In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli, (IPA: [witsiloˈpotʃtɬi] ("Hummingbird of the South", "He of the South", "Hummingbird on the Left (South)", or "Left-Handed Humming Bird" – huitzilin is the Nahuatl word for hummingbird), was a god of war and a sun god and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. He was also the national god of the Mexicas of Tenochtitlan.
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Genealogy
His mother was Coatlicue, his father a ball of feathers (or, alternatively, Mixcoatl). His sister was Malinalxochitl, a beautiful sorceress, who was also his rival. His messenger or impersonator was Paynal. The legend of Huitzilopochtli is recorded in the Mexicayotl Chronicle. His sister, Coyolxauhqui, tried to kill their mother because she became pregnant in a shameful way (by a ball of feathers). Her offspring, Huitzilopochtli, sprang from her womb and killed his sister Coyolxauhqui, along with many of his 400 brothers and sisters. He then tossed his sister's head into the sky, where it became the moon, so that his mother would be comforted in seeing her daughter in the sky every night.
History and myth
Huitzilopochtli was a tribal god, and a legendary wizard of the Aztecs, and originally was of little importance to the Nahuas, but after the rise of the Aztecs, Tlacaelel reformed their religion and put Huitzilopochtli at the same level as Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, and Tezcatlipoca, making him a solar god. So he replaced Nanahuatzin, the solar god from the Nahua legend, with Huitzilopochtli. Huitzilopochtli was said to be in a constant struggle with the darkness, and required nourishment in the form of sacrifices to ensure the sun would survive the cycle of 52 years that was the basis of most Mesoamerican myths. While popular accounts claim it was necessary to have a daily sacrifice, sacrifices were only done in festive days. There were 18 especially holy festive days, and only one of them was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. The Nahuas believed the world would end like the other previous four creations. Every fifty-two years, they feared the world would end. Under Tlacaelel, Aztecs believed that they could give strength to Huitzilopochtli with human blood and thereby postpone the end of the world, at least for another fifty-two years. The Great Temple of Tenochtitlan was dedicated to Huitzlilopochtli and Tlaloc because they were considered equals in power. Sixteenth-century Dominican Friar Diego Durán wrote, "These two gods were always meant to be together, since they were considered companions of equal power." (Diego Durán, Book of Gods and Rites) The Templo Mayor actually consisted of a pyramidal platform on top of which were twin temples. The left one was Huitzilopochtli's and the right one was Tlaloc's. According to Miguel León-Portilla, in this new vision from Tlacaelel, the warriors that died in battle and women who died in childbirth would go to serve Huitzilopochtli in his palace (in the south, or left). From a description in the Florentine Codex, Huitzilopochtli was so bright that the warrior souls had to use their shields to protect their eyes. They could only see the god through the arrow holes in their shields, so it was the bravest warrior who could see him best. From time to time, those warriors could return to earth as butterflies or hummingbirds.
The myth of the origin of Tenochtitlan
There are several legends and myths of Huitzilopochtli. According the Aubin Codex, the Aztecs originally came from a place called Aztlan. They lived under the ruling of a powerful elite called the "Azteca Chicomoztoca". Huitzilopochtli ordered them to abandon Aztlan to find a new home. He also ordered them to never call themselves Aztec , instead they should be called "Mexica". Huitzilopochtli guided them through a long journey. For a time Huitzilopochtli left them in the charge of his sister Malinalxochitl, who according to legend founded Malinalco, but the Aztecs resented her ruling and called back Huitzilopochtli. He put his sister to sleep and ordered the Aztecs to leave the place. When she woke up and realized she was alone, she became angry and desired revenge. She gave birth to a son called Copil. When he grew up he confronted Huitzilpochtli, who had to kill him. Huitzilopchtli then took his heart and threw it in the middle of Lake Texcoco. Many years later, Huitzilopchtli ordered the Aztecs to search for the Copil heart and build their city over it. The sign would be an eagle perched on a cactus, eating a precious serpent. The Aztecs finally found the eagle, who bowed to them, and they built a temple in the place, which became Tenochtitlan. There are different versions of this encounter, but generally the eagle is told to have been eating a snake. This image is seen on the flag of Mexico.
Iconography & Art
In art and iconography, Huitzilopochtli was represented as a hummingbird (or with just the feathers of such on his head and left leg), a black face, and holding a snake and a mirror. In the great temple his statue was decorated with cloths and feathers, gold and jewels, and was hidden behind a curtain to give it more reverence and veneration. According to legend, the statue was supposed to be destroyed by the soldier Gil González de Benavides, but it was rescued by a man called Tlatolatl. The statue appeared some years later, during an investigation by Bishop Zummáraga during the 1530s, only to be lost again. There is speculation that the statue still exists in a cave somewhere in the Anahuac valley.
Calendar
Father Duran gave us the description of the festivities for Huitzilopochtli. Panquetzaliztli (7 December to 26 December) was the Aztec month dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. People decorated their homes and trees with paper flags; there were a ritual races, processions, dances, songs, prayers and finally human sacrifices. This was one of the more important Aztec festivals, for which the people prepared for the whole month. People fasted, or ate very little; a statue of the god was made with amaranth (huautli) seeds and honey, and at the end of the month, it was cut into small pieces so everybody could eat a little piece of the god. Because of its similarities to the Catholic mass, after the conquest the amaranth cultives were outlawed, while some of the festivities were subsumed into the Christmas celebration. According to the Ramirez Codex, in Tenochtitlan circa sixty prisoners were sacrificed at the festivities. Sacrifices were reported to be made in other Aztec cities, including Tlatelolco, Xochimilco and Texcoco, but the number is unknown, and no archeological findings currently available confirm this. For the reconsecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, dedicated to Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed about 80,400 prisoners over the course of four days. While accepted by some scholars, this claim also has been considered Aztec propaganda, since it involves 14 sacrifices per minute for 24 hours during the four-day consecration, all done personally by the Tlatoani with a stone knife.
