Doomsday Preppers: Signs, Warnings, and Descriptions of the Apocalypse in Nahuatl and Maya Texts

Since the ascension of the resurrected Christ into heaven, Christians throughout time have been awaiting his return.  Signs preceding the Second Coming of Christ are found in the Bible and in various texts authored circulated throughout the Middle Ages and the early modern period.  Thus, it should come as no surprise that ecclesiastics tasked with the conversion of the Nahuas and Mayas carried these texts and their contents with them across the Atlantic.  This paper examines the presence and influence of European eschatological texts in Nahuatl and Maya religious texts written in colonial central Mexico and Yucatan to better understand how the Apocalypse was both conveyed to and perceived by Nahuas and Mayas.