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97-520: Since 1810, the name " Aztec ” has been more common when referring to the Mexica and the two names have become largely interchangeable. When a distinction is made, Mexica are one (dominant) group within the Aztecs. The Mexica are eponymous of the place name Mexico ( Mēxihco [meːˈʃiʔkoˀ] ), originally referring to the interconnected settlements in the valley that is now Mexico City . The group

194-550: A constitution the following year whereby a federal form of government was instituted. In the 1824 constitution , which gave rise to the Mexican federation , Estados Unidos Mexicanos (also Estados-unidos mexicanos )—literally the Mexican United States or Mexican United-States (official English translation: United Mexican States )—was adopted as the country's official name. The constitution of 1857 used

291-442: A blended Spanish-Mexican heritage. Although Mexica names were largely suppressed during the colonial period as they were associated with pre-Christian beliefs, they experienced a revival in the 19th century following Mexican independence. Since then, names such as Montezuma , Cuauhtémoc , and Tenoch as first names and surnames have become more prevalent in Mexican culture and among Mexican immigrant communities abroad, such as in

388-412: A design. Many iconographic elements highlight Tezcatlipoca's role as a warrior, including his shield, his anahuatl breastplate, his arrow nose ring , and his spears, or arrows. Scholar Juan José Batalla Rosado has identified an iconographic element unique to depictions of Tezcatlipoca in codices from central Mexico, which both Rosado and Sahagún call the " ezpitzal ." The term is likely derived from

485-489: A province within New Spain. It was not until the independence of the vice-royalty of New Spain that "Mexico" became the traditional short-form name of the country. During the 1810s, different insurgent groups advocated and fought for the independence of the vice-royalty of New Spain. This vast territory was composed of different intendencias and provinces, successors of the kingdoms and captaincies general administered by

582-473: A similar removal, in that it was simplified as f in all words, e.g. philosophía became filosofía .) Nevertheless, there was ambivalence in the application of this rule in Mexican toponyms: México was used alongside Méjico , Texas and Tejas , Oaxaca and Oajaca , Xalixco and Jalisco , etc., as well as in proper and last names: Xavier and Javier , Ximénez and Jiménez , Roxas and Rojas are spelling variants still used today. In any case,

679-492: A snake. Although there are striking similarities between possible earlier imagery of Tezcatlipoca, archaeologists and art historians are split in the debate. It is possible that he is the same god that the Olmec and Maya term their "jaguar deity", or alternately that he is an Aztec expansion on foundations set by the Olmec and Maya, as the Aztecs routinely took deliberate inspiration from earlier Mesoamerican cultures. Tezcatlipoca

776-405: A statue of the god for which copal incense was burned four times a day. The Codex Magliabechiano contains a passage relating Tezcatlipoca with the temascal , or sweatbath. The text states, "when any sick person went to the bath house, [they] offered incense, which they call copal , to the idol and covered the body in black in veneration of the idol they call Tezcatepocatl [Tezcatlipoca], who

873-747: A symbolic gesture. According to one legend, the war deity and patron of the Mexica Huitzilopochtli possessed Mexitl or Mexi as a secret name. Mexico would then mean "Place of Mexi" or "Land of the War God." Another hypothesis suggests that Mēxihco derives from a portmanteau of the Nahuatl words for "moon" ( mētztli ) and navel ( xīctli ). This meaning ("Place at the Center of the Moon") might then refer to Tenochtitlan 's position in

970-410: A tomato, or like a pebble, as if hewn of wood ... He who was thus, without flaw, who had no [bodily] defects, who had no blemishes, no moles, who had no lacerations or wrinkles on his body, they then looked well that he be taught to blow the flute ... For the duration of Toxcatl's preparation, the teixiptla lived as a god would, wearing expensive jewelry and having eight attendants. The young man also

1067-404: A warrior." He would then be wed to four young women, also chosen in advance and isolated for a full year and treated as goddesses. This marriage, occurring after a full year of abstinence, symbolized a period of fertility which followed the drought. The young man would spend his last week singing, feasting and dancing. During the feast where he was worshipped as the deity he personified, he climbed

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1164-531: Is also recounted in the legends of Tollan , wherein Tezcatlipoca deceives Quetzalcoatl, ruler of the legendary city, and forces him into exile. Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca both collaborated in the different creations and that both were seen as instrumental in the creation of life. Karl Taube and Mary Miller, specialists in Mesoamerican studies, write that, "More than anything Tezcatlipoca appears to be

