Huitzilopochtli was the sun god and war god of the ancient Aztec people as well as being the chief god of the great Aztec city Tenochtitlan. His name means literally ‘Blue hummingbird on the left’ and he was generally portrayed as an armed, blue painted man with hummingbird feathers on his head and a blue striped face. On his shoulder was a form of a hummingbird's head while his legs were decorated with gold bells. In his hand was held a large spear, a spear thrower, and a feathered shield.

There was great turmoil within Huitzilopochtli’s family due to his birth. His mother became pregnant with him when a bundle of feathers fell from the sky touching her. Huitzilopochtli’s siblings thought that this pregnancy dishonoured them and became very angry with the mother Coatlicue. One of the siblings, a sister called Coyolxauhqui, told her siblings to kill their mother, but she was saved when Huitzilopochtli sprang out of her. He then cut off Coyolxauhqui’s head and threw it into the sky where it then became the moon.

Huitzilopochtli, as a sun god, was considered to be an incarnation of the sun, or light, who was in an endless struggle with the moon (Coyolxauhqui) or the dark and every time the sun rose it was considered to be a daily victory over the dark. This struggle was considered to be to keep mankind alive, and therefore he became one of the major gods is Aztec culture and much of the Aztec worship was to him. This is also due to his part in delivering the Aztecs to there new home in Tenochtitlan, from their homeland in ‘Aztlan’. One of the main types of ritual that the Aztec’s used in their worshipping was the form of human sacrifice. They used the sacrificial blood that was spilled, called Chalchihuatl, which was through the bring the good will of the gods as well as sustaining Huitzilopochtli in his daily battle with the darkness. The sacrifices were offered at his shine at the top of the temple Lihuicatl Xoxouqui, or "Blue Heaven" which was in the form of a pyramid, with the alter at the top of the great stairs. The victims would walk up the steps of the temple, in line, before arriving at the alter at the top where they would have their living heart extracted by a priest with a ritual knife. These hearts were then offered up to Huitzilopochtli. However the Aztecs did not use their own people for sacrifices, usually. This was why they became known as a great warring nation as they often led great armies into battle with the surrounding tribes so that the prisoners of war could then be offered up to their gods. This explains Huitzilopochtli’s role as the war god, as the more they succeeded in war, the more sacrifices there were and the more Huitzilopochtli would be pleased. The good will of the gods worshipped meant, in turn, good season of war, rain and harvest, depending on the individual god. It is believed that over 20,000 victims were ritually sacrificed at the opening of this temple during a four-day period.

Unfortunately, as with the Incans, when the conquistadors arrived from Spain, they destroyed all physical evidence of this ‘pagan’ worship, which they considered to be the work of the devil, therefore no statues seem to have survived, but descriptions of the gods can be found in the conquistadors and priests work, although there are many different representations.

Blessings,
Silversweet



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