Mictlāntēcutli or Mictlantecuhtli (, meaning "Lord of Mictlan"), in

Aztec mythology Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were a culture living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend ...

, is a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan (Chicunauhmictlan), the lowest and northernmost section of the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

. He is one of the principal gods of the

Aztecs The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...

and is the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld. The worship of Mictlantecuhtli sometimes involved ritual cannibalism, with human flesh being consumed in and around the temple. Other names given to Mictlantecuhtli include Ixpuztec (“Broken Face”), Nextepehua (“Scatterer of Ashes”), and Tzontemoc (“He Who Lowers His Head”). Two life-size clay statues of Mictlantecuhtli were found marking the entrances to the House of

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

to the north of the Great Temple of

Tenochtitlan , also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th annivers ...

Attributes

Mictlantecuhtli was considered tall and was depicted as a blood-spattered skeleton or a person wearing a toothy skull.Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.113. Although his head was typically a skull, his eye sockets did contain eyeballs.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.206. His headdress was shown decorated with owl feathers and paper banners and he wore a necklace of human eyeballs, while his

earspool A plug (sometimes earplug or earspool), in the context of body modification, is a short, cylindrical piece of jewelry commonly worn in larger-gauge body piercings. Modern western plugs are also called flesh tunnels. Because of their size—which ...

s were made from human bones.Fernández 1992, 1996, p.142. He was not the only Aztec god to be depicted in this fashion, as numerous other deities had skulls for heads or else wore clothing or decorations that incorporated bones and skulls. In the Aztec world, skeletal imagery was a symbol of fertility, health and abundance, alluding to the close symbolic links between life and death. He was often depicted wearing sandals as a symbol of his high rank as Lord of Mictlan.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.434. His arms were frequently depicted raised in an aggressive gesture, showing that he was ready to tear apart the dead as they entered his presence. In the

Aztec codices Aztec codices ( , sing. ''codex'') are Mesoamerican manuscripts made by the pre-Columbian Aztec, and their Nahuatl-speaking descendants during the colonial period in Mexico. Most of their content is pictorial in nature and they come from ...

, Mictlantecuhtli is often depicted with his skeletal jaw open to receive the stars that descend into him during the daytime. His wife was Mictecacihuatl, and together they were said to dwell in a windowless house in Mictlan. Mictlantecuhtli was associated with

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s, the 11th hour, and the northern compass direction, known as Mictlampa, the region of death. He was one of only a few deities held to govern over all three types of souls identified by the Aztecs, who distinguished between the souls of people who died normal deaths (of old age, disease, etc.), heroic deaths (e.g. in battle, sacrifice or during childbirth), or non-heroic deaths. Mictlantecuhtli and his wife were the opposites and complements of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the givers of life.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.458. Mictlantecuhtli was the god of the day sign ''Itzcuintli'' (

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

), one of the 20 such signs recognised in the

Aztec calendar The Aztec or Mexica calendar is the calendar, calendrical system used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian era, Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of Mexico, peoples of central Mexico. It is one of the Mesoamerican calendars, sharing the bas ...

, and was regarded as supplying the souls of those who were born on that day. He was seen as the source of souls for those born on the sixth day of the 13-day week and was the fifth of the nine Night Gods of the Aztecs. He was also the secondary Week God for the 10th week of the 20-week cycle of the calendar, joining the sun god Tonatiuh to symbolise the dichotomy of light and darkness. In the Colonial

Codex Vaticanus 3738 The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

, Mictlantecuhtli is labelled in Spanish as "the lord of the underworld,

Tzitzimitl A Tzitzimītl (plural Tzitzimīmeh) is a type of celestial deity associated with stars in Aztec mythology. They were depicted as skeletal female figures wearing skirts often with skull and crossbones designs. In post-conquest descriptions they are ...

