Huitzilopochtli (deity)

Symbols: Hummingbirds; hummingbird feathers; eagle; turquoise snake

Culture: Aztec

Mother: Coatlicue (in some accounts, Omecihuatl)

Father: A ball of feathers (in some accounts, Ometecuhtli)

Siblings: The Centzonhuitznahua; Coyolxauhqui; Malinalxochitl (included in some accounts are Xipe Totec, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, Coatlicue)

Huitzilopochtli was one of the most important gods of the Aztec people. He was the god of war and was linked to the sun as well. More significantly, it was he who led them from their original home in the north of Mexico to the site on the shores of Lake Texcoco where they eventually settled and built their capital, the majestic city named Tenochtitlán. In the heart of that city, the Aztecs built the Templo Mayor (translation: "Great Temple") that was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. There, they carried out the ritual blood sacrifices that were needed to sustain the god and, thus, ensure their own survival and prosperity. War captives were the people sacrificed to satisfy the war god. In his association with the sun, Huitzilopochtli was the life-giving force and the power needed to grow crops. He is also sometimes represented as an eagle.

Huitzilopochtli was named Blue Hummingbird of the Left or Hummingbird of the South. The god appeared relatively late in Aztec history, and there are few images of him. When he is depicted, he is shown with a blue-green headdress meant to symbolize a hummingbird, and the victims sacrificed to the god were painted blue before they were delivered to him.

In Mythology

Like his mother Coatlicue, Huitzilopochtli has different origin stories. In one, he is one of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the dual creators. In this account, he joins with his brother Quetzalcoatl to create time.

The other origin myth tells of the god’s birth and victory over his half-siblings. In this story, the Earth mother, Coatlicue, was sweeping the floor of a temple at the top of the mountain Coatepec ("Snake Mountain"). She picked up a ball of feathers that had fallen from the sky and placed it inside her clothing, but the feathers made her pregnant. When her children found out she was pregnant but did not know who had fathered the child, they were outraged and decided to kill her. Coatlicue found out about their plans and became fearful, but Huitzilopochtli communicated with her from her womb and reassured her that he would solve her problem. When her children came up the mountain, he emerged fully grown, wearing armor, and wielding the fearsome xiuhcoatl, a fire-serpent. He cut off the head of Coyolxauhqui, his half-sister, and then dismembered her, casting her body down the mountain. Then he killed many of his half-brothers, the Centzonhuitznahua, even though there were four hundred of them. In one version of the story, Huitzilopochtli threw his sister’s head and his brothers into the heavens, where she became the moon and they became the stars. This story is interpreted as symbolizing the daily triumph of daylight over night.

The other important myth about Huitzilopochtli indicates his status as the god dedicated to the Aztec people. In this myth, he visited the Aztecs in their original home, Aztlán. He told them that he would lead them to a new land, a place where they would find prosperity and success. The Aztecs were pleased and began a migration south. The journey took many decades. They carried with them a figure of the god, who whispered directions to the priests along the route. As they traveled, one Aztec clan after another decided to settle in a spot visited along the way. Huitzilopochtli chose the Mexica clan as the group he most favored, and he counseled it to continue the journey until he told the people where to stop. In one version of the migration story, one of the groups left behind is led by Malinalxochitl, Huitzilopochtli’s other half-sister. He accused her of being a sorceress and advised his people to abandon her and her followers. She settled in a town and married a king; the two had a son named Copil.

Farther on in the migration, the Mexica clan was attacked by the now adult Copil and his followers. The Mexicas defeated them, and Copil’s heart was cut out. Huitzilopochtli told the Mexicas that they would find a place where an eagle perched on a cactus and that this would be the site where they should settle. When they reached Lake Texcoco, they saw the prophesied eagle on an island in the lake, and it was here that they began building Tenochtitlán and the first temple to their patron god.

Origins and Cults

Over time, the Templo Mayor that had been constructed to honor Huitzilopochtli was expanded into a grander complex. Eventually, it consisted of two-step pyramid structures. The southern section symbolized Coatepec, the mountain where Huitzilopochtli was born, and this structure was dedicated to him. The northern pyramid was dedicated to the rain god Tlaloc. The two temples might signify the division of the year into the rainy, agricultural season and the dry season, a time that was suitable for war. Both temples were decorated with snakes, and a sculpted rock at the base of Huitzilopochtli’s temple portrayed the scattered body parts of his sister Coyolxauhqui. It was, in fact, the discovery of this stone by workers in 1978 that led to the excavation of the Templo Mayor. Both pyramids soared about ninety feet above the surrounding landscape, and both had shrines at the top with statues dedicated to their gods. Huitzilopochtli’s pyramid also had a large slab that was used to stage the ritual sacrifices he required. Priests cut out the hearts of the victims and then tumbled their bodies down the long staircase at the front of the temple. The bodies fell onto the rock representing Coyolxauhqui, recalling the myth in which she was tossed to the foot of the mountain.

The god’s festival came in the month of Panquetzaliztli, which means "banner raising" and came in December. In the festival, a model of the god was made of dough and amaranth seeds, and it was dressed in finery and then paraded around the city amidst banners held high. The effigy was brought to the temple, where it was housed for a time. Sacrifices were made, an action that effectively reenacted the god’s birth. The festival came in December, which has the day with the shortest period of daylight in the year. This ritual was intended, perhaps, to reinvigorate the god so that his life-giving light would return and ensure the growth of the next season’s crops.

Bibliography

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