1261-465: Is also shown with two unaltered feet, but does possess the white sandals, armbands, and adorned ears and head of Tezcatlipoca. He also carries arrows and a spear, the typical weapons of the war god. Finally, perhaps coincidentally, the figure is bounded on the left side by the symbols for acatl (reed) and tecpatl (flint knife), both of which are associated with Tezcatlipoca. Depicting either Tezcatlipoca and Xiuhtecutli surrounded by calendrical symbols

1358-428: Is an overall consensus that it is a general holy place to worship the gods, specifically mentioned as "his [Tezcatlipoca's] viewing place". The priests of Tezcatlipoca often wore the ornaments of the god and wore specific garments for different rituals. Most frequently worn were white turkey feather headdresses, a paper loincloth, and a tzanatl stick with similar feathers and paper decorations. Another common practice

1455-552: Is equally logical in both cases, as Tezcatlipoca is represented in other codices in association with the calendar, and Xiuhtecutli was a god of the sun and passage of time. The page also features the ollin symbol, a trecena that additionally represented eras of time, including the five suns . These mythological eras were begun by Tezcatlipoca, but Aztec festivals which celebrated the completion of eras involved worship of Xiuhtecutli. The codex features additional, more standardized depictions of both deities in its later pages. Many of

1552-621: Is full of mysticism, however, as it was pointed out by the Spanish missionary Bernardino de Sahagún . In his mystic interpretation, Mexico could mean "Center of the World," and, in fact, it was represented as such in various codices, as a place where all water currents that cross the Anahuac ("world" or "land surrounded by seas") converge (see image on the Mendoza codex ). It is thus possible that

1649-476: Is known as the United Mexican States . Complications arose with the capital's former colloquial and semi-official name "Ciudad de Mexico, Distrito Federal (Mexico, D.F.)", which appeared on postal addresses and was frequently cited in the media, thus creating a duplication whereas the shortened name was "Mexico, D.F., Mexico". Legally, the name was Distrito Federal (Federal District or District of

1746-681: Is often translated from the Nahuatl as "smoking mirror." It alludes to his connection to obsidian , the material from which mirrors were made in Mesoamerica . They were used for shamanic rituals and prophecy, and as such Tezcatlipoca is additionally associated with divination. Tezcatlipoca had many epithets which alluded to different aspects of his deity and also point to his centrality in Aztec worship. Bernardino de Sahagún , in Book VI of

1843-466: Is one of their major gods." Despite these references, Mary Miller states that the deity actually depicted in codex illustrations and the one more likely to be associated with the temascal is Tlazoteotl . Tezcatlipoca's main feast was Toxcatl, which occurred during the eponymous fifth month of the Aztec calendar . The preparations began a year in advance, when a young man was chosen by priests to become

1940-463: Is produced, and from little cause that which is planted and cultivated withers. It seems to me the Catholic Faith can endure little time in these parts...And now, in the time of this plague, having tested the faith of those who come to confess, very few respond properly prior to the confession; thus we can be certain that, though preached to more than fifty years, if they were now left alone, if

2037-741: Is still no consensus among experts. As far back as 1590, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum showed that the northern part of the New World was known as "America Mexicana" (Mexican America), as Mexico City was the seat for the New Spain viceroyalty. New Spain was not the old name for Mexico, but was in actuality the name of all Spanish colonial possessions in North America , the Caribbean , and The Philippines ; since New Spain

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2134-399: Is surrounded by day signs, implying a sort of mastery over them. A talisman related to Tezcatlipoca was a disc worn as a chest pectoral, called the anahuatl . This talisman was carved out of abalone shell and depicted on the chest of both Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca in codex illustrations. The origins of Tezcatlipoca can be traced to earlier Mesoamerican deities worshipped by

2231-560: Is used infrequently in Spain and Argentina . During the 1990s, the Spanish Royal Academy recommended that México be the normative spelling of the word and all its derivatives, even though this spelling does not match the pronunciation of the word, but that both forms with “x” or “j” are still orthographically correct. Since then, the majority of publications adhere to the new norm in all Spanish-speaking countries even though

2328-554: The Florentine Codex , refers to Tezcatlipoca with 360 different forms. These include: Few representations of Tezcatlipoca survive into the present day, due in large part to a significant portion of codices being destroyed by Catholic priests. Simultaneously, some Aztec texts note that the darkness and omnipresence of Tezcatlipoca make him something akin to "invisible", thus direct representations of him are considered inadequate or even impossible. Still, multiple depictions of

2425-593: The Codex Fejéváry-Mayer , one of the more well-known images from Aztec codices, features a god circumscribed in the 20 trecena , or day symbols, of the Tōnalpōhualli . The exact identity of this god is unclear, but is most likely either Tezcatlipoca or Xiuhtecutli . The figure has yellow and black face paint, as is characteristic of Tezcatlipoca. But as Olivier points out, "gods like Xiuhtecutli or Huitzilopoctli have similar facial painting." The figure

