Huitzilopochtli

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Depiction of the Huitzilopochtli from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis

Huitzilopochtli , also Uitzilopochtli or Vitzliputzli (" hummingbird of the south" or "the one of the south" or "hummingbird of the left / hand") was the god of war and the sun and patron saint of the city of Tenochtitlán in Aztec mythology . His mother was Coatlicue , his father a ball of feathers (or Mixcoatl ). It is sometimes claimed that he had a sister, Malinalxochi . His ambassador was Paynal .

Appearance

Huitzilopochtli is depicted with a jaguar head adorned with horns or a plume. In the left hand the divine being holds a shield and a laurel branch, in the other hand a staff. The feet have split claws, modeled on goats' feet. On the back are bat-like wings and on the belly side a face with a torn throat showing sharp teeth.

In art, Huitzilopochtli is represented as a hummingbird. Sometimes just with hummingbird feathers on his head and left leg, a black face, a snake named Xiuhcoatl and a mirror in hand.

Birth myth

The mother of the sun god, Coatlicue , was pregnant from a feather ball with him . When Huitzilopochtli's sister, the moon goddess Coyolxauhqui , learned of this disgrace, she decided to murder her mother together with her 400 brothers. However, one of the brothers warned the unborn Huitzilopochtli. Thereupon he jumped out of the womb in the armor of a warrior, dismembered Coyolxauhqui and drove away the remaining siblings who became the stars . Then he threw his sister's head in the sky, where it became the moon , so that his mother would be comforted by the fact that she could see her daughter in the sky every night.

Human sacrifice

When fighting with the neighboring Nahua peoples, such as the Toltecs , the Aztecs often integrated their gods into their religion. For example Tlaloc , Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca . In the center of the city of Tenochtitlán, the Aztecs built a temple with two altars , one for Tlaloc and the other for Huitzilopochtli. A new layer of temples was added over the original temple every 52 years. The different stages, arranged like onion rings, can still be seen in the current ruins.

Many of their deities fed the Aztecs with human sacrifices . In order to keep the course of the sun alive, they sacrificed Huitzilopochtli prisoners of war , which they brought under their control during the Flower Wars .

The human sacrifices were completely painted with the victims Gray and perhaps were under the influence of drugs , to avoid screaming. They were led to the top of the temple pyramid at Tenochtitlán. Four priests held prisoner there hands and feet tightly, while a fifth him with an obsidian knife to the chest cut open. He raised his beating heart to the sun and sprinkled images of the gods with the blood , then he placed it in an eagle bowl . Finally the victim's body was pushed down the pyramid steps.

Huitzilopochtli played such an important role in the Aztec religion that one's own sacrifice was often seen as a great honor.

Festivals to worship this deity

In May, elaborate processions were held in the vicinity of Tenochtitlan to honor the deity . Virgin nuns made an image of the deity out of grain and maize flour , to which honey was added as a binding agent . This was then dressed in magnificent robes and enthroned on a sedan chair and carried to various places near Lake Texcoco . Ritualized sacrifices were held at all locations. The procession also had a name that was translated as the hurried journey of the Vitzliputzli .

See also

reception

  • In Heinrich Heine's collection of poems Romanzero there is a poem with the title Vitzliputzli .
  • In the story The Disappearance of Juan Romero by HP Lovecraft , a Mexican gold miner named Romero throws himself into an underground lava lake with the cry "Huitzilopochtli" to become a demon.
  • Volume 47 of Karl May's collected works is called Professor Vitzliputzli , although May's figure was originally nameless.
  • Friederike Kempner's poem "To Heinrich Heine" ends with the lines "Vitzli Putzli, Vitzi Putzli, / All poetry is pure!"

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gottlob Heinrich Heinse: Encyclopedic dictionary or alphabetical explanation of all words from foreign languages ​​that are accepted in German. Volume 10, Wilhelm Wedel, Zeitz / Naumburg 1803, p. 18
  2. ↑ The Aztec Mythology - Mysteria3000. Retrieved July 28, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Coyolxauhqui. In: Indian world. Retrieved July 28, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Aztecs - Gods - Huitzilopochtli. In: Indian world. Retrieved July 28, 2020 .
  5. ↑ de Acosta: The gold of the condor. 1991, p. 54
  6. ↑ HP Lovecraft : The Disappearance of Juan Romero. In: ders. Et al .: Azathoth · Mixed writings. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1989, p. 230.

Web links

Commons : Huitzilopochtli  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Vitzliputzli  - Sources and full texts