Huitzilopochtli is seen as the sun in mythology, while his many male siblings are perceived as the stars and his sister as the moon. He also chased after his brothers, who fled from him and became scattered all over the sky. He attacked his older brothers and sister, defending his mother by beheading his sister and casting her body from the mountain top. Huitzilopochtli burst forth from his mother's womb in full armor and fully grown, or in other versions of the story, burst forth from the womb and immediately put on his gear. These children, angered by the manner by which their mother became impregnated, conspired to kill her. Her other children, who were already fully grown, were the four hundred male Centzonuitznaua and the female deity Coyolxauhqui. Īnother 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). Together, Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl created fire, the first male and female humans, the Earth, and the Sun. His mother and father instructed him and Quetzalcoatl to bring order to the world. 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"). One story tells of the cosmic creation and Huitzilopochtli's role in it. There are a handful of origin mythologies describing the deity's beginnings. Huitzilopochtli in human form in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis the little bird is reborn." Origin stories He writes, "It appears to be dead, but at the advent of spring. Diego Durán describes what appears to be the hummingbird hibernating in a tree, somewhat like the common poorwill does. The hummingbird was spiritually important in Aztec culture. However, 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". 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 body. There continues to be disagreement about the full significance of Huītzilōpōchtli's name. When performed, typically multiple victims were sacrificed per day at any one of the numerous temples. These took place frequently throughout the region. During their discovery and conquest of the Aztec Empire, they wrote that human sacrifice was common in worship ceremonies. The Spaniards recorded the deity's name as Huichilobos. He wielded Xiuhcoatl, the fire serpent, as a weapon, thus also associating Huitzilopochtli with fire. He was also the patron god of the Aztecs and their capital city, Tenochtitlan. Huitzilopochtli ( Classical Nahuatl: Huītzilōpōchtli, IPA: ( listen)) is the solar and war deity of sacrifice in Aztec mythology.
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