Here, one needs to recall the legend of how this fire god was born from the serpent goddess Coatlicue. The Spaniards recorded the deity’s name as Huichilobos. During their discovery and conquest of the Aztec Empire, they wrote that human sacrifice was common in worship ceremonies. These took place frequently throughout the region. When performed, typically multiple victims were sacrificed per day at any one of the numerous temples. There continues to be disagreement about the full significance of Huītzilōpōchtli’s name. Generally it is agreed that there are two elements, huītzilin “hummingbird” and ōpōchtli “left hand side.” The name is often translated as “Left-Handed Hummingbird” or “Hummingbird of the South” on the basis that Aztec cosmology associated the south with the left hand side of the zodiac, this concept will be made clear in the following text where we reveal a great mystery in the vision of the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel and the throne of God.
Frances Karttunen points out that in Classical Nahuatl, compounds are usually head final, implying that a more accurate translation may be “the left (or south) side of the hummingbird”. The hummingbird was spiritually important in Aztec culture. Diego Durán describes what appears to be the hummingbird hibernating in a tree, somewhat like the common poorwill does. He writes, “It appears to be dead, but at the advent of spring, the little bird is reborn.” There are a handful of origin mythologies describing the deity’s beginnings. One story tells of the cosmic creation and Huitzilopochtli’s role in it. According to this legend, he was the smallest son of four — his parents being the creator couple of the Ōmeteōtl (Tōnacātēcuhtli and Tōnacācihuātl) while his brothers were Quetzalcōātl (“Precious Serpent” or “Quetzal-Feathered Serpent”), Xīpe Tōtec (“Our Lord Flayed”), and Tezcatlipōca (“Smoking Mirror”).
His mother and father instructed him and Quetzalcoatl to bring order to the world.
Together, Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl created fire, the first male and female humans, the Earth, and the Sun. Another origin story tells of a fierce goddess, Coatlicue, being impregnated as she was sweeping by a ball of feathers on Mount Coatepec (“Serpent Hill”; near Tula, Hidalgo). Her other children, who were already fully grown, were the four hundred male Centzonuitznaua and the female deity Coyolxauhqui. These children, angered by the manner by which their mother became impregnated, conspired to kill her. Huitzilopochtli burst forth from his mother’s womb in full armour and fully grown, or in other versions of the story, he burst forth from her womb and immediately put on his armour. He attacked his older brothers and sister, defending his mother by beheading his sister and casting her body from the mountain top.
He also chased after his brothers, who fled from him and became scattered all over the sky. Huitzilopochtli is seen as the sun in mythology, while his many male siblings are perceived as the stars and his sister as the moon. In the Aztec worldview, this is the reason why the Sun is constantly chasing the Moon and stars. It is also why it was so important to provide tribute for Huitzilopochtli as sustenance for the Sun. If Huitzilopochtli did not have enough strength to battle his siblings, they would destroy their mother and thus the world. Huitzilopochtli was the patron god of the Mexica tribe. Originally, he 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. Through this, Huitzilopochtli replaced Nanahuatzin, the solar god from the Nahua legend.
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, which was the basis of many Mesoamerican myths. There were 18 especially holy festive days, and only one of them was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. This celebration day, known as Toxcatl, falls within the fifteenth month of the Mexican calendar. During the festival, captives and slaves were brought forth and slain ceremoniously. Every 52 years, the Nahuas feared the world would end as the other four creations of their legends had. 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 52 years. The story of Huitzilopochtli, known as “the hummingbird of the South”, is a mystery that needs to be understood.
As you shall see in the following text, the zodiac was divided into six equal houses between the northern and southern hemisphere. Due to this placement, his astrological sign belongs the southern hemisphere, or south of the zodiac. He is said to have three brothers making up a family of six, this is the complete six houses on the left side of the zodiac to which he belongs. These six houses began in Aries and ends in Virgo. Since he was god associated with fire, war, and sacrifice, one naturally would identify him with Aries, the supreme god of war and destruction in mythology. His “three brothers” would therefore be Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer, his parents then would be Virgo and Leo in this mythical family tree. It was here on “Snake Mountain” that his mother was impregnated by a “ball of feathers” falling into her lap, a metaphor for the womb of the goddess Venus as his mother Coatlicue.
