![]() There were different types of knives, some of them allude to human sacrifice, being carved as a skull silhouette, where the nose was used as the cutting edge of the weapon. The most widespread sacrificial procedure among Aztecs, was removal of the heart. ![]() The tecpatl was used by Aztec priests to open the chest of the victims of human sacrifice to extract the heart that would feed the gods, in the hope that the offerings would bring blessings to mankind. The tecpatl or sacrificial knife, was an important element in Aztec rituals. Sacrifice of a war captive (Image based on the Codex Magliabechiano) Tecpatl Year 1 (1168): the Aztec people left their place of origin, Aztlán, to undertake a long and difficult journey through the arid northern lands, part of what is now known as Mexico City. On day Ce Tecpatl(One Flint), there was a festival dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, patron god of Tenochtitlan. In the trecena of Ce Tecpatl(One Flint), the gods were Tonatiuh and Mictlantecuhtli. Their patron gods were: Chalchiuhtotolin and Tezcatlipoca. The image of the tecpatl was a lunar symbol and therefore ruled agricultural events. According to Diego Durán, the former Anahuac considered the tecpatl as the worst sign of the zodiac, because the men and women born under this sign were happy but prone to infertility. ![]() It also relates to Ehecatl, since in the codices it's represented by high winds, meaning that the air cuts like razor, so it represented xopantla ( spring ), the time of high winds. The ancient Anahuac, considered the Tecpatl as a symbol of Xiuhtecuhtli tletl (fire protector of the grass or fire protector of the year), being the oldest method to produce sparks(and fire) by colliding two flints. Tecpatl was associated with Northern cardinal point ( Mictlan)., the dark place of eternal stillness and rest of the dead. In Aztec mythology, the tecpatl was sometimes drawn as a simple flint blade, sharpened with some notches on the edge, in the Codex Borgia it appears red. Tecpatl (sacrificial knife), image based on the Codex Borgia Three different invocations of the primordial mothers: skirt stars, She of the Jade Skirt, the snake woman who is at once a warrior deity, Tecpatl mother of the fourhundreth Centonmimixcoa born, the first gods on earth, in Chicomoztoc, the womb of the peoples. ![]() In the version that is temporary marker Tecpatl birth, the mother is Iztac Chalchiuhtlicue, and in rites the mother of Tecpatl is Cihuacoatl. In the version where the Centzonmimixcoa are born from the Tecpatl, the mother's name is Citlalinicue. When the other women looked at what was in it, it was a flint and iron were sandeel, with which they killed those whom they sacrificed." Meanwhile, Duran tells his priests" sought a child cot and put into it a flint knife with which they sacrificed the one they called the son of Cihuacoatl." "Among the ornaments worn by the women representing Cihuacoatl at parties, they also brought a crib on their back, so to bring your child in it, and stood in the tianguis among the other women, and disappearing left the crib there. In the version of the Legend of the Five Suns, Tecpatl becomes temporal marker of the birth of the Centzonmimixcoa, and the name of the mother goddess switches to Iztac Chalchiuhtlicue(She of the Jade Skirt).Īccording to Bernardino de Sahagún and Diego Durán they present the homology between this myth and ritual. Then they went into a cave and upon entering, their mother gave birth to five more Mimixcoa". This is confirmed by another version of the myth where the Flint serves as a temporary event marker, appearing as a calendar date, as a carrier of the year Centzonmimixcoa are born: "In year 1 Tecpatl Centzonmimixcoa were born, Iztac Chalchiuhtlicue (She of the Jade Skirt) begat the fourhundreth mixcohua. These gods emerging from the Seven Caves are the Centzonmimixcoa (four hundred cloud snakes, or “countless cloud snakes” - in Nāhuatl, 400 is used to express being countless). It falls in Chicomoztoc(The Place of the Seven Caves) primary array of peoples, fragmenting into 1600 pieces, and from those fragments a thousand and six hundred gods emerge, the first gods here on earth. The Tecpatl was born in the height of heaven shaped as a knife, and was thrown down by his brother, and it was destined to descend from heaven to earth. This knife expresses multiple meanings that carry a complex view of the world which are closely associated with the notions of origin and human sacrifice. Tecpatl, is one of the most complex iconographic symbols of Aztec mythology.
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