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In Aztec mythology, Xiuhtēcuhtli {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ("Turquoise Lord" or "Lord of Fire"),<ref>Fernández 1992, 1996, p.104. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.476. Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189.</ref> was the god of fire, day and heat.<ref>Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.433.</ref> In historical sources he is called by many names, which reflect his varied aspects and dwellings in the three parts of the cosmos.<ref>Olvera, Silvia Limón. "Fire Deities." In David Carrasco (ed).The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001</ref> He was the lord of volcanoes,<ref>Coe & Koontz 2002, p.55.</ref> the personification of life after death, warmth in cold (fire), light in darkness and food during famine. He was also named Cuezaltzin {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ("flame") and Ixcozauhqui {{#invoke:IPA|main}},<ref>Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.47. (Book I, Chapter XIII).</ref> and is sometimes considered to be the same as Huehueteotl ("Old God"),<ref>Fernández 1992, 1996, p.104.</ref> although Xiuhtecuhtli is usually shown as a young deity.<ref name="Matos Moctezuma 2002, p.476">Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.476.</ref> His wife was Chalchiuhtlicue. Xiuhtecuhtli is sometimes considered to be a manifestation of Ometecuhtli, the Lord of Duality, and according to the Florentine Codex Xiuhtecuhtli was considered to be the father of the Gods,<ref>Fernández 1992, 1996, p.104. León-Portilla 2002, pp.25, 26.</ref> who dwelled in the turquoise enclosure in the center of earth.<ref name="Matos Moctezuma 1988, p.94">Matos Moctezuma 1988, p.94.</ref> Xiuhtecuhtli-Huehueteotl was one of the oldest and most revered of the indigenous pantheon.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140">Luján 2005, p.140</ref> The cult of the God of Fire, of the Year, and of Turquoise perhaps began as far back as the middle Preclassic period.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.141">Luján 2005, p.141</ref> Turquoise was the symbolic equivalent of fire for Aztec priests.<ref name="Roy 2005, p.211">Roy 2005, p.211</ref> A small fire was permanently kept alive at the sacred center of every Aztec home in honor of Xiuhtecuhtli.<ref name="Roy 2005, p.211" />
The Nahuatl word xihuitl means "year" as well as "turquoise" and "fire",<ref name="Matos Moctezuma 1988, p.94"/> and Xiuhtecuhtli was also the god of the year and of time.<ref name="Miller 1993, p.190">Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.190. Smith 1996, 2003, pp.246-7. Díaz & Rodgers 1993, p.xix.</ref><ref name="Bezanilla 2000, p.25">Bezanilla 2000, p.25</ref> The Lord of the Year concept came from the Aztec belief that Xiuhtecuhtli was the North Star.<ref name="Bingham & Roberts 2010, p.143">Bingham & Roberts 2010, p.143</ref> In the 260-day ritual calendar, the deity was the patron of the day Atl ("Water") and with the trecena 1 Coatl ("1 Snake").<ref name="Miller 1993, p.190"/> Xiuhtecuhtli was also one of the nine Lords of the Night and ruled the first hour of the night, named Cipactli ("Alligator").<ref>Díaz & Rodgers 1993, p.xix. Smith 1996, 2003, p.248</ref> Scholars have long emphasized that this fire deity also has aquatic qualities.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.141" /> Xiuhtecuhtli dwelt inside an enclosure of turquoise stones, fortifying himself with turquoise bird water.<ref>Luján 2005, p.145.</ref> He is the god of fire in relation to the cardinal directions, just as the brazier for lighting fire is the center of the house or temple.<ref>Luján 2005, p.147.</ref> Xiuhtecuhtli was the patron god of the Aztec emperors, who were regarded as his living embodiment at their enthronement.<ref name="Matos Moctezuma 2002, p.447">Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.447.</ref> The deity was also one of the patron gods of the pochteca merchant class.<ref>Coe & Koontz 2002, p.197.</ref>
Stone sculptures of Xiuhtecuhtli were ritually buried as offerings, and various statuettes have been recovered during excavations at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan with which he was closely associated.<ref>Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.172, 476.</ref> Statuettes of the deity from the temple depict a seated male with his arms crossed.<ref>Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.172.</ref> A sacred fire was always kept burning in the temples of Xiuhtecuhtli.<ref>Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.414.</ref> In gratitude for the gift of fire, the first mouthful of food from each meal was flung into the hearth.<ref name="Matos Moctezuma 2002, p.447"/>
Xiuhtecuhtli is depicted in the Codex Borgia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
AttributesEdit
Xiuhtecuhtli's face is painted with black and red pigment.<ref name="Bezanilla 2000, p.25" /> Xiuhtecuhtli was usually depicted adorned with turquoise mosaic, wearing the turquoise xiuhuitzolli crown of rulership on his head and a turquoise butterfly pectoral on his chest,<ref>Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189. Barrera Rodríguez & López Arenas 2008, p.19.</ref> and he often wears a descending turquoise xiuhtototl bird (Cotinga amabilis) on his forehead and the Xiuhcoatl fire serpent on his back.<ref name="Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189">Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189.</ref> He owns fire serpent earplugs.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140" /> On his head he has a paper crown painted with different colors and motifs. On top of the crown there are sprays of green feathers, like flames from a fire.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140" /> He has feather tufts to each side, like pendants, toward his ears. On his back he has plumage resembling a dragon's head, made of yellow feathers with marine conch shells.