The Birth of Huitzilopochtli

Coatlicue, She of the Serpent Skirt, was the earth mother goddess who lived on Coatepec (Serpent Mountain) as a penitent priestess. Each day she swept the temple, maintaining its purity. She was already the mother of Coyolxauhqui (She with Bells on Her Cheeks), goddess of the moon, and the Centzon Huitznahua, the Four Hundred Gods of the South, who were the stars.

One day, as Coatlicue swept, a ball of hummingbird feathers fell from the sky. Enchanted by its beauty, she tucked it into her waistband. When she finished her work and reached for the feathers, they were gone. But she discovered she was pregnant.

When Coyolxauhqui and her four hundred brothers learned of their mother's pregnancy, they were furious. This mysterious conception without a father was a disgrace that could only be cleansed by blood.

"She has dishonored us!" Coyolxauhqui declared. "We must kill her!"

The moon goddess led her starry brothers in a march up Coatepec, fully armed for war. They painted their faces and readied their weapons to slay their mother and the unborn thing within her.

One brother, Quahuitl Icac (Wooden Standing), doubted the righteousness of this matricide. He slipped away and whispered to the unborn child within Coatlicue's womb, warning him of the approaching army.

"Do not be afraid, mother," the voice from within replied. "I know what I must do."

As the warriors climbed the mountain, as Coyolxauhqui raised her weapon to strike, the moment of birth arrived.

Huitzilopochtli (Hummingbird of the South) burst from his mother's womb fully grown and fully armed. He wore the feathered war costume of an Aztec warrior and carried Xiuhcoatl, the Fire Serpent, a weapon of divine flame.

Without hesitation, he struck down Coyolxauhqui. He cut off her head with a single blow, and her dismembered body tumbled down the slopes of Coatepec, breaking apart as it fell.

This is why the great stone of Coyolxauhqui at the base of the Templo Mayor shows her dismembered: head separated, arms and legs scattered, her moon goddess ornaments strewn around her broken form.

Huitzilopochtli then turned on his four hundred brothers. With Xiuhcoatl blazing, he pursued them across the sky, slaughtering nearly all. The few who escaped fled to the south, where they became the faint stars of the southern sky.

This battle is not merely mythological history but happens every day. Each dawn, Huitzilopochtli (the Sun) defeats Coyolxauhqui (the Moon) and the Centzon Huitznahua (the stars), driving them from the sky. But night will come again, and the moon and stars will return. The sun must battle them anew each morning.

For this daily struggle, Huitzilopochtli requires nourishment. He demands the chalchihuatl, the "precious water" of human blood and hearts, to give him strength for his eternal war against darkness.

The Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan was a recreation of Coatepec. The great stone disk of Coyolxauhqui lay at the base of the pyramid's stairs, where victims' bodies tumbled after sacrifice - reenacting the moon goddess's fall. Each sacrifice was a repetition of Huitzilopochtli's birth, a contribution to the sun's daily victory over darkness.

The birth of Huitzilopochtli is thus not merely creation myth but the charter for Aztec power: the sun god who emerged to defend his mother and defeat her enemies is the patron who led the Aztecs from their wandering to their imperial destiny.