![Nanahuatzin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Nanahuatzin.jpg)
In
Aztec mythology
Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. Accord ...
, the god Nanahuatzin or Nanahuatl (or Nanauatzin, the suffix -tzin implies respect or familiarity; nci-IPA, Nanāhuātzin, nanaːˈwaːtsin), the most humble of the gods, sacrificed himself in fire so that he would continue to shine on Earth as the Sun, thus becoming the
sun god. Nanahuatzin means "full of sores." According to a translation of the ''
Histoyre du Mechique'', Nanahuatzin is the son of
Itzpapalotl and Cuzcamiahu or Tonan, but was adopted by
Piltzintecuhtli and
Xōchiquetzal. In the
Codex Borgia
The Codex Borgia ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Borg.mess.1), also known as ''Codex Borgianus'', ''Manuscrit de Veletri'' and ''Codex Yohualli Ehecatl'', is a pre-Columbian Middle American pictorial manuscript from Central Mexico featuring calendrica ...
, Nanahuatzin is represented as a man emerging from a fire. This was originally interpreted as an illustration of cannibalism. He is probably an
aspect
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* ''Aspects'' (Benny Carter ...
of
Xolotl
In Aztec mythology, Xolotl () was a god of fire and lightning. He was commonly depicted as a dog-headed man and was a soul-guide for the dead. He was also god of twins, monsters, misfortune, sickness, and deformities. Xolotl is the canine broth ...
.
Aztec tradition
The Aztecs had various myths about the creation, and Nanahuatzin participates in several. In the legend of Quetzalcoatl, Nanahuatzin helps
Quetzalcoatl to obtain the first grains which will be the food of humankind. In Aztec mythology, the universe is not permanent or everlasting, but subject to death like any living creature. However, even as it dies, the universe is reborn again into a new age, or "Sun." Nanahuatzin is best known from the "
Legend of the Fifth Sun" as related by
Bernardino de Sahagún
Bernardino de Sahagún, OFM (; – 5 February 1590) was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain (now Mexico). Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, ...
.
In this legend, which is the basis for most Nanahuatl myths, there had been four creations. In each one, one god has taken on the task of serving as the sun:
Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca (; nci, Tēzcatl ihpōca ) was a central deity in Aztec religion, and his main festival was the Toxcatl ceremony celebrated in the month of May. One of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the God of providence, he is a ...
,
Quetzalcoatl,
Tlaloc, and
Chalchiuhtlicue
Chalchiuhtlicue (from ''chālchihuitl'' "jade" and ''cuēitl'' "skirt") (also spelled Chalciuhtlicue, Chalchiuhcueye, or Chalcihuitlicue) ("She of the Jade Skirt") is an Aztec deity of water, rivers, seas, streams, storms, and baptism. Chalch ...
. Each age ended because the gods were not satisfied with the human beings that they had created. Finally, Quetzalcoatl with the aid of
Xolotl
In Aztec mythology, Xolotl () was a god of fire and lightning. He was commonly depicted as a dog-headed man and was a soul-guide for the dead. He was also god of twins, monsters, misfortune, sickness, and deformities. Xolotl is the canine broth ...
retrieves the sacred bones of their ancestors, mixes them with corn and his own blood, and manages to make acceptable human beings. However, no other god wants the task of being the Sun.
The gods decide that the fifth, and possibly last, sun must offer up his life as a sacrifice in fire. Two gods are chosen:
Tecciztecatl and Nanahuatzin. The former is chosen to serve as the Sun because he is wealthy and strong, while the latter will serve as the Moon because he is poor and ill. Tecciztecatl, who is proud, sees his impending sacrifice and transformation as an opportunity to gain immortality. The humble Nanahuatzin accepts because he sees it as his duty. During the days before the sacrifice, both gods undergo purification. Tecciztecatl makes offerings of rich gifts and coral. Nanahuatzin offers his blood and performs acts of penance.
