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Xiuhtecuhtli

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aztec god of fire, heat, and time
Xiuhtecuhtli
Father of the Gods
God of Fire, Heat and Time
Xiuhtēcuhtli as depicted in theCodex Borgia
Other namesTotahtzin, Īxcōzauhqui, Huēhuehtēōtl, Cuezaltzin
AbodeIlhuicatl-Teotlatlauhco (Eleventh Heaven)
Calpulli (the center of the four cardinal directions)
GenderMale
RegionMesoamerica
Ethnic groupAztec (Nahua)
Genealogy
ParentsCreated by theTezcatlipocas[1] (Codex Zumarraga)
SiblingsNone
ConsortChāntico (Codex Zumarraga)[1]
ChildrenWithChāntico:Xiuhxoxoauhqui (blue fire),Xiuhcozauhqui (yellow fire),Xiuhiztac (white fire) andXiuhtlatlauhqui (red fire)[1]
Equivalents
MayaK'awiil (God K)
Statue of Xiuhtecuhtli in the British Museum.[2]

InAztec mythology,Xiuhtēcuhtli[ʃiʍˈteːkʷt͡ɬi] ("Turquoise Lord" or "Lord of Fire"),[3] was the god of fire, day and heat.[4] In historical sources he is called by many names, which reflect his varied aspects and dwellings in the three parts of the cosmos.[5] He was the lord of volcanoes,[6] the personification of life after death, warmth in cold (fire), light in darkness and food during famine. He was also namedCuezaltzin[kʷeˈs̻aɬt͡sin̥] ("flame") andIxcozauhqui[iːʃkoːˈsaʍkiˀ],[7] and is sometimes considered to be the same asHuehueteotl ("Old God"),[8] although Xiuhtecuhtli is usually shown as a young deity.[9] His wife wasChalchiuhtlicue. Xiuhtecuhtli is sometimes considered to be a manifestation ofOmetecuhtli, the Lord of Duality, and according to theFlorentine Codex Xiuhtecuhtli was considered to be the father of the Gods,[10] who dwelled in the turquoise enclosure in the center of earth.[11] Xiuhtecuhtli-Huehueteotl was one of the oldest and most revered of the indigenous pantheon.[12] The cult of the God of Fire, of the Year, and of Turquoise perhaps began as far back as the middlePreclassic period.[13] Turquoise was the symbolic equivalent of fire for Aztec priests.[14] A small fire was permanently kept alive at the sacred center of every Aztec home in honor of Xiuhtecuhtli.[14]

TheNahuatl wordxihuitl means "year" as well as "turquoise" and "fire",[11] and Xiuhtecuhtli was also the god of the year and of time.[15][16] The Lord of the Year concept came from the Aztec belief that Xiuhtecuhtli was theNorth Star.[17] In the 260-day ritualcalendar, the deity was the patron of the dayAtl ("Water") and with thetrecena 1 Coatl ("1 Snake").[15] Xiuhtecuhtli was also one of the nineLords of the Night and ruled the first hour of the night, namedCipactli ("Alligator").[18] Scholars have long emphasized that this fire deity also has aquatic qualities.[13] Xiuhtecuhtli dwelt inside an enclosure of turquoise stones, fortifying himself with turquoise bird water.[19] He is the god of fire in relation to thecardinal directions, just as the brazier for lighting fire is the center of the house or temple.[20] Xiuhtecuhtli was the patron god of the Aztec emperors, who were regarded as his living embodiment at their enthronement.[21] The deity was also one of the patron gods of thepochteca merchant class.[22]

Stone sculptures of Xiuhtecuhtli were ritually buried as offerings, and various statuettes have been recovered during excavations at theGreat Temple ofTenochtitlan with which he was closely associated.[23] Statuettes of the deity from the temple depict a seated male with his arms crossed.[24] A sacred fire was always kept burning in the temples of Xiuhtecuhtli.[25] In gratitude for the gift of fire, the first mouthful of food from each meal was flung into the hearth.[21]