2522-476: The Florentine Codex how the teixiptla must possess certain physical qualities in order to be worthy of becoming Tezcatlipoca: For he who was chosen was of fair countenance, of good understanding and quick, clean body— slender like a reed; long and thin like a stout cane; well-built; not of overfed body, not corpulent, and neither very small nor exceedingly tall. [He was] like something smoothed, like

2619-643: The Holy Roman Empire , whereby the capital gives rise to the name of the Empire. This was the first recorded use of "Mexico" as a country title. After the Empire fell and the Republic was established in 1824, a Federation name form was adopted; which was, at most times, more de jure than de facto . The Mexican name stuck, leading to the formation of the Mexican Republic which formally

2716-591: The Olmec and Maya . Similarities exist between Tezcatlipoca and the patron deity of the K'iche' Maya , Tohil , as described in the Popol Vuh . The name Tohil refers to obsidian and he was associated with sacrifice. The Classic Maya god of rulership and thunder, K'awiil (known to modern Mayanists as "God K", or the "Manikin Scepter"), was depicted with a smoking obsidian knife in his forehead and one leg replaced with

2813-531: The Templo Mayor . According to Diego Durán , it was "lofty and magnificently built. Eighty steps led to a landing twelve or fourteen feet wide. Beyond it stood a wide, long chamber the size of a great hall ...". There were several smaller temples dedicated to Tezcatlipoca in the city, among them the ones called "Tlacochcalco" and "Huitznahuatl". Tezcatlipoca was also worshipped in many other Nahua cities such as Texcoco , Tlaxcala and Chalco . Each temple had

2910-665: The United States . For the 2020 census , the United States government recognized “Aztec” as an ethnicity under the Native American race category. 387,122 people identified themselves as Aztec for the census, making Aztecs the largest non-mixed Native American group in the United States. Like many of the peoples around them, the Mexica spoke Nahuatl which, with the expansion of the Aztec Empire, became

3007-459: The constitutions of 1857 and 1917 . Informally, "Mexico" is used along with "Mexican Republic" ( República Mexicana ). On 22 November 2012, outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderón proposed changing the official name of the country to México . Anahuac (meaning land surrounded by water) was the name in Nahuatl given to what is now Mexico during Pre-colonial times. When the Spanish conquistadors besieged México-Tenochtitlan in 1521, it

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3104-510: The lingua franca in other areas. The form of Nahuatl used in the 16th century, when it began to be written in the Latin alphabet introduced by the Spaniards , became known as Classical Nahuatl . As of 2020, Nahuatl is spoken by over 1.6 million Mexica and other Nahua people, almost 7% of whom do not speak Spanish. Name of Mexico Several hypotheses seek to explain the etymology of

3201-455: The 15th month. For Aztec nobility, this "patron deity" is fundamental in the social and natural phenomena justified by religion during this time. Extreme reverence and respect, characterized by ceremonial proceedings in which priests were "to pay homage" to Tezcatlipoca, or where "citizens waited expectantly" for ceremonial proceedings to start under the low hum of "shell trumpets," were commonplace, especially for this deity. Utter respect from

3298-637: The Aztecs: the culture hero , Quetzalcoatl . In one version of the Aztec creation account the myth of the Five Suns , the first creation, "The Sun of the Earth" was ruled by Tezcatlipoca but destroyed by Quetzalcoatl when he struck down Tezcatlipoca who then transformed into a jaguar. Quetzalcoatl became the ruler of the subsequent creation "Sun of Water", and Tezcatlipoca destroyed the third creation "The Sun of Wind" by striking down Quetzalcoatl. In later myths,

3395-656: The Canary Islands and western Andalusia in Spain where [x] has become a voiceless glottal fricative ( [h] ), while [ˈmeçiko] in Chile and Peruvian coast where voiceless palatal fricative [ ç ] is an allophone of [x] before palatal vowels [i], [e] . México is the predominant Spanish spelling variant used throughout Latin America , and universally used in Mexican Spanish , whereas Méjico

3492-521: The Federation). This ended with the change in status of Mexico City in 2016. Today it is officially called "Ciudad de México, México" abbreviated CDMX, Mexico. The official name of the country is the "United Mexican States" ( Spanish : Estados Unidos Mexicanos ), since it is a federation of thirty-two states . The official name was first used in the Constitution of 1824 , and was retained in

