A Closed Door--Well, Almost, 160

10. Visiting Seamen from the Mediterranean, 163
Sunken Dreams, 164
Roaming Romans, 165
Roman Roads Across the Americas, 167
Classical Candidates, 169
Outdistanced By Earlier Seamen, 170
Visitors Lost and Found, 171
Feathered Pharaohs, 174
Dawn Comes Later in America, 177
Cleopatra Down the Amazon?, 177
Vast Influence From a Small Country, 179
Phoenician Daring, 179
Phoenicians Adrift in America?, 180
The Tyrians Meet the "Rubber People", 182
Greeks and Phoenicians, 185

11. Lost Tribes in a Promised Land, 188
Ancient Records Raise Old-Age Questions, 189
A Lasting Covenant, 191
Tracer of Lost Tribes, 193
Identifying Israel, 195
Ancient Tribes in a New Land, 196
Mounting Similarities, 197
Seemingly Solid Evidence, 199
The Controversy Continues, 204
Ancient Manuscript Emerges, 206

12. Christ Before Columbus, 209
A Lonely Scribe, 209
Claim of Claims, 210
The Resurrected Lord, 212
Fair Gods in Far Lands, 213
Christians and Natives on Common Ground, 216
Christian Doctrines and Native Traditions, 218
Trials and Perfection of a God, 220
Death and Rebirth, 222
The Light With a Promise, 224
Searching for a Symbol, 226
More Than a Tree, 227
Biblical Symbols, 228
A Time of Times, 230
Something to Consider, 230
Tangible Testaments, 232

Part 4--Unravelling the Mystery

13. The Universal Nature of Culture Heroes, 235
Familiar Tales on Foreign Soil, 236
Heroes Across the Sea, 237
Wings and Things, 238
Nature of the Myth, 239
A Bottomless Pot, 241
Heroes Looking for a Myth, 242
Myths Looking for a Hero, 244
Scholars Looking for Answers, 245
Historic Haze, 246
Gestation of the Gods, 247
Birth of Culture Heroes, 248
A Hero Named Tammuz, 249
Absorbing Mythology, 251
The Evolution of God, 252
Traits of a Culture Hero, 252

14. Through the Loom, 255
A Different Breed, 256
New-World Heroes in Old-World Dress, 256
The Nature of Heroes, 258
Heroes on High, 259
Quetzalcoatl--Close Up, 261
An Old Friend--Almost, 264
Bearded Visitors, 265
Oceans of Hazards, 267

15. The Final Fabric, 270
Of Bearded Visitors and Culture Heroes, 271
A Reconsideration, 274
Some Demanding Questions, 275
Distorted Legends, 279
Off the Loom, 282

Endnotes, 284
1. Fair Gods and Fallen Empires, 284
2. A Lingering Legend, 284
3. Mystery Men in Mexico, 284
4. The Serpent Sheds an Ancient Skin, 285
5. Bearded Visitors to South America, 285
6. Fair Gods in North America, 286
7. Culture Heroes and Colonies, 286
8. Fair-skinned Natives and the Welsh, 287
9. Early Contacts from East and West, 287
10. Visiting Seamen from the Mediterranean, 287
11. Lost Tribes in a Promised Land, 288
12. Christ Before Columbus, 288
13. The Universal Nature of Culture Heroes, 289
14. Through the Loom, 290
15. The Final Fabric, 290

Works Cited, 291

Index, 296

Order Information

Title:

Fair Gods and Feathered Serpents--
A Search for America's Bearded White God

Author:

Terry J. O'Brien

Retail Price:

$ 22.98

Available:

Now

ISBN:

0-88290-608-9

Order Number (SKU):

1079

Pages:

304

Size:

6" x 9"

Binding:

Hardbound with Jacket