Tecciztecatl

Tecciztecatl (also Tecuciztecal or Tecuciztecatl ) was in the Aztec mythology, the god of the moon, representing the male aspect of it. He was the son of Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicues. In Nahuatl, his name means God of the Old Moon. He was also called the out of the land of sea snail shell.

Appearance

Tecciztecatl is often depicted with a large white seashell on his back, symbolizing the moon. At times he has butterfly wings.

Creation myth

In the Aztec creation myth Tecciztecatl played an important role. According to the Leyenda de los soles and the Florentine Codex was Teotihuacan, 40 kilometers north of Tenochtitlan, the site of the start time where the gods came to who who should shed light on the night of the day and them. It reported to the haughty Tecciztecatl. The gods, however named or a second candidate: the humble Nanahuatzin. The competition of the two candidates was to to jump after days of penance and fasting exercise in a pyre and to sacrifice it. While Tecciztecatl -fed his funeral pyre with the finest materials and the offerings Nanahuatzins were initially modest. When the gods both eventually ask you to jump into the fire himself, but hesitates Tecciztecatl four times while his opponent went into the fire to itself regardless.

Only when Tecciztecatl saw the heroism of his competitors, he also took heart and jumped. But to become sun god, that was too late. After both were burned, Nanahuatzin appeared for the sun god Tonatiuh mutated in the eastern sky and dominates since the era of the Fifth Sun. For Tecciztecatl just stay the role of a moon god left. Since the gods namely feared that two suns could burn the earth, one of them Tecciztecatl threw a rabbit 's face, which reduced its luminosity to the level of the moon. Tecciztecatl turned into the moon god Metztli.