3589-512: The Mexica built grand temples for different purposes. The Templo Mayor (Main Temple) and nearby buildings are rich in the symbolism of Aztec cosmology that linked rain and fertility, warfare, sacrifice, and imperialism with the sacred mission to preserve the sun and the cosmic order. The Templo Mayor was "the site of large-scale sacrifices of enemy warriors which served intertwined political and religious ends (Berdan 1982: 111–119; Carrasco 1991)." It

3686-608: The Mexica people of Tenochtitlan, Mēxihcah Tenochcah, a tribal designation referring only to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, excluding those of Tlatelolco or cōlhuah . The term Aztec is often used very broadly to refer not only to the Mexica, but also to the Nahuatl-speaking peoples of the Valley of Mexico and neighboring regions. After the decline of the Toltecs , about 1200 CE, various Nahua -speaking nomadic peoples entered

3783-485: The Mexican Congress a piece of legislation to change the country's name officially to simply Mexico. To go into effect, the bill would have to be passed by both houses of Congress , as well as a majority of Mexico's 31 state legislatures. Coming within just a week before Calderón turned power over to then president elect Enrique Peña Nieto , many of the president's critics saw the proposal as nothing more than

3880-462: The Nahuatl words for "blood" ( eztli ) and "to become enflamed with anger" or "to rise with anger" ( pitza ). Alternate translations for pitza make reference to blowing or playing instruments like the flute, which appear during the Tozcatl fest and may then have some relation with Tezcatlipoca himself. The term ezpitzal has since been translated as "flow of blood", but Rosado additionally points out

3977-626: The Spanish nation were not to intercede, I am certain that in less than fifty years there would be no trace of the preaching which has been done for them. As a result of their defeat, subjugation, overwork and numerous waves of epidemics, the Mexica population declined dramatically, dropping perhaps as much as 90% by 1600. This number had recovered somewhat by 1821, but following Mexican Independence , Mexica and other indigenous peoples once again found themselves marginalized by government policy, which sought to minimize indigenous Mexican culture in favor of

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4074-486: The Tlaxcaltec-Spanish alliance in 1521. The area was expanded upon in the wake of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and administered from the former Aztec capital as New Spain . The city of Tenochitlan was destroyed, looted and the treasures stolen by the victorious Spanish and Tlaxcaltec soldiers, though not nearly as much gold as the Spanish had hoped for. Many Mexica women were kidnapped and raped by

4171-524: The United States. In the 21st century, the Mexican government does not recognize ethnicity by ancestry but by language spoken, making the number of Mexica people in Mexico difficult to estimate. They are instead broadly grouped together with all Nahuatl-speaking people, collectively known as Nahuas . In 2020, there were estimated to be over 1.6 million Nahuatl speakers living in Mexico, as well as several thousand Nahuatl-speaking immigrants from Mexico living in

4268-616: The Valley of Mexico, possibly all from Aztlan , whose location is unknown. The Mexica were the last group to arrive. There they "encountered the remnants of the Toltec empire (Hicks 2008; Weaver 1972)." According to legend, the Mexica were searching for a sign which one of their main gods, Huitzilopochtli , had given them. They were to find "an eagle with a snake in its beak, perched on a prickly pear cactus," and build their city there. Eventually, they came to Lake Texcoco , where they finally saw

4365-608: The bloody steps of the pyramid with dignity and pride." "The sacrifice itself marked the end of the drought." Immediately after he died a new victim for the next year's ceremony was chosen. Tezcatlipoca was also honoured during the ceremony of the ninth month, when the Miccailhuitontli "Little Feast of the Dead" was celebrated to honour the dead, as well as during the Panquetzaliztli "Raising of Banners" ceremony in

4462-429: The city are references to different names “Azteca,” “Mexica,” or “Tenochca” in the most reliable sources, indicating that a number of different indigenous tribes settled in the area within different primary sources. The name Aztec was coined by Alexander von Humboldt , who combined Aztlán ("place of the heron"), their mythic homeland, and tec(atl) "people of". The term "Aztec" often today refers exclusively to

4559-605: The continental part of New Spain seceded from Spain during the Trienio Liberal , in which Agustin de Iturbide marched triumphantly with his Army of the Three Guarantees (religion, independence, and unity). This was followed by the birth of the short-lived First Mexican Empire that used the "Mexico" name according to the convention used previously by the Roman Empire ( Latin : Imperium Romanum ) and

4656-461: The country. This term, in Nahuatl, was used by the Mexica to refer to the territory they dominated. According to some linguists, it means "near or surrounded by waters", probably about Lake Texcoco , even though it was also the word used to refer to the world or the terrestrial universe (as when used in the phrase Cem Anáhuac , "the entire earth") and in which their capital, Mexico-Tenochtitlan ,

