Aztec mythology; Indian mythology -- Mexico; Mexico -- Religion
Codex Telleriano-Remensis.—A butterfly with antennæ and wings acts as a
naualli, or disguise (a kind of helmet-mask), to a female figure which
has death’s-head teeth, animal claws on the hands and feet, and a
blue-coloured disk on the cheek. As in Codex Borgia, this face has a
stone knife on the nose, a collar studded with stone knives, and on the
head the warrior’s forked heron-feather ornament. The crown is of dark
feathers, the sombreness of which is lightened by quetzal plumes and a
loin-cloth like that of the Ciuateteô or Ciuapipiltin, the dead women
who had perished in childbed, and who were regarded as partaking of the
nature of warriors. The end of the loin-cloth and skirt is trimmed with
a hem of teeth. As a back-mirror she wears a death’s-head, below which
hangs a “star-skirt,” to the plaited thongs of which rattling
snail-shells are attached.
Aubin-Goupil Tonalamatl (15th Division).—Here the goddess looks out of
a butterfly helmet-mask. Her face is painted a red colour and she is
decorated with dark plumage on arms and legs. She has a snail-shell
before her face, and wears a gold disk on the breast. Opposite her are
a broken tree and a beheaded captive, whose body spouts two streams of
blood in the shape of snakes’ heads. She is seated on a throne
ornamented with small disks.
Codex Borbonicus.—Here the goddess is pictured as a demon of darkness,
tzitzimitl, who descends from heaven in the form of an eagle.
Bas-relief.—A bas-relief, known as the stone of Aristides Martel,
represents the goddess as in the act of flight, and agrees with the
representations of her in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis and the Codex
Borbonicus. The face is intended to represent that of an insect with
round eyes and almost reptilian mouth, and the headdress is flat and
covered with feather balls. The hands and feet are furnished with long
claws. In this place the feather-marking of the goddess presents a
distinctly serpentine appearance and she is surrounded by serpent
motifs, between the folds of which is seen the cross-hatching
symbolical of these reptiles.
MYTHS
The interpreter of Codex Telleriano-Remensis regards Itzpapalotl as a
male deity, probably because, like the Ciuateteô or women who died in
childbed, who were regarded as the equals of the warriors, she wore a
male loin-cloth. He says: “He was called Xounco and after he sinned
Yzpapalotle. The sign of this name is a Knife of Butterflies, and
accordingly he is surrounded with knives and wings of butterflies; for
they say that he sometimes appears to them, and that they only see feet
resembling those of an eagle. Yzpapalotle was one of those who fell
from heaven with the rest, whose names are the following: Queçalcoatle,
Ochululuchesi, Tezcatlipoca, Caleteotle, and Hatzcanpantecoatl.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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