![]() This myth cycled gives him four hundred brothers, the Centzonuitznaua, as well as a sister called Coyolxauhqui. In a different myth cycle, he is the son of the goddess Coatlicue. According to this myth, his brothers are two gods called Tezcatlipocas as well as Quetzalcoatl. In the first story, Huitzilopochtli is the son of Tonacatecutli and Tonacacihuatl, the universal creators. There are two separate myths about Huitzilopochtli’s creation, each of which gives him a mutually-exclusive family group. Huitzilopochtli actually has a fairly wide-ranging family in Aztec myth, though figuring out exactly to whom he is related requires reading specific stories. Though he was not a death god, he did still have command of those souls that fell in those specific circumstances and they would serve in his palace. If Aztec soldiers were killed in battle or women died in childbirth, they were said to join Huitzilopochtli. It should also be noted that Huitzilopochtli was a god of the afterlife as well. Many of the major Aztec sacrifices were intended to help Huitzilopochtli fight off the darkness. It was through him that an encroaching permanent could be fought off, and only Huitzilopochtli was mighty enough for this task. While sun gods traditionally were associated with the cycle of the day, Huitzilopochtli had a more pressing duty. The other major power of Huitzilopochtli was his ability to fight back the encroaching night. It was a situation that saw a great deal of power handed over to the god. As such, the Mexica attributed everything that happened on the battlefield to Huitzilopochtli – even if they lost. ![]() While most gods in Mesoamerica would be responsible for certain types of war or certain types of weaponry, Huitzilopochtli was responsible for all of it. Powers & AbilitiesĪs the primary god of war of the Mexica and the Aztec Empire, Huitzilopochtli’s ranged wider than most war gods. Perhaps his most important symbol, though, was the capital city of Tenochtitlan. He was also closely associated with the sun, especially in his aspect as the warrior who fought against the darkness. One of the major symbols with which he was associated with in both his bird and human forms was the hummingbird. Huitzilopochtli had quite a few different symbols. The hummingbird imagery is so important that it has become the defining feature of most depictions of Huitzilopochtli and one of the few ways to easily identify him among the Mesoamerican gods. He was depicted as a man who was painted blue, with feathers on an arm and a leg and a hummingbird helmet. When Huitzilopochtli was not a hummingbird, he would keep the hummingbird imagery. In fact, one of his most common forms was that of a hummingbird. ![]() Though Huitzilopochtli was a god of war and battle, he didn’t always spend his time in forms that modern people would consider to be warlike. At the heart of the religion of the Mexica and the Aztec empire lie Huitzilopochtli, a god of the sun and warfare that had a major impact on the daily lives of those who lived in the empire. ![]() How the god is worshipped and why the people respond to that god is often as important as the stories of the god itself. ![]() The major deities of a civilization often say quite a bit about how that civilization works. ![]()
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