4753-404: The deity exist, and common trends and symbols can be identified. One of the most recognizable iconographic details of Tezcatlipoca is his face paint, called mixchictlapanticac. Most commonly, he is shown with horizontal bands of black and yellow, though codices may vary in which two colors are depicted. Mary Miller has posited that the combination of yellow and black might be a connection to

4850-507: The disused variant can still be found. The same rule applies to all Spanish toponyms in the United States , and on some occasions in the Iberian Peninsula , even though in most official or regional languages of Spain ( Asturian , Leonese and Catalan ) and Portuguese, the x is still pronounced [ʃ] . Tezcatlipoca Tezcatlipoca Classical Nahuatl : Tēzcatlipōca [/teːzcat͡ɬiːˈpoːcaʔ/] ) or Tezcatl Ipoca

4947-491: The eagle and cactus on an island on the lake. There, "they took refuge..., naming their settlement Tenochtitlan (Among the Stone-Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit)." Tenochtitlan was founded in 1325, but other researchers and anthropologists believe the year to be 1345. The city was described by conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo as a grand, well-ordered metropolis. However, the story of its rise from

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5044-446: The earth monster Cipactli . The obsidian mirror may also appear on his chest, as a breastplate, and often is shown emanating smoke — a literal representation of his name and role. In the majority of representations, Tezcatlipoca bears the mirror in one hand, where it is surrounded by feathers of various colors. Tezcatlipoca often wears a headdress of feathers , flowers, and/or flint knives. His head could be additionally ornamented with

5141-733: The embodiment of change through conflict." A large and detailed depiction of Tezcatlipoca appears in the Codex Borgia carrying the 20 day signs of the calendar ; in the Codex Cospi he is shown as a spirit of darkness, as well as in the Codex Laud and the Dresden Codex . His cult was associated with royalty, and was the subject of the most lengthy and reverent prayers in the rites of kingship, as well as being mentioned frequently in coronation speeches. The temple of Tezcatlipoca

5238-458: The equivalent of English sh in "shop"), making "México" pronounced as [ˈmeʃiko] . At the time, Spanish j represented the voiced postalveolar fricative ( [ʒ] , like the English s in "vision", or French j today). However, by the end of the fifteenth century j had evolved into a voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant as well, and thus both x and j represented the same sound ( [ʃ] ). During

5335-647: The four gods who created the world, Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli and Xipe Totec were referred to respectively as the Black, the White, the Blue and the Red Tezcatlipoca. The four Tezcatlipocas were the sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, lady and lord of the duality, and were the creators of all the other gods, as well as the world and all humanity. The rivalry between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca

5432-436: The full length of his arms, the majority of his legs, or any combination thereof can be depicted. Later scholarship has identified the black material with which the god was supposedly painted as tezcatlipoctli. He is often depicted with various symbolic objects in place of his right foot, such as an obsidian mirror , bone, or a serpent. This is an allusion to the creation myth, in which Tezcatlipoca loses his foot battling with

5529-488: The gods. Most were sung to praise the highest deities, including Tezcatlipoca, who was often addressed as the "Giver of Life". In one hymn, he is mentioned as being both the creator and destroyer of the world, and both as a poet and a scribe. Everyone, including commoners, high priests, and the king, were involved in some aspect of the Toxcatl ceremonies. Tezcatlipoca was often described as a rival of another important god of

5626-443: The highest position of Aztec nobility, the king, shown through the figurative and literal nakedness of his presence in front of Tezcatlipoca. The king would stand "naked, emphasizing his utter unworthiness", speaking as nothing but a vessel for the god's will. The new king would claim his spiritual nakedness symbolically through words and physical vulnerability, praising Tezcatlipoca with lines such as: O master, O our lord, O lord of

5723-627: The invaders, with the higher-ranking soldiers taking the more attractive women for themselves. Forbidden from resettling in their destroyed home, which was rebuilt as Mexico City , the Mexica were forced to submit to the King of Spain, receive baptism and convert to Christianity. Mexica rituals and worship were banned and harshly suppressed, and the images of their gods were cast down and destroyed by Spanish monks. Mexica children were forcibly taken to newly established Christian schools where they were indoctrinated into Christian beliefs and Spanish culture, and

5820-434: The island of Mexico (where Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco were located) in their native Nahuatl; implying that instead of Mexica being the source of the name 'Mexico', the opposite would be true. The Nahuatl word Mēxihco ( Nahuatl pronunciation: [meːˈʃiʔko] ) was transliterated as "México" using Medieval Spanish orthography, in which the x represented the voiceless postalveolar fricative ( [ʃ] ,

