Nanahuatzin

Nanahuatzin (in the standardized classical Nahuatl spelling Nanahuātzin, a reverential form of Nanāhuatl, meaning 'The Worthy Ulcerous One' or 'The Lord of Pustules') is the Mexica deity who embodies extreme bodily humility, moral self-denial before cosmic duty, and the transfiguring power of primordial self-sacrifice in the founding myth of the Fifth Sun at Teotihuacan. According to the classical narratives preserved in Book 7 of the Florentine Codex and in the Leyenda de los Soles of the Chimalpopoca Codex, Nanahuatzin was a destitute being afflicted by ulcerous sores covering his flesh. During the long primordial night after the destruction of the fourth cosmic era, when the gods gathered around the sacred brazier (teotexcalli) and the arrogant Tecuciztécatl repeatedly failed out of fear of the fire, Nanahuatzin accepted the call of the divine council without hesitation. Closing his eyes and concentrating his spirit, he threw himself at once into the burning heart of the pyre; his diseased body was consumed by the sacred fire with resounding cracks, transforming and rising into the eastern sky as Tonatiuh (Nahui Ollin), the resplendent Sun of Movement. His heroic leap inspired the hawk (cuauhtli) and the jaguar (ocelotl) to follow, forging the two sacred warrior orders of the Mexica Empire and establishing sacrifice as a cosmic obligation, the engine of universal life.

7 min read · Reviewed on September 30, 2026 · How we research

The sacred bonfire, the sores, the rising sun and humility

Primary sources

• Fray Bernardino de Sahagún (Paleographic and Critical Edition), Florentine Codex: Volume II (Myths of Celestial Creation, Book Seven). translation: Ed. de Ángel María Garibay K., Editorial Porrúa (Colección 'Sepan Cuantos', México, 1956/1989). read
• Indigenous Scribes of Anáhuac, Leyenda de los Soles (Nahuatl Manuscript of 1558). translation: John Bierhorst, History and Mythology of the Aztecs: The Codex Chimalpopoca (Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1992). read
• Traditional Tlacuilos of Mesoamerica, Codex Borgia (Complete Restored Edition). translation: Gisele Díaz and Alan Rodgers, The Codex Borgia: A Full-Color Restoration (Dover Publications, NY, 1993, plates 33 and 71). read
• Friar Andrés de Olmos (Sixteenth-Century Compilation), Histoyre du Mechique (Version by Rafael Tena). translation: Rafael Tena, Mitos e historias de los antiguos nahuas (Colección Cien de México, Conaculta, 2002/2011). read

Studies

• Alfredo López Austin, Tamoanchan y Tlalocan: Lugares de origen en el pensamiento mesoamericano. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Cidade do México, 1994. open
• Michel Graulich, Autosacrifice in Ancient Mexico (Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, vol. 36). Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, UNAM, México, 2005. open
• Karl Taube, The Legendary Past: Aztec and Maya Myths (chapter on the creation of the sun). British Museum Press, Londres, 1993. open
• Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, Vida y muerte en el Templo Mayor (study of the cult of Tonatiuh). Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 1986. open