The “Wife” of Huitzilopochtli

A question recently came up on Twitter: Did Huitzilopochtli, patron god of the Mexica, have a wife?

In fact, two major sources preserve the sacred story of how the Mexica “acquired” a “wife” for Huitzilopochtli, angering an entire nation in the process and helping to fulfill their destiny.

To share this often gruesome story with you, I’m going to translate the Nahuatl text contained in the Codex Chimalpahin (compiled by Nahua chronicler Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin). But I’ll also pull a couple of lines from Diego Durán’s Historia de las Indias de Nueva España (Durán was a translator of Nahuatl and drew from indigenous sources to compile his history in the mid 16th century).

THE TRANSLATION

The year 13 Reed, 1323 C.E. By then, the Mexica had spent 25 years in the Tīzaāpan region of the kingdom of Cōlhuahcān.

Huitzilopochtli then spoke to the elders, saying, “O Fathers, another will arrive. Her name is Yaocihuatl [War Woman]. She is my grandmother. And we will acquire her. [Note: this is a play on words, also meaning ‘we will exhibit her in public,’ usually referring to slaves.] Listen, O Fathers. It is not here we will remain; off there in the distance, we will take prisoners and keep watch. We will not go in vain, but we will escape the Colhuahqueh, lifting shield and spear. Now grow strong, get ready, for as you have heard, my grandmother Yaocihuatl will appear there. So I command you: go and ask King Achitometl for…