5917-419: The jaguar, with which Tezcatlipoca is associated. Black is the foremost color associated with Tezcatlipoca, not only because of his role as a god of nighttime and darkness, but to differentiate him from the other three so-called Tezcatlipocas (Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopoctli, and Xipe-Totec) and their respective colors (white, blue, and red). Which parts of his body are painted black varies by site; half of his leg,

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6014-433: The land from her body. After that, they created the people, and people had to offer sacrifices to comfort Cipactli for her sufferings. Because of this, Tezcatlipoca is depicted with a missing foot. Following this, Tezcatlipoca turned himself into the sun. As a result of his transformation, this and all subsequent ages of humanity were referred to as the five suns . Quetzalcoatl was furious, so he knocked Tezcatlipoca out of

6111-426: The likeness of Tezcatlipoca. This individual was called the teixiptla or "deity impersonator" and was chosen to ceremonially represent the god to the Aztec people. The teixiptla was usually selected from among captive warriors, and the chosen individual was bathed and ceremoniously cleansed for the role that he was to undertake. Sometimes, slaves were purchased for the ceremony. Benardino de Sahagún describes in

6208-531: The middle of Lake Texcoco . The system of interconnected lakes, of which Texcoco formed the center, had the form of a rabbit, which the Mesoamericans pareidolically associated with the moon . Still another hypothesis offers that it is derived from Mectli, the goddess of maguey . These last two suggestions are deprecated by linguist Frances Karttunen, since the final form "Mēxihco" differs in vowel length from both proposed elements. Nahua toponymy

6305-540: The muddy lake beds in the Valley of Mexico is one of unrelenting struggle, rivalries, conflict, and suffering. A dissident group of Mexica separated from the main body and built another city on an island north of Tenochtitlan in 1337. Calling their new home Tlatelolco ("Place of the Spherical Earth Mound"), the Tlatelolca were to become Tenochtitlan's persistent rivals in the Valley of Mexico. After

6402-513: The name Mexico (México in modern Spanish ) which dates, at least, back to 14th century Mesoamerica . Among these are expressions in the Nahuatl language such as, "Place in the middle of the century plant " ( Mexitli ) and "Place in the Navel of the Moon" ( Mēxihco ) along with the currently used shortened form in Spanish, "belly button of the moon" ( "el ombligo de la luna" ), used in both 21st century speech and literature. Presently, there

6499-425: The name América Mexicana ("Mexican America") was chosen for the country. The head of the insurgent forces, however, was defeated by the royalist forces, and the constitution was never enacted. Servando Teresa de Mier , in a treatise written in 1820 in which he discussed the reasons why New Spain was the only overseas territory of Spain that had not yet secured its independence, chose the term Anáhuac to refer to

6596-405: The near, of the night, O night, O wind ... Poor am I. In what manner shall I act for thy city? In what manner shall I act for the governed, for the vassals (macehualtin)? For I am blind, I am deaf, I am an imbecile, and in excrement, in filth hath my lifetime been ... Perhaps thou mistaketh me for another; perhaps thou seekest another in my stead For kings, lords, priests, and citizens alike,

6693-407: The new king fasted and meditated, "which included prayers in honor of Tezcatlipoca, the patron deity of the royal house". Tezcatlipoca's priests were offered into his service by their parents as children, often because they were sick. These children would then have their skin painted black and be adorned with quail feathers in the image of the god. Sacred hymns were also chanted at ceremonies to honor

6790-407: The other meanings (or even the "secret name" Mexi) were then popular pseudoetymologies . The name Mexico has been commonly described to be a derivative from Mexica , the autonym of the Aztec people, but said affirmation is controversial as there are many competing etymologies for both terms and given the fact that in many old sources, 'Mexica' simply appears as the way to call the inhabitants of

6887-697: The rise of the Aztec Triple Alliance , the Tenochca Mexica, the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan, assumed a dominant position over their two allied city-states, Texcoco and Tlacopan . Only a few years after Tenochtitlan was founded, the Mexica dominated the political landscape in Central Mexico until being defeated by the Spanish and their indigenous allies, mainly enemies of the Mexica, in 1519. Once established in Tenochtitlan,

6984-408: The same time period, even though that due to historicity, the correct spelling would have been exército ). The Real Academia Española , the institution in charge of regulating the Spanish language, was established in 1713, and its members agreed to simplify spelling, and set j to represent /x/ regardless of the original spelling of the word, and x to represent /ks/ . (The ph spelling underwent