The gods prepare a large bonfire that burns for four days, and construct a platform high above it from which the two chosen gods must leap into the flames. On the appointed day, Tecciztecatl and Nanahuatzin seat themselves upon the platform, awaiting the moment of sacrifice. The gods call upon Tecciztecatl to immolate himself first. After four attempts to throw himself onto the pyre, which is giving off extremely strong heat by this time, his courage fails him and he desists. Disgusted at Tecciztecatl's cowardice, the gods call upon Nanahuatzin, who rises from his seat and steps calmly to the edge of the platform. Closing his eyes, he leaps from the edge, landing in the very center of the fire. His pride wounded upon seeing that Nanahuatzin had the courage that he lacked, Tecciztecatl jumps upon the burning pyre after him.
Nothing happens at first, but eventually two suns appear in the sky. One of the gods, angry over Tecciztecatl's lack of courage, takes a rabbit and throws it in Tecciztecatl's face, causing him to lose his brilliance. Tecciztecatl thus becomes the moon, which bears the impression of a rabbit to this very day. Yet the Sun remains unmoving in the sky, parching and burning all the ground beneath. Finally the gods realize that they, too, must allow themselves to be sacrificed so that human beings may live. They present themselves to the god
Ehecatl
Ehecatl ( nci-IPA, Ehēcatl, eʔˈeːkatɬ, ) is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica. He is most usually interpreted a ...
, who offers them up one by one. Then, with the powerful wind that arises as a result of their sacrifice,
Ehecatl
Ehecatl ( nci-IPA, Ehēcatl, eʔˈeːkatɬ, ) is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica. He is most usually interpreted a ...
makes the Sun move through the sky, nourishing the earth rather than scorching it.
Nanahuatzin and Xolotl
![Codex Borgia page 43](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Codex_Borgia_page_43.jpg)
A close relationship between
Xolotl
In Aztec mythology, Xolotl () was a god of fire and lightning. He was commonly depicted as a dog-headed man and was a soul-guide for the dead. He was also god of twins, monsters, misfortune, sickness, and deformities. Xolotl is the canine broth ...
and Nanahuatzin exists. Xolotl is probably identical with Nanahuatl.
Seler characterizes Nanahuatzin ("Little Pustule Covered One"), who is deformed by
syphilis, as an aspect of Xolotl in his capacity as god of monsters, deforming diseases, and deformities. The syphilitic god Nanahuatzin is an avatar of Xolotl.
Salvadoran Nawat tradition
The fifth sun is identified with
Tonatiuh, Nanahuatzin was the youngest of three boys and a girl named "
Xochit Sihuat" who had emerged from the fruit of the gourd-tree (''
Crescentia cujete
''Crescentia cujete'', commonly known as the calabash tree, is a species of flowering plant native to the Americas, that is grown in Africa, Central America, South America, the West Indies and extreme southern Florida. It is the national tree ...
''), which in turn had grown from the head of a woman that had flown into the night while her body slept. (The head attached itself to a startled deer, and the deer leapt into a canyon, there planting the head in the ground.) Nanahuatzin and his siblings were raised by Tantepus Lamat ("Iron-Toothed Old Woman") until she gave to her lover some food they had obtained. The siblings proceeded to butcher that lover and, calling it venison, fed his body to the old woman, then killed her. The siblings found the world's supply of maize was concealed within a mountain, known only to a bird feeding on that stock. Where his siblings had failed, Nanahuatzin succeeded in opening the mountain, but in doing so, was himself trapped within.
[''ANCIENT AMERICA'', 9 = Ruud van Akkeren : ''Tzuywa : Place of the Gourd''. Boundary End Archaeology Research Center, Barnardsville (NC), 2006. . p. 50]
See also
*
List of solar deities
A solar deity is a deity who represents the Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this ene ...
Sources
{{Aztec mythology
Aztec gods
Solar gods
Plague gods
Quetzalcoatl