The war against his “sister” and her 400 warriors also took place on Snake Mountain. Understanding that none of this refers to human warriors, it becomes clear that this war between his sister and the 400 are metaphors for a celestial event involving the planet Venus, a comet, and the stars of the southern constellations through which the sun god must journey before been reborn on the eastern horizon each day. This concept can be found in the myth of Apep, the great serpent and his many companions who battled the sun god Re in the underworld each night, according to Egyptian mythology. Throughout the Aztec history, this fearsome sun god Huitzilopochtli, was fed the blood and beating hearts of thousands of captured enemies in an attempt to re-enact the mythical war waged against the “400 southern stars” as told in the well-known Aztec legend.
In the Book El Calendario Mexica y la Cronografia by Rafael Tena and published by the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico, the author gives the last day of the Nahuatl month Panquetzaliztli as the date of the celebration of the rebirth of the Lord Huitzilopochtli on top of Coatepec (Snake Hill); December 9th in the Julian calendar or December 19 in the Gregorian calendar with the variant of December 18th in leap years. Ritual Sacrifice and self-bloodletting were key offerings. The Aztecs performed ritual self-sacrifice (also called auto sacrifice or blood-letting) on a daily basis. The Aztecs believed that Huitzilopochtli needed daily nourishment (tlaxcaltiliztli) in the form of human blood and hearts and that they, as “people of the sun,” were required to provide Huitzilopochtli with his sustenance.
When the Aztecs sacrificed people to Huitzilopochtli, the victim would be placed on a sacrificial stone. The priest would then cut through the abdomen with an obsidian or flint blade. The heart would be torn out still beating and held towards the sky in honor to the Sun-God. The body would then be pushed down the pyramid where the Coyolxauhqui stone could be found. The Coyolxauhqui Stone recreates the story of Coyolxauhqui, Huitzilopochtli’s sister who was dismembered at the base of a mountain, just as the sacrificial victims were. The body would be carried away and either cremated or given to the warrior responsible for the capture of the victim. He would either cut the body in pieces and send them to important people as an offering or use the pieces for ritual cannibalism. The warrior would thus ascend one step in the hierarchy of the Aztec social classes, a system that rewarded successful warriors.
During the festival of Panquetzaliztli, of which Huitzilopochtli was the patron, sacrificial victims were adorned in the manner of Huitzilopochtli’s costume and blue body paint, before their hearts would be sacrificially removed. Representations of Huitzilopochtli called teixiptla were also worshipped, the most significant being the one at the Templo Mayor which was made of dough mixed with sacrificial blood. Warriors who died in battle or as sacrifices to Huitzilopochtli were called quauhteca (“the eagle’s people”). War was an important source of both human and material tribute. Human tribute was used for sacrificial purposes because human blood was believed to be extremely important, and thus powerful. According to Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli needed blood as sustenance in order to continue to keep his sister and many brothers at bay as he chased them through the sky.
The most important and powerful structure in Tenochtitlan is the Templo Mayor. Its importance as the sacred center is reflected in the fact that it was enlarged frontally eleven times during the two hundred years of its existence. The Great Temple of Tenochtitlan was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, the rain god. 16th century Dominican Friar Diego Durán wrote, “These two gods were always meant to be together, since they were considered companions of equal power.” The Templo Mayor actually consisted of a pyramidal platform, on top of which were twin temples. The South one was Huitzilopochtli’s, and the North one was Tlaloc’s. That these two deities were on opposite sides of the Great Temple is very representative of the Aztec dichotomy that the deities represent. Tlaloc, as the rain god, represented fertility and growth, while Huitzilopochtli, as the sun god, represented war and sacrifice.
The Templo Mayor is made up of two shrines side by side, one painted with blue stripes and the other painted red. The blue shrine was to Tlaloc and represented the rainy season and the summer solstice. The red shrine was to Huitzilopochtli, painted to symbolize blood and war. Although the shrines were next to each other, Huitzilopochtli’s was toward the south side. The Coyolxauhqui stone was found directly at the base of the stairway leading up to Huitzilopochtli’s temple. On both sides of the stairway’s base were two large grinning serpent heads. The image is clear. The Templo Mayor is the image of Coatepec or Serpent Mountain where the divine battle took place. Just as Huitzilopochtli triumphed at the top of the mountain, while his sister was dismembered and fell to pieces below, so Huitzilopochtli’s temple and icon sat triumphantly at the top of the Templo Mayor while the carving of the dismembered goddess lay far below.
