Closely as J. G. Müller studied the character of Quetzalcoatl, his examination of that of Huitzilopochtli, has been still more minute and was indeed the subject of a monograph published by him in 1847. A student of the subject cannot afford to overlook this study, and I translate the more important parts of it in the paragraphs which follow; not, indeed, either for or against the interests of the theory it supports, but for the sake of the accurate and detailed handling, rehandling, and grouping there, by a master in this department of mythological learning, of almost all the data relating to the matter in hand:—
Huitzilopochtli has been already referred to as an original god of the air and of heaven. He agrees also with Quetzalcoatl in a second capital point, in having become the anthropomorphic national god of the Aztecs, as Quetzalcoatl of the Toltecs. On their marches and in their wars, in the establishment of codes and towns, in happiness as well as in misfortune, the Aztecs were guided by his oracle, by the spirit of his being. As the Toltecs, especially in their later national character, differ from the Aztecs, so differ their two chief national gods. If the capital of the Toltecs, Cholula, resembled modern Rome in its religious efforts, so the god enthroned there was transformed into the human form of a high-priest, in whom this people saw his human ideal. In the same manner one might be led to compare the capital of the Aztecs with ancient Rome, on account of its warlike spirit, and therefore it was right to make the national god of the Aztecs a war god like the Roman Mars.
THE NAME HUITZILOPOCHTLI.
We will commence with the name of the god, which, according to Sahagun, Acosta, Torquemada, and most of the writers, signifies 'on the left side a humming-bird;' from huitzilin, 'a humming-bird,' and opochtli, 'left.' In connecting the Aztec words, the ending is cut off. The image of the god had in reality, frequently, the feathers of the humming-bird on the left foot. The connection of this bird with the god is, in many ways, appropriate. It no doubt appeared to them as the most beautiful of birds, and as the most worthy representant of their chief deity. Does not its crest glitter like a crown set with rubies and all kinds of precious stones? The Aztecs have accordingly, in their way, called the humming-bird, 'sun-beam,' 'or sun-hair;' as its alighting upon flowers, is like that of a sun-beam. The chief god of the Caribs, Juluca, is also decorated with a band of its feathers round the forehead. The ancient Mexicans had, as their most noble adornment, state-mantles of the same feathers, so much praised by Cortés; and even at the present time the Aztec women adorn their ears with these plumes. This humming-bird decoration on the left foot of the god was not the only one; he had also a green bunch of plumage upon his head, shaped like the bill of a small bird. The shield in his left hand was decorated with white feathers, and the whole image was at times covered with a mantle of feathers. To the general virtues which make comprehensible the humming-bird attribute as a divine one, must be added the special virtue of bravery peculiar to this bird, which is specially suited to the war god. The English traveler Bullock tells how this bird distinguishes itself for its extraordinary courage, attacking others ten times its own size, flying into their eyes, and using its sharp bill as a most dangerous weapon. Nothing more daring can be witnessed than its attack upon other birds of its own species, when it fears disturbance during the breeding-season. The effects of jealousy transform these birds into perfect furies, the throat swells, the crest on their head, the tail, and the wings are expanded; they fight whistling in the air, until one of them falls exhausted to the ground. That such a martial spirit should exist in so small a creature shows the intensity of this spirit; and the religious feeling is the sooner aroused, when the instrument of a divine power appears in so trifling and weak a body. The small but brave and warlike woodpecker stood in a similar relation to Mars, and is accordingly termed picus martius.
This, the most common explanation of the name Huitzilopochtli, as 'humming-bird, left side' is not followed by Veytia, with whom Prichard agrees. He declares the meaning of the name to be 'left hand,' from huitzitoc, 'hand,' because Huitzilopochtli, according to the fable, after his death, sits on the left side of the god Tezcatlipoca, Now, Huitzilopochtli is in another place considered as the brother of this god; he also stands higher, and can therefore scarcely have obtained his name from his position with respect to the other deity. Besides, hand in Aztec is properly translated as maitl, or toma.
Over and above this attribute which gives the god his name, there are others which point towards the conception of a war god. Huitzilopochtli had, like Mars and Odin, the spear, or a bow, in his right hand, and in the left, sometimes a bundle of arrows, sometimes a round white shield, on the side of which were the four arrows sent him from heaven wherewith to perform the heroic deeds of his people. On these weapons depended the welfare of the state, just as on the ancile of the Roman Mars, which had fallen from the sky, or on the palladium of the warlike Pallas Athena.
By-names also point out Huitzilopochtli as war god; for he is called the terrible god, Tetzateotl, or the raging, Tetzahuitl. These names he received at his birth, when he, just issued from his mother's womb, overthrew his adversaries.
KINDRED OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.
Not less do his connections indicate his warlike nature. His youngest brother, Tlacahuepancuextotzin, was also a war god, whose statue existed in Mexico, and who received homage, especially in Tezcuco. In still closer relationship to him stands his brother-in-arms, or, as Bernal Diaz calls him, his page, Paynalton, that is, 'the fleet one;' he was the god of the sudden war alarm, tumultus or general levée en masse; his call obliged all capable of bearing arms to rush to the defence. He is otherwise considered as the representant of Huitzilopochtli and subordinate to him, for he was only a small image, as Diaz says, and as the ending ton denotes. The statue of this little war-crier was always placed upon the altar of Huitzilopochtli, and sometimes carried round at his feast.
Other symbolic attributes establish Huitzilopochtli as the general national god of this warlike people, and symbolized his personal presence. On the march from the ancient home, the priests took their turn, in fours, to carry his wooden image, with the little flag fallen from heaven, and the four arrows. The litter, upon which the image was carried, was called the 'chair of god,' teoicpalli, and was a holy box, such as was used among the Etruscans and Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans, in Ilium, among the Japanese, among the Mongols. In America, the Cherokees are also found with such an ark. The ark of the covenant carried by the Levites through the desert and in battle, was of a similar kind. Wherever the Aztecs halted for some time during their wanderings, they erected an altar or a sacrifice mound to their god, upon which they placed this god's-litter with the image; which ancient observance they kept up, in later times, in their temples. By its side they erected a movable tent, tabernaculum, (Stiftshütte), in the open country, as is customary among nomadic people, such as the Mongols. The god, however, gave them the codes and usages of a cultured people, and received offerings of prisoners, hawks, and quails.