Myths, Folklore & Symbolism: Huitzilopochtli

Huitzilopochtli: "'Hummingbird of the South', the god of the sun and war, the national god of the Aztecs, also known as the Blue Tezcatlipoc. Huitzilopochtli was a uniquely Aztec god and may have begun as a legendary hero, later deified. He was conceived by magic when a heavenly ball of down entered the womb of his mother, the goddess Coatlicue, at Coatepec (Serpent Hill, near Tula, Mexico). Her existing offspring, the goddess Coyolxauhqui and her four hundred brothers, were angry at her pregnancy and cut off their mother's head and hands. At the moment she died Coatlicue gave birth to the fully formed Huitzilopochtli, who avenged his mother's death by killing Coyolxauhqui and hurling her dis-membered corpse to the bottom of Coatepec. He then routed his brothers.

"The god was said to have guided the Aztec people from their place of origin, Aztlan, on a great southward trek to the future site of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire (modern Mexico City). A historical migration in fact lasted from c.1150CE to c.1350CE.

"Huitzilopochtli, the lord of the Fifth Sun, the current world epoch, was a forbidding deity who was closely associated with war and death (hummingbirds were said to be the souls of fallen warriors). He was central to the Aztec cult of human sacrifice, which was believed necessary to feed Tonatiuh, the sun, with whom the god was identified. His most important shrine, at the top of the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan, was the site of human sacrifices, often on a massive scale." (Tresidder)