7081-460: The sense of rage and violence the ezpitzal is meant to signify—an element which points to Tezcatlipoca's nature and his role as a god of conflict. The ezpitzal is one or more streams of blood shown emanating from Tezcatlipoca's head, sometimes accompanied by the symbol for a flint knife or a heart. In some cases, the idea of the ezpitzal was artistically transformed into a headband or garland, adorned with flowers or stones. The frontispiece of

7178-404: The service of Tezcatlipoca, one of them likely being the one Sahagún calls " huitznahuac teohua omacatl ". Others were the calmeca teteuctin who were allowed to eat the ritual food offered to Tezcatlipoca, still more accompanied the impersonator of Tezcatlipoca in the year prior to his execution. Honoring Tezcatlipoca was fundamental to both the priesthood and the nobility. "On his installation",

7275-432: The sincerity of the Mexica conversion to Christianity was questioned by some of the Spanish missionaries, such as the monk Bernardino de Sagagún , who wrote during another epidemic in 1576 that he was doubtful of a permanent Christian presence in Mexico. [A]s regards the Catholic Faith, [Mexico] is a sterile land and very laborious to cultivate, where the Catholic Faith has very shallow roots, and with much labor little fruit

7372-495: The sixteenth century this sound evolved into a voiceless velar fricative ( [x] , like the ch in Scottish "loch"), and México began to be pronounced [ˈmexiko] . Given that both x and j represented the same new sound ( /x/ ), and in lack of a spelling convention, many words that originally had the /ʃ/ sound, began to be written with j (e.g. it wasn't uncommon to find both exército and ejército used during

7469-403: The sky with a stone club. Angered, Tezcatlipoca turned into a jaguar and destroyed the world. Quetzalcoatl, then, replaced him as the sun and started the second age of the world, and it became populated again. Tezcatlipoca overthrew Quetzalcoatl, forcing him to send a great wind that devastated the world, and the people who survived were turned into monkeys. Tlaloc , the god of rain, then became

7566-610: The spelling Méjico for the name of the country is little used in Mexico or the rest of the Spanish-speaking world today. The Real Academia Española itself recommends the spelling "México". In present-day Spanish, México is pronounced [ˈmexiko] or [ˈmehiko] , the latter pronunciation used mostly in dialects of southern Mexico, the Caribbean, much of Central America, some places in South America, and

7663-401: The stairs to the top of the temple on his own where the priests seized him, a time in which he proceeded to symbolically crush "one by one the clay flutes on which he had played in his brief moment of glory", and then was sacrificed, his body being eaten later. The young man would approach this sacrifice willingly, as being sacrificed in this manner was a great honor. "Sacrificial victims mounted

7760-470: The sun. But he had his wife stolen away by Tezcatlipoca. Angered in turn, he would not make it rain for several years until, in a fit of rage, he made it rain fire. The few people who survived the assault turned into the birds. Chalchiuhtlicue the Water Goddess then became the sun. However, she was crushed by Tezcatlipoca's accusation that she only pretended to be kind. She cried for many years and

7857-459: The surviving Mexica men and women were sent to work in newly-established Spanish estates, known as haciendas , as well as mines and other civil projects, such as digging canals. Some of the remaining military and nobility, including the last emperor, Cuauhtémoc , were conscripted to assist in further Spanish invasions, such as in Guatemala , to prevent any possibility of insurrection. However,

7954-475: The symbol for smoke. Heron feathers or balls of eagle down, like that from which Huitzilopochtli was born, often adorned his head, clothing, and shield. He variably wore earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and other jewelry, all rendered in precious materials like gold and jade . A motif of skulls and crossbones is recorded appearing in some pictures, but likely would have followed the European popularization of such

8051-583: The temples associated with Tezcatlipoca are built facing east–west, as Olivier quotes Felipe Solis: "the sacred building of the war god [Tezcatlipoca] was in direct relation with the movement of the sun, in the same manner of the Great Temple was, their façades being towards the West". There are also several references to momoztli . Although the exact definition of the momoztli is unknown, with definitions varying from "mound", "stone seat" and "temple", there

8148-500: The term República Mexicana ( Mexican Republic ) interchangeably with Estados Unidos Mexicanos ; the current constitution, promulgated in 1917 , only uses the latter and United Mexican States is the normative English translation. The name "Mexican Empire" was briefly revived from 1863 to 1867 by the conservative government that instituted a constitutional monarchy for a second time under Maximilian of Habsburg . On 22 November 2012, incumbent President Felipe Calderón sent to

