Dr. Bob Visits The Great Pyramid of Cholula, Mexico

Transcript:

[00:00:01.06] - Dr. Bob

Hello, it's Dr. Bob. Today, we are in Chalula at the Great Pyramid. It's called the Great Pyramid because in spite of all the stories we hear about the pyramids of Giza, this pyramid is much bigger. In fact, this pyramid is twice, almost twice the size of the great pyramid in Giza. It is not as tall, but it is four times as long on each side. So it's incredible construction. It's also interesting because it's not necessarily easily recognized as a pyramid. We hear many stories about possible pyramids throughout the world, and they're covered by vegetation and soil, and so we're not really sure if they are a pyramid or not. This one, that leaves no doubt because tunnels have actually been excavated into this pyramid, and they show us that there were multiple generations of temples built on this site, and they use a form of adobe. It is a unique construction, adobe blocks, which are then piled together to create a pyramid, a stepped pyramid, as we see at other locations in Mexico. And once again, in modern day Mexico. And once again, this temple is thought to be dedicated to the God Quetzalcoatl, so a theme that is continuing through our visits to temples throughout Mexico.

[00:01:42.24] - Dr. Bob

It's also interesting that the oldest version of this temple dates between 300 to 500 BC. Most of the historians seem to congregate around the 300 BC date, and that original temple was likely built by the Olmec. And we also have a couple of Ohlmec statue here, which gives some credence to that version of the story. And then it was rebuilt, as many of the other temples we see, on about this 52-year cycle, where new versions of the temple would be built on top of it, each time enlarging its base and adding to it, not necessarily adding a whole lot to height, but increasing the height as well. So we see four, possibly six generations of this temple built over time. As I say, it was built with adobe. This area of Chalula was very important to those early peoples, the Olmecs and the Toltecs. When the Aztecs arrived, the temple had already been completed and was in use, and they revered the site. In fact, they called the site the Manmade Mountain, the made mountain, the built mountain. So, they recognized that it was a great effort on the part of the people to worship a God by building this great structure.

[00:03:07.04] - Dr. Bob

But they didn't add to it. They didn't modify it. This area was inhabited by as many as 50,000 to 60,000 people at various times. But the Aztecs weren't necessarily congregating in this area, although they did revere the site, so the population dwindled. Then when the Spanish conquistadors, led by Cortés, came into this area, the legend is that the Aztecs, because they knew that Cortés had been just destroying everything he was finding, they buried it in Earth and planted plants on it. That certainly would account for why it looks just like an Earth and natural hill. But there also is the possibility that just through the hundreds of years after it fell into disuse, and although it was revered, it wasn't necessarily maintained the Aztecs, that during that time, because it's adobe construction, you could see how the weather would take its toll and that plants would then sprout in that and further advance the disintegration of the adobe that made up the temple. So it's hard to know exactly how much was purposely concealed and how much was just the process of natural environmental conditions. In the early 1500s, when Cortés came through, of course, he occupied Chalula, but he was anxious to get on his way to Mexico City.

[00:04:40.23] - Dr. Bob

That wasn't called that then, Teotitlán. But He was excited to go there, and he was concerned about having an enemy behind him. So he went to the elders of Chalula, and he said, We need to be on our way, but first we'd like to have a celebration in your square. And so he invited all the Chalulan leaders and priests and everyone to come there, and then proceeded over the course of a couple of days to kill all of them. This really was a dramatic impact, of course, on the native peoples of this area, because while they were familiar with human sacrifice, when the temples were rededicated, this was a whole new level of violence. Women, children, leaders, priests, others that were just slaughtered over a period of a few days. It's actually known in Mexico now as the Massacre of Chalula. It's a very, very sad event, and it perhaps explains why there was some animosity going forward and why this area became so blood-soaked with this conquest. In the letters that Cortés and others wrote back to the king, they described this area as the place of 365 temples. They said it was a temple for every day.

[00:06:08.03] - Dr. Bob

And so the king then wrote back and he said, destroy them and build a church on every site. So this area was known as the place of 365 churches, although in actuality, they only built about 45, 47 churches here. Still a significant amount for a place this size, but not the 365. The most significant This, again, perhaps, is the church at the top of the hill, built on top of the temple.

[00:06:36.22] - Speaker 2

This site here, located on the side of the Great Pyramid of Chalula, is interesting. It's dedicated to the Virgin Mary of the Remedies. It's a very popular location, like the church that's at the top of the pyramid. In particular, with this, it relates to our story because the Virgin Mary of the Remedies is also known as the Little Lady of the Rains. If you remember, the God Quetzalcoatl is known as the God of the Rains. So the connection here without them necessarily realizing it, because they're the story, is that Cortés wasn't even aware that there was a temple located here, as we've discussed. So the Virgin Mary of the Remedies is also known as the Little Lady of Rains, on the side of the temple to Quetzalcoatl, the Lord of the Rains.

[00:07:32.29] - Dr. Bob

RemedyWhile there are some who claim that Cortés was not aware that there was a temple under all of this earth and plants, I'm a little skeptical because the tradition seems to be that the way to conquer the people is to conquer their religion, and you conquer their religion best by building your own church on top of their sacred temple. So it's likely to me that he did know and that he built the church on top purposely. The church today serves as a continuing impediment to being able to archeologically excavate the site because everyone is concerned that you couldn't possibly excavate it without potentially destroying the church on top. But what's interesting is in there have been several earthquakes that have tried to do the job for them. In 1999, over 80% of the church was destroyed, but it was reconstructed anyway. I I think perhaps if that happened today, there might be a little bit different approach. There were tunnels built, as I mentioned, into this structure. But unfortunately, with that same earthquake that did so much damage, it began to weaken them. They continued to have tours. But in 2016, there was another earthquake which successfully closed those tunnels due to the concerns of cave-ins and everything else, because as they excavated it, and I'll try to include some pictures here, as they excavated it, they used what's called Mayan arches rather than building structure inside.

[00:09:03.02] - Dr. Bob

But through those tunnels, they were able to identify the earliest periods of this temple and to really unveil the history of this. The specific purpose of these doors is unknown. But it's interesting because while they're sculpted into the rock to appear as a door, they, of course, do not serve any function as a door. So they were symbolic representations of doors, and there are several of them here in Chalula at the Great Pyramid. Questions remain about specifically what they signified and what they were used for, but they're very interesting to see these sites contain these doorways to an unknown destination. Once again, we have another temple to Quetzalcoatl in the largest pyramid in the world right here in Chalula, Mexico. Once again, this is Dr. Bob saying it's okay to believe. Just remember how these stories have been changed by those who came after, and that it is a continuing effort to try to reclaim the stories and understand that Satan has had an influence on people throughout the world. While Quetzalcoatl may have started out as a Christ figure. As we've seen in other places like in Teotihuacan, those stories become corrupted and actually even result in the people practicing the tradition of human sacrifice, which obviously is a corruption of of the message that Christ would have brought or would have had for these people as they filled the Earth after the great flood.

[00:10:36.29] - Dr. Bob

It's Dr. Bob saying, remember, it's okay to believe.