Xiuhtecuhtli is depicted in the Codex Borgia.[26]

Attributes

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The mask of Xiuhtecuhtli, from theBritish Museum, ofAztec orMixtec provenance.[9]

Xiuhtecuhtli's face is painted with black and red pigment.[16] Xiuhtecuhtli was usually depicted adorned with turquoise mosaic, wearing the turquoisexiuhuitzolli crown of rulership on his head and a turquoise butterfly pectoral on his chest,[27] and he often wears a descending turquoisexiuhtototl bird (Cotinga amabilis) on his forehead and the Xiuhcoatl fire serpent on his back.[28] He owns fire serpent earplugs.[12] On his head he has a paper crown painted with different colors and motifs. On top of the crown there are sprays of green feathers, like flames from a fire.[12] He has feather tufts to each side, like pendants, toward his ears. On his back he has plumage resembling a dragon's head, made of yellow feathers with marine conch shells.[12] He has copper bells tied to the insteps of his feet. In his left hand he holds a shield with five greenstones, calledchalchihuites, placed in the form of across on a thin gold plate that covered almost all the shield.[12] In his right hand he has a kind of scepter that was a round gold plate with a hole in the middle, and topped by two globes, one larger than the other, the smaller one had a point.[12] Xiuhtecuhtli is closely associated with youthful warriors and with rulership, and was considered a solar god.[29] His principal symbols are thetecpatl (flint) and themamalhuatzin, the two sticks that were rubbed together to light ceremonial fires.[30] A staff with a deer's head was also an attribute of Xiuhtecuhtli, although not exclusively so as it could also be associated withXochiquetzal and other deities.[31]

Many of the attributes of Xiuhtecuhtli are found associated withEarly PostclassicToltec warriors but clear representations of the god are not common until theLate Postclassic.[28] Thenahual, or spirit form, of Xiuhtecuhtli isXiuhcoatl, the Fire Serpent.[32]

Xiuhtecuhtli was embodied in theteotecuilli, the sacrificial brazier into which sacrificial victims were cast during theNew Fire ceremony.[32] This took place at the end of each cycle of the Aztec calendar round (every 52 years),[33] when the gods were thought to be able to end their covenant with humanity. Feasts were held in honor of Xiuhtecuhtli to keep his favors, and human sacrifices were burned after removing theirheart.

Annual festival

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The annual festival of Xiuhtecuhtli was celebrated inIzcalli, the 18thveintena of the year.[34] The Nahuatl word izcalli means "stone house" and refers to the building where maize used to be dried and roasted between mid-January and mid-February. The whole month was therefore devoted to fire.[14] The Izcalli rituals grew in importance every four years.[35] A framework image of the deity was constructed from wood and was richly finished with clothing, feathers and an elaborate mask.[34] Quails were sacrificed to the idol and their blood spilt before it andcopal was burnt in his honour.[36] On the day of the festival, the priests of Xiuhtecuhtli spent the day dancing and singing before their god.[37] People caught animals, including mammals, birds, snakes, lizards and fish, for ten days before the festival in order to throw them into the hearth on the night of the festival.[38] On the tenth day of Izcalli, during a festival calledhuauhquiltamalcualiztli ("eating of the amaranth leaf tamales"), the New Fire was lighted, signifying the change of the annual cycle and the rebirth of the fire deity.[39] During the night the image of the god was lit with using themamalhuatzin.[40] Food was consumed ritually, including shrimptamales, after first offering it to the god.[38]

Xiuhtecuhtli in his role as one of the lords of the night, from theCodex Borgia.[41]

Every four years a more solemn version of the festival was held at the temple of Xiuhtecuhtli inTenochtitlan, attended by the emperor and his nobles.[42] Slaves and captives were dressed as the deity and sacrificed in his honour.[43] Godparents were assigned to children on this day and the children had their ears ritually pierced. After this, the children, their parents and godparents all shared a meal together.[42]

New Fire Ceremony

[edit]

