
Mictlāntēcutli () or Mictlantecuhtli (, meaning "Lord of Mictlan"), 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. Accordi ...
, is a god of the dead and the king of
Mictlan (Chicunauhmictlan), the lowest and northernmost section of the
underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld ...
. He is one of the principal gods of the
Aztecs
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl l ...
and is the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld. The worship of Mictlantecuhtli sometimes involved ritual
cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
, with human flesh being consumed in and around the temple. Other names given to Mictlantecuhtli include Ixpuztec (“Broken Face”), Nextepehua (“Scatterer of Ashes”), and Tzontemoc (“He Who Lowers His Head”).
Two life-size clay statues of Mictlantecuhtli were found marking the entrances to the House of
Eagles
Eagle is the common name for many large Bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Ou ...
to the north of the
Great Temple of
Tenochtitlan
, ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...
.
Attributes
Mictlantecuhtli was considered tall and was depicted as a blood-spattered skeleton or a person wearing a toothy skull.
[Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.113.] Although his head was typically a skull, his eye sockets did contain eyeballs.
[Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.206.] His headdress was shown decorated with owl feathers and paper banners and he wore a necklace of human eyeballs,
while his
earspools were made from human bones.
[Fernández 1992, 1996, p.142.]
He was not the only Aztec god to be depicted in this fashion, as numerous other deities had skulls for heads or else wore clothing or decorations that incorporated bones and skulls. In the Aztec world, skeletal imagery was a symbol of fertility, health and abundance, alluding to the close symbolic links between life and death. He was often depicted wearing sandals as a symbol of his high rank as Lord of Mictlan.
[Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.434.] His arms were frequently depicted raised in an aggressive gesture, showing that he was ready to tear apart the dead as they entered his presence.
In the
Aztec codices
Aztec codices ( nah, Mēxihcatl āmoxtli , sing. ''codex'') are Mesoamerican manuscripts made by the pre-Columbian Aztec, and their Nahuatl-speaking descendants during the colonial period in Mexico.
History
Before the start of the ...
, Mictlantecuhtli is often depicted with his skeletal jaw open to receive the stars that descend into him during the daytime.
His wife was
Mictecacihuatl,
and together they were said to dwell in a windowless house in Mictlan. Mictlantecuhtli was associated with
spider
Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...
s,
owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
s,
bats,
the 11th hour, and the northern compass direction, known as Mictlampa, the region of death. He was one of only a few deities held to govern over all three types of souls identified by the Aztecs, who distinguished between the souls of people who died normal deaths (of old age, disease, etc.), heroic deaths (e.g. in battle, sacrifice or during childbirth), or non-heroic deaths. Mictlantecuhtli and his wife were the opposites and complements of
Ometecuhtli and
Omecihuatl, the givers of life.
[Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.458.]
Mictlanteculhtli was the god of the day sign ''Itzcuintli'' (
dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relativ ...
),
one of the 20 such signs recognised in the
Aztec calendar, and was regarded as supplying the souls of those who were born on that day. He was seen as the source of souls for those born on the sixth day of the
13-day week and was the fifth of the nine
Night Gods of the Aztecs. He was also the secondary Week God for the 10th week of the
20-week cycle of the calendar, joining the sun god
Tonatiuh to symbolise the dichotomy of light and darkness.
In the Colonial
Codex Vaticanus 3738, Mictlantecuhtli is labelled in Spanish as "the lord of the underworld,
Tzitzimitl
In Aztec mythology, a Tzitzimitl (plural Tzitzimimeh ) is a monstrous deity associated with stars. They were depicted as skeletal female figures wearing skirts often with skull and crossbones designs. In postconquest descriptions they are often de ...
, the same as
Lucifer
Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage ...
".
Myths
In Aztec mythology, after
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl (, ; Spanish: ''Quetzalcóatl'' ; nci-IPA, Quetzalcōātl, ket͡saɬˈkoːaːt͡ɬ (Modern Nahuatl pronunciation), in honorific form: ''Quetzalcōātzin'') is a deity in Aztec culture and literature whose name comes from the Na ...
and
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 ...
created the world, they put their creation in order and placed Mictlantecuhtli and his wife, Mictecacihuatl, in the underworld.
According to Aztec legend, the twin gods Quetzalcoatl and
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 brothe ...
were sent by the other gods to steal the bones of the previous generation of gods from Mictlantecuhtli. The god of the underworld sought to block Quetzalcoatl's escape with the bones and, although he failed, he forced Quetzalcoatl to drop the bones, which were scattered and broken by the fall. The shattered bones were collected by Quetzalcoatl and carried back to the land of the living, where the gods transformed them into the various races of mortals.
When a person died, they were interred with grave goods, which they carried with them on the long and dangerous journey to the underworld. Upon arrival in Mictlan these goods were offered to Mictlantecuhtli and his wife.