This drama of sacrificial dismemberment was vividly repeated in some of the offerings found around the Coyolxauhqui stone in which the decapitated skulls of young women were placed. This would suggest that there was a ritual reenactment of the myth at the dedication of the stone sometime in the latter part of the fifteenth century. Many gods in the pantheon of deities of the Aztecs were inclined to have a fondness for a particular aspect of warfare. However, Huitzilopochtli was known as the primary god of war in ancient Mexico. Since he was the patron god of the Mexica, he was credited with both the victories and defeats that the Mexica people had on the battlefield. The people had to make sacrifices to him to protect the Aztec from infinite night. 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 side of the zodiac wheel).
These House are shown below from the Biblical vision of the for creatures transporting the celestial chariot of the God of the Hebrews. The House of Taurus is ruled by the great serpent goddess Venus, this is a southern sign. Scorpio is ruled the great eagle of Mars, these are the symbols found today on the Mexica Flag, a great eagle with a serpent in its talons. Although Scorpio is most commonly represented by a scorpion, this mysterious sign actually has a few other animals associated with it — specifically, the serpent, eagle, and phoenix. The Spaniards recorded the deity’s name as Huichilobos. During their discovery and conquest of the Aztec Empire, they wrote that human sacrifice was common in worship ceremonies. These took place frequently throughout the region. When performed, typically multiple victims were sacrificed per day at any one of the numerous temples. The association of the war god Huitzilopochtli with sun is well accepted, here the color red is his main as well as the color blue.
Since we know that Venus and Krishna bears the same color, then giving this deity the color red for the sun, and blue to the rain god Tlaloc representing the rainy season and the summer solstice is of great interest. The two gods worshipped on the summit of the Templo Mayor were the Blue shrine of Tlaloc, representing the rainy season and the summer solstice. The Red shrine was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, painted to symbolize blood and war. Although the shrines were next to each other, Huitzilopochtli’s was toward the south side. Huitzilopochtli, Aztec sun and war god, one of the two principal deities of Aztec religion, often represented in art as either a hummingbird or an eagle. Huitzilopochtli’s name is a cognate of the Nahuatl words huitzilin, “hummingbird,” and opochtli, “left.” Aztecs believed that dead warriors were reincarnated as hummingbirds and considered the south to be the left side of the world; thus, his name meant the “resuscitated warrior of the south.”
His other names included Xiuhpilli (“Turquoise Prince”) and Totec (“Our Lord”). His nagual, or animal disguise, was the eagle. Huitzilopochtli’s mother, Coatlicue, is one aspect of the Aztecs’ multidimensional earth goddess; she conceived him after having kept in her bosom a ball of hummingbird feathers (i.e., the soul of a warrior) that fell from the sky. According to tradition, Huitzilopochtli was born on Coatepec Mountain, near the city of Tula. Huitzilopochtli’s brothers, the stars of the southern sky (Centzon Huitznáua, “Four Hundred Southerners”), and his sister Coyolxauhqui, a moon goddess, decided to kill him. He foiled their plot and exterminated them with his weapon, the xiuh cóatl (“turquoise snake”). Huitzilopochtli is presented as the deity who guided the long migration the Aztecs undertook from Aztlan, their traditional home, to the Valley of Mexico. During the journey his image, in the form of a hummingbird, was carried upon the shoulders of priests, and at night his voice was heard giving orders. Thus, according to Huitzilopochtli’s command, Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital, was founded in 1325 ce on a small, rocky island in the lake of the Valley of Mexico. The god’s first shrine was built on the spot where priests found an eagle poised upon a rock and devouring a snake, an image so important to Mexican culture that it is portrayed on the national flag of Mexico. Successive Aztec rulers enlarged the shrine until the year Eight Reed (1487), when an impressive temple was dedicated by the emperor Ahuitzotl. The Aztecs believed that the sun god needed daily nourishment (tlaxcaltiliztli) in the form of human blood and hearts and that they, as “people of the sun,” were required to provide Huitzilopochtli with his sustenance.