Xiuhtecuhtli was celebrated often but especially at the end of every 52-year period. This was the time the 365-day solar and the 260-day sacred calendars ended on the same day and the Aztec celebrated the Binding of the Years with theNew Fire Ceremony.[17] In order to perform the ritual, priests marched in solemn procession up theHill of the Star on a peninsula nearCulhuacán to wait for the starYohualtecuhtli (eitherAldebaran in the Taurus constellation or thePleiades as a whole) to get past its zenith. Having ascertained this, they would tear out the heart of a sacrificial victim and kindle a flame in a small wooden hearth they placed inside the hole left in his chest. Priests used a drill method to generate this sacred flame. It was then carried on pine sticks to light the fires anew in every hearth, including the sacred braziers of perpetual fire, that numbered over 600 in the capital alone.[44]

In popular culture

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A set of six postage stamps issued by theRoyal Mail in 2003 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the British Museum featured a mask of Xiuhtecuhtli alongside other Museum objects such as theSutton Hoo helmet andHoa Hakananai'a.[45]

See also

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Notes

[edit]
  1. ^abcCecilio A. Robelo (1905).Diccionario de Mitología Nahoa (in Spanish). Editorial Porrúa. p. 351.ISBN 970-07-3149-9.
  2. ^Website of the British Museum.Archived May 23, 2011, at theWayback Machine
  3. ^Fernández 1992, 1996, p.104. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.476. Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189.
  4. ^Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.433.
  5. ^Olvera, Silvia Limón. "Fire Deities." InDavid Carrasco (ed).The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001
  6. ^Coe & Koontz 2002, p.55.
  7. ^Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.47. (Book I, Chapter XIII).
  8. ^Fernández 1992, 1996, p.104.
  9. ^abMatos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.476.
  10. ^Fernández 1992, 1996, p.104. León-Portilla 2002, pp.25, 26.
  11. ^abMatos Moctezuma 1988, p.94.
  12. ^abcdefLuján 2005, p.140
  13. ^abLuján 2005, p.141
  14. ^abcRoy 2005, p.211
  15. ^abMiller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.190. Smith 1996, 2003, pp.246-7. Díaz & Rodgers 1993, p.xix.
  16. ^abBezanilla 2000, p.25
  17. ^abBingham & Roberts 2010, p.143
  18. ^Díaz & Rodgers 1993, p.xix. Smith 1996, 2003, p.248
  19. ^Luján 2005, p.145.
  20. ^Luján 2005, p.147.
  21. ^abMatos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.447.
  22. ^Coe & Koontz 2002, p.197.
  23. ^Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.172, 476.
  24. ^Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.172.
  25. ^Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.414.
  26. ^Diaz, Gisele; Rodgers, Alan.The Codex Borgia: A Full-Color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript. Dover.ISBN 9780486275697.
  27. ^Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189. Barrera Rodríguez & López Arenas 2008, p.19.
  28. ^abMiller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189.
  29. ^Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.419-20.
  30. ^Fernández 1992, 1996, pp.104-6.
  31. ^Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.468.
  32. ^abFernández 1992, 1996, p.107.
  33. ^Smith 1996, 2003, p.249.
  34. ^abLópez Austin 1998, p.10. Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.47 (Book I, Chapter XIII).
  35. ^Luján 2005, p.143.
  36. ^Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.47 (Book I, Chapter XIII).
  37. ^Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.48 (Book I, Chapter XIII).
  38. ^abLópez Austin 1998, p.10. Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.48 (Book I, Chapter XIII).
  39. ^Luján 2005, p.142.
  40. ^López Austin 1998, p.10.
  41. ^Díaz & Rodgers 1993, pp.xix, 64.
  42. ^abSahagún 1577, 1989, pp.48-9 (Book I, Chapter XIII).
  43. ^López Austin 1998, p.10. Sahagún 1577, 1989, p.98 (Book II, Chapter XVIII).
  44. ^Roy 2005, p.316.
  45. ^CollectGBStamps.

References

[edit]
Primordials
Creator gods
(Four Tezcatlipocas)
Deities
Groups
Places
Beliefs and
practice
Codices
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