Huitzilopochtli

Huitzilopochtli, in Aztec religion, the god of war and of the sun. According to tradition, he guided the Aztecs during their long migration from Aztlán, their mythical homeland, to the Valley of Mexico. His name, from the Aztec huitzilin, meaning “hummingbird,” expresses the Aztec belief that dead warriors were reborn as hummingbirds. His mother, the earth goddess Coatlicue, conceived him after keeping in her bosom a ball of hummingbird feathers—that is, the soul of a fallen warrior—that dropped from the sky.

As the sun god, Huitzilopochtli was born anew each morning from Coatlicue's womb. He was also thought to require human hearts and blood for nourishment. Sacrificial victims included prisoners of war and warriors who had perished in battle; after their death and sacrifice, such warriors became part of the sun's brilliance until, after four years, they were incarnated permanently in the bodies of hummingbirds.

Huitzilopochtli was usually depicted either as a hummingbird or as a warrior wearing hummingbird feathers for armor. The temple built in his honor at Tenochtitlán (on the site of present-day Mexico City) was a great architectural achievement in pre-Columbian America.

See Aztec Empire.