Fifth World

English

Alternative forms

• 5th World

Etymology

After the Fourth World.

The second sense was coined before 13 July 2002 by micropatriologist Cesidio Tallini.

Proper noun

the Fifth World

1. A world in a number of American mythologies:
   1. (Aztec mythology) Synonym of Fifth Sun (“The present and final world, which will not be recreated once the Earth is destroyed.”)
      • 1975, Tony Shearer, Beneath the Moon and Under the Sun: A Poetic Re-appraisal of the Sacred Calendar and the Prophecies of Ancient Mexico, Sun Publishing Company, page 107:

        The Aztec did not realize that all people are the Children of the Creator. They failed to conquer the Fifth World. Instead, Western man conquered the Aztec, and tried to destroy what he thought was Indian Religion.

      • 2004, Lorena Laura Stookey, Thematic Guide to World Mythology, Greenwood Press, →ISBN, page 20:

        In the Aztec tradition, the Fifth World is the last one, and after a tremendous quake destroys it, the earth is not re-created. According to the Aztecs, human sacrifice is required to prolong the age of the Fifth World or the ritual letting of blood keeps the sun in motion—it is when the sun stops that the earth begins to quake and the apocalypse occurs.

   2. (Hopi religion) The world which will succeed the destruction of the present world, which is the Túwaquachi (also known as the Fourth World).

      Synonym: Fifth Cycle

      • 2021, Gregson Schachner, Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma, Stewart B. Koyiyumptewa, Wesley Bernardini, Becoming Hopi: A History, University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, page 16:

        The Hopi people believe that the Fourth World will eventually need to be purified and renewed. They believe that if they hold onto their way of life, they will be able to use their culture to benefit life in a Fifth World.

   3. (Navajo mythology) The present world, which the Navajo travelled through four worlds to reach.
      • 1956, Robert W. Young, The Navajo Yearbook of Planning in Action‎^[1], number 5, United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, page 189:

        The Fourth World was not satisfactory so First Man led the Beings again upward to the Fifth and present world where again were found pre-existent Beings. From these, by magic, the Fifth World was won.

2. (micronationalism, obsolete) Collectively, micronations which are advanced or developed; above the Sixth World and Seventh Worlds.
   1. (micronationalism, dated, very rare, by extension) Collectively, all micronations.