In another myth, the shrewd god of death agrees to give the bones to
Quetzalcóatl if he can completely finish what would appear to be a simple test. The god informs Quetzalcóatl that he has to travel through his kingdom four times, while a shell sounds out like a trumpet. However, in place of giving Quetzalcóatl the shell from Mictlantecuhtl he gives him a normal shell, without holes in it. In order to not be mocked, Quetzalcóatl beckons the worms to come out and perforate the shell, thus creating holes. He then calls the bees to enter the shell and to make it sound out like a trumpet. (As an emblem of his power over wind and life, Quetzalcóatl is commonly depicted wearing a cut shell over his chest, this shell represents the same shell that
Ehécatl
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 as ...
, the god of the wind, wears).
Whilst listening to the roar of the trumpet, Mictlantecuhtl, at first, decides to allow Quetzalcóatl to take all of the bones from the last creation, but then quickly changes his mind. Nevertheless, Quetzalcóatl is more astute than Mictlantecuhtl and his minions and escapes with the bones. Mictlantecuhtli, now very angry, orders his followers to create a very deep pit. While Quetzalcóatl is running away with the bones he is startled by a
quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy.
Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...
, which causes him to fall into the pit. He falls into the pit and dies (or so it would appear), and is subsequently tormented by the animal (the quail), and the bones he is carrying are scattered. The quail then begins to gnaw on the bones.
Despite the fall Quetzalcóatl is eventually revived and gathers all of the broken bones. It is for this reason that people today come in all different sizes. Once he has escaped from the underworld, Quetzalcóatl carries the precious cargo to
Tamoanchan
Tamoanchan is a mythical location of origin known to the Mesoamerican cultures of the central Mexican region in the Late Postclassic period. In the mythological traditions and creation accounts of Late Postclassic peoples such as the Aztec, Ta ...
,
a place of miraculous origin.
In popular culture
* Mictlantecuhtli is the name of a giant bat-like demon in the ''
Bayonetta
is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya and developed by PlatinumGames. The franchise was introduced in 2009 with '' Bayonetta''. Two sequels were released, '' Bayonetta 2'' (2014) and '' Bayonetta 3'' (2022), as well as ...
'' video game series.
* Mictlantecuhtli appears in the 2018 animated web series ''
Constantine: City of Demons''.
* Mictlantecuhtli is the main villain of ''
Onyx Equinox
''Onyx Equinox'' is a Mexican-American adult animated streaming television series created by Sofia Alexander for Crunchyroll. It is based on the mythologies of Mesoamerica, featuring deities of Aztec, Maya and Zapotec myth, while also making ref ...
'', where he mass kills human cities, stealing the blood sacrifices from other gods and prompting them to send a champion to close the gates of the underworld.
* Mictlantecuhtli appears in the 2010 book Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard.
* Mictlantecuhtli is the name of a
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
-
thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...
band from
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
.
* The entrance to the Ark of the Watcher in ''
Payday 2
''Payday 2'' is a Cooperative video game, cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's ''Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Microsoft Wi ...
'' is behind a painting of Mictlantecuhtli.
* Mictlantecuhtli appears as the combined warrior form of the gods of
Mictlān, Mic and Hun, in ''
Victor and Valentino
''Victor and Valentino'' is an American animated television series created by Diego Molano for Cartoon Network. It is produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The series follows the titular duo, two half-brothers staying with their grandmother in t ...
''.
* Mictlantecuhtli (as "Lord Mictlan," the God of War) is the main antagonist in ''
Maya and the Three
''Maya and the Three'' (Spanish title: ''Maya y los tres'') is a computer-animated fantasy streaming television miniseries created by Jorge R. Gutiérrez and produced by Tangent Animation. The nine-episode series premiered on Netflix on Octobe ...
'', voiced by
Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...
.
* Mictlantecuhtli appears in the 1983 book The Pariah by Graham Masterton
*
Rogue Brewery uses an altered version of Mictlantecuhtli (depicted holding a beer stein) as the label of their Dead Guy Ale.
See also
*
Maya death gods
The Maya death gods, (also Ah Puch, Ah Cimih, Ah Cizin, Hun Ahau, Kimi, or Yum Kimil) known by a variety of names, are two basic types of death gods who are respectively represented by the 16th-century Yucatec deities Hunhau and Uacmitun Ahau me ...
*
Santa Muerte
''Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte'' (; Spanish for Our Lady of Holy Death), often shortened to Santa Muerte, is a cult image, female deity, and folk saint in folk Catholicism and Mexican Neopaganism. A personification of death, she is ass ...
*
Tzitzimitl
In Aztec mythology, a Tzitzimitl (plural Tzitzimimeh ) is a monstrous deity associated with stars. They were depicted as skeletal female figures wearing skirts often with skull and crossbones designs. In postconquest descriptions they are often de ...
Notes
References
*
*
*Luján, Leonardo López, and Scott Sessions. "Death Deities." In
Carrasco David (ed). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001
*
*
*
*
*
Leeming, David Adams (2005).''The Oxford companion to world mythology''. New York: Oxford U Press. Print.
Austin, Alfredo López, Guilhem Olivier, and Russ Davidson (2015).''The Myth of Quetzalcoatl: Religion, Rulership, and History in the Nahua World''. Boulder: U Press of Colorado. Print.
External links
{{Aztec mythology
Aztec gods
Death gods
Underworld gods
Cannibalism in North America