Tecuciztecatl

Tecuciztecatl (in the standardized classical Nahuatl spelling Tēcciztēcatl, meaning 'He of the Conch Shell' or 'The Inhabitant of the Spiral Shell') is the prominent Mexica lunar deity of the Fifth Sun, the embodiment of aristocratic pride, of dramatic hesitation before the sacrificial fire, and of the transformation of the night star in the founding myth of Teotihuacan. According to the canonical narrative recorded in Nahuatl by Friar Bernardino de Sahagún in Book 7 of the Florentine Codex and in the Leyenda de los Soles, when the world lay in darkness after the destruction of the fourth cosmic era, the gods gathered in assembly around the sacred hearth (teotexcalli) to choose who would illuminate the earth. Rich and noble, Tecuciztecatl offered himself proudly for the glorious mission, keeping four nights of vigil in which he displayed lavish offerings of quetzal feathers, gold beads and thorns of precious jadeite. Yet when the supreme moment of the sacrificial leap into the cosmic bonfire arrived at midnight, the god drew back four times, terrified by the scorching heat of the flames. Shamed by the immediate resolve of the humble and sick Nanahuatzin, who leapt into the flames without hesitation and was transformed into the radiant Sun, Tecuciztecatl threw himself into the embers and ashes and soon rose in the east with identical luminosity. To contain the dazzling equivalence of the two stars that would blind mortals, one of the gods hurled a wild rabbit (tochtli) violently against his face, extinguishing his excessive flame and fixing for ever the silhouette of the furry animal on the silver disc of the Moon.

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

The conch shell, the jewels, the moon and the precious feathers

Primary sources

• Fray Bernardino de Sahagún and Informants of Tepeapulco and Tlatelolco, Florentine Codex: Book 7 (On the Stars and Natural Philosophy, chs. 2 and 3). translation: Arthur J. O. Anderson e Charles E. Dibble, Florentine Codex: Book 7 - The Sun, Moon, and Stars (School of American Research, Santa Fe, 1953). read
• Anonymous Nahua of Cuauhtitlan, Leyenda de los Soles (Manuscript of 1558, Chimalpopoca Codex). translation: Primo Feliciano Velázquez, Códice Chimalpopoca: Anales de Cuauhtitlán y Leyenda de los Soles (Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, UNAM, México, 1975). read
• Tlacuilos and Artisans of the Puebla-Tlaxcala Highlands, Codex Borgia (Codex Borgianus, plates 12, 14 and 55). translation: Eduard Seler, Comentarios al Códice Borgia (Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 1963 / 1904). read
• Friar Andrés de Olmos and André Thevet, Histoyre du Mechique (sixteenth-century French manuscript). translation: Édouard de Jonghe, Histoyre du Mechique: Manuscrit français inédit du XVIe siècle (Journal de la Société des Américanistes, Paris, 1905). read

Studies

• Michel Graulich, Myths of Ancient Mexico (translated by Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano). University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK, 1997. open
• Alfredo López Austin, Los mitos del tlacuache: Caminos de la mitología mesoamericana (study of the Teotihuacan myth). Alianza Editorial Mexicana, Cidade do México, 1990. open
• Mary Ellen Miller e Karl Andreas Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (entries Moon and Tecciztecatl). Thames & Hudson, Londres, 1993. open
• Cecelia F. Klein, The Face of the Earth: Frontality in Two-Dimensional Mesoamerican Art (iconographic analysis of the lunar disc). Garland Publishing, Nova York e Londres, 1976. open