8245-610: The vice-regal capital of Mexico City. In 1813, the deputies of the Congress of Anahuac signed the document Acta Solemne de la Declaración de Independencia de la América Septentrional , (" Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America "). In 1814 the Supreme Congress of the revolutionary forces that met at Apatzingán (in today's state of Michoacán ) drafted the first constitution , in 1814 whereby

8342-476: The world was destroyed by the resulting floods. Those who survived the deluge were turned into fish. According to Aztec belief, Tezcatlipoca had a great many associations: the night sky , night winds, hurricanes , the north, the earth, obsidian , hostility, discord, rulership, divination , temptation, jaguars , sorcery, beauty, war , and conflict. His main temple in Tenochtitlan was located south of

8439-418: 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 Omecihuatl , the primordial dual deity. His main festival was Toxcatl , which, like most religious festivals of Aztec culture, involved human sacrifice . Tezcatlipoca's nagual , his animal counterpart,

8536-463: Was a double pyramid-temple dedicated to Tlaloc, the ancient Central Mexican rain god, and Huitzilopochtli, the Mexica tribal nomen, who, as the politically dominant deity in Mexico, was associated with the sun. Over time, the Mexica separated Huitzilopochtli from Tezcatlipoca , another god that was more predominantly idolized, redefining their relative realms of power, reshaping the myths, and making him politically superior. The Mexica were overthrown by

8633-402: Was almost completely destroyed. It was rebuilt during the following three years, after which it was designated as a municipality and capital of the vice-royalty of New Spain . In 1524 the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenustitlan , and as of 1585 became officially known simply as Ciudad de México . The name Mexico was used only to refer to the city, and later to

8730-547: Was also known as the Culhua-Mexica in recognition of its kinship alliance with the neighboring Culhua , descendants of the revered Toltecs , who occupied the Toltec capital of Tula for several centuries. The Mexica of Tenochtitlan were additionally referred to as the " Tenochca ," a term associated with the name of their altepetl (city-state), Tenochtitlan , and Tenochtitlan's founding leader, Tenoch .The builders of

8827-478: Was at the centre and at the same time at the centre of the waters, being built on an island in a lake. In September 1821, the independence of Mexico was finally recognized by Spain, achieved through an alliance of royalist and revolutionary forces. The former tried to preserve the status quo of the vice-royalty, menaced by the liberal reforms taking place in Spain, through the establishment of an autonomous constitutional monarchy under an independence hero. Agustín

8924-523: Was crowned and given the titles of: Agustin de Iturbide por la divina providencia y por el Congreso de la Nación, primer Emperador Constitucional de Mexico (Agustín de Iurbide First Constitutional Emperor of Mexico by Divine Providence and by the Congress of the Nation). The name chosen for the country was Imperio Mexicano , "Mexican Empire" . The empire collapsed in 1823, and the republican forces drafted

9021-420: Was dressed in the likeness of the god and people on the streets would worship him as such when encountered. "For one year he lived a life of honor," the handsome young man "worshipped literally as the embodiment of the deity". During the last 20 days before being sacrificed, the teixiptla had their appearance transformed back to that of a warrior. "He had been a warrior who was captured, and he ended his life as

9118-473: Was in the Great Precinct of Tenochtitlan . In one of the Aztec accounts of creation, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca joined forces to create the world. Before their act there was only the sea and the primordial, crocodilian earth monster called Cipactli . To attract her, Tezcatlipoca used his foot as bait for Cipactli, and she, in turn, ate it. The two gods then captured her, and distorted her to make

9215-542: Was not actually a state or a contiguous piece of land, in modern times, "Mexico" would have been a jurisdiction under the command of the authorities in modern Mexico City . Under the Spaniards, Mexico was both the name of the capital and its sphere of influence, most of which exists as Greater Mexico City and the State of Mexico . Some parts of Puebla , Morelos and Hidalgo were also part of Spanish-era Mexico. In 1821,

9312-502: Was the jaguar . In the form of a jaguar he became the deity Tepeyollotl ("Mountainheart"). In one of the two main Aztec calendars (the Tonalpohualli ), Tezcatlipoca ruled the trecena 1 Ocelotl ("1 Jaguar"); he was also patron of the days with the name Acatl ("reed"). A strong connection with the calendar as a whole is suggested by his depiction in texts such as the Codex Borgia and Codex Fejéváry-Mayer , where Tezcatlipoca

9409-468: Was to cover themselves in black soot or ground charcoal while they were involved in priestly activities at the temple or during rituals. They would also cover the sick and newly appointed king in a similar manner with a black ointment to encourage an association with the god. When the ritual called for it, priests would also dress up as Tezcatlipoca himself and accompany other similarly outfitted gods or goddesses. Several types of priests were dedicated to

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