Myths

In Aztec mythology, after Quetzalcoatl and

Tezcatlipoca Tezcatlipoca ( ) or Tezcatl Ipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion. He is associated with a variety of concepts, including the night sky, hurricanes, obsidian, and conflict. He was considered one of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omec ...

created the world, they put their creation in order and placed Mictlantecuhtli and his wife, Mictecacihuatl, in the underworld. According to Aztec legend, the twin gods Quetzalcoatl and

Xolotl In Aztec mythology, Xolotl () was a god of fire and lightning. He was commonly depicted as a dog-headed man and was a soul-guide for the dead. He was also god of twins, monsters, death, misfortune, sickness, and deformities. Xolotl is the canin ...

were sent by the other gods to steal the bones of the previous generation of humans from Mictlantecuhtli. The god of the underworld sought to block Quetzalcoatl's escape with the bones and, although he failed, he forced Quetzalcoatl to drop the bones, which were scattered and broken by the fall. The shattered bones were collected by Quetzalcoatl and carried back to the land of the living, where the gods transformed them into the various races of mortals. When a person died, they were interred with grave goods, which they carried with them on the long and dangerous journey to the underworld. Upon arrival in Mictlan these goods were offered to Mictlantecuhtli and his wife. In another myth, the shrewd god of death agrees to give the bones to Quetzalcóatl if he can completely finish what would appear to be a simple test. The god informs Quetzalcóatl that he has to travel through his kingdom four times, while a shell sounds out like a trumpet. However, in place of giving Quetzalcóatl the shell from Mictlantecuhtl he gives him a normal shell, without holes in it. In order to not be mocked, Quetzalcóatl beckons the worms to come out and perforate the shell, thus creating holes. He then calls the bees to enter the shell and to make it sound out like a trumpet. (As an emblem of his power over wind and life, Quetzalcóatl is commonly depicted wearing a cut shell over his chest, this shell represents the same shell that

Ehécatl Ehecatl ( , ) is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica. He is most usually interpreted as the aspect of the Feathered S ...

, the god of the wind, wears). MictlantecuhtliByPhilKonstantin

Whilst listening to the roar of the trumpet, Mictlantecuhtl, at first, decides to allow Quetzalcóatl to take all of the bones from the last creation, but then quickly changes his mind. Nevertheless, Quetzalcóatl is more astute than Mictlantecuhtl and his minions and escapes with the bones. Mictlantecuhtli, now very angry, orders his followers to create a very deep pit. While Quetzalcóatl is running away with the bones he is startled by a

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

, which causes him to fall into the pit. He falls into the pit and dies (or so it would appear), and is subsequently tormented by the animal (the quail), and the bones he is carrying are scattered. The quail then begins to gnaw on the bones. Despite the fall, Quetzalcóatl is eventually revived and gathers all of the broken bones. It is for this reason that people today come in all different sizes. Once he has escaped from the underworld, Quetzalcóatl carries the precious cargo to

Tamoanchan Tamōhuānchān is a mythical location of origin known to the Mesoamerican cultures of the central Mexican region in the Late Postclassic period. In the mythological traditions and creation accounts of Late Postclassic peoples such as the Azte ...

, a place of miraculous origin.

In popular culture

Mictlantecuhtli has appeared in the animated movie of ''La leyenda de las Momias'' by Anima Estudios. In the movie the deity is responsible for bringing the dead back to life in the city of Guanajuato. He also appeared towards the end of the short film "God of Death", the second segment in the 2023

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

V/H/S/85 ''V/H/S/85'' is a 2023 found footage horror anthology film produced by Studio71 and Bloody Disgusting. The sequel to ''V/H/S/99'' (2022), it is the sixth installment in the ''V/H/S'' franchise. Set in 1985, the film comprises five found foot ...

''. In the segment, a Mexican news station faces an earthquake, and while evacuating survivors from the wreckage, find an underground temple to Mictlantecuhtli, who rises and possesses or kills most of the main characters in the short.

Notes

References

* * *Luján, Leonardo López, and Scott Sessions. "Death Deities." In Carrasco David (ed). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001 * * * * * Leeming, David Adams (2005).''The Oxford companion to world mythology''. New York: Oxford U Press. Print. Austin, Alfredo López, Guilhem Olivier, and Russ Davidson (2015).''The Myth of Quetzalcoatl: Religion, Rulership, and History in the Nahua World''. Boulder: U Press of Colorado. Print.

External links