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140" /> He has copper bells tied to the insteps of his feet. In his left hand he holds a shield with five greenstones, called chalchihuites, placed in the form of a cross on a thin gold plate that covered almost all the shield.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140" /> In his right hand he has a kind of scepter that was a round gold plate with a hole in the middle, and topped by two globes, one larger than the other, the smaller one had a point.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140" /> Xiuhtecuhtli is closely associated with youthful warriors and with rulership, and was considered a solar god.<ref>Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.419-20.</ref> His principal symbols are the tecpatl (flint) and the mamalhuatzin, the two sticks that were rubbed together to light ceremonial fires.<ref>Fernández 1992, 1996, pp.104-6.</ref> A staff with a deer's head was also an attribute of Xiuhtecuhtli, although not exclusively so as it could also be associated with Xochiquetzal and other deities.<ref>Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.468.</ref>
Many of the attributes of Xiuhtecuhtli are found associated with Early Postclassic Toltec warriors but clear representations of the god are not common until the Late Postclassic.<ref name="Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189" /> The nahual, or spirit form, of Xiuhtecuhtli is Xiuhcoatl, the Fire Serpent.<ref name="Fernández 1992, 1996, p.107">Fernández 1992, 1996, p.107.</ref>
Xiuhtecuhtli was embodied in the teotecuilli, the sacrificial brazier into which sacrificial victims were cast during the New Fire ceremony.<ref name="Fernández 1992, 1996, p.107" /> This took place at the end of each cycle of the Aztec calendar round (every 52 years),<ref>Smith 1996, 2003, p.249.</ref> when the gods were thought to be able to end their covenant with humanity. Feasts were held in honor of Xiuhtecuhtli to keep his favors, and human sacrifices were burned after removing their heart.
Annual festivalEdit
The annual festival of Xiuhtecuhtli was celebrated in Izcalli, the 18th veintena of the year.<ref name="ReferenceA">López Austin 1998, p.10. Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.47 (Book I, Chapter XIII).</ref> The Nahuatl word izcalli means "stone house" and refers to the building where maize used to be dried and roasted between mid-January and mid-February. The whole month was therefore devoted to fire.<ref name="Roy 2005, p.211" /> The Izcalli rituals grew in importance every four years.<ref>Luján 2005, p.143.</ref> A framework image of the deity was constructed from wood and was richly finished with clothing, feathers and an elaborate mask.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Quails were sacrificed to the idol and their blood spilt before it and copal was burnt in his honour.<ref>Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.47 (Book I, Chapter XIII).</ref> On the day of the festival, the priests of Xiuhtecuhtli spent the day dancing and singing before their god.<ref>Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.48 (Book I, Chapter XIII).</ref> People caught animals, including mammals, birds, snakes, lizards and fish, for ten days before the festival in order to throw them into the hearth on the night of the festival.<ref name="ReferenceB">López Austin 1998, p.10. Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.48 (Book I, Chapter XIII).</ref> On the tenth day of Izcalli, during a festival called huauhquiltamalcualiztli ("eating of the amaranth leaf tamales"), the New Fire was lighted, signifying the change of the annual cycle and the rebirth of the fire deity.<ref>Luján 2005, p.142.</ref> During the night the image of the god was lit with using the mamalhuatzin.<ref>López Austin 1998, p.10.</ref> Food was consumed ritually, including shrimp tamales, after first offering it to the god.<ref name="ReferenceB" />
Every four years a more solemn version of the festival was held at the temple of Xiuhtecuhtli in Tenochtitlan, attended by the emperor and his nobles.<ref name="ReferenceC">Sahagún 1577, 1989, pp.48-9 (Book I, Chapter XIII).</ref> Slaves and captives were dressed as the deity and sacrificed in his honour.<ref>López Austin 1998, p.10. Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.98 (Book II, Chapter XVIII).</ref> Godparents were assigned to children on this day and the children had their ears ritually pierced. After this, the children, their parents and godparents all shared a meal together.<ref name="ReferenceC" />
New Fire CeremonyEdit
Xiuhtecuhtli was celebrated often but especially at the end of every 52-year period. This was the time the 365-day solar and the 260-day sacred calendars ended on the same day and the Aztec celebrated the Binding of the Years with the New Fire Ceremony.<ref name="Bingham & Roberts 2010, p.143" /> In order to perform the ritual, priests marched in solemn procession up the Hill of the Star on a peninsula near Culhuacán to wait for the star Yohualtecuhtli (either Aldebaran in the Taurus constellation or the Pleiades as a whole) to get past its zenith. Having ascertained this, they would tear out the heart of a sacrificial victim and kindle a flame in a small wooden hearth they placed inside the hole left in his chest. Priests used a drill method to generate this sacred flame. It was then carried on pine sticks to light the fires anew in every hearth, including the sacred braziers of perpetual fire, that numbered over 600 in the capital alone.<ref>Roy 2005, p.316.</ref>
In popular cultureEdit
A set of six postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail in 2003 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the British Museum featured a mask of Xiuhtecuhtli alongside other Museum objects such as the Sutton Hoo helmet and Hoa Hakananai'a.Template:Sfn
See alsoEdit
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
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- Olvera, Silvia Limón. "Fire Deities." In David Carrasco (ed). In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 9780195188431. OLCL 1169898498
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