Tezcatlipoca, Lord of the Night Wind

Tezcatlipoca is a god of the Aztec tradition.

Yoalli Ehécatl, the night wind: invisible and intangible.

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Tezcatlipoca

Tezcatlipoca, the Smoking Mirror, is one of the most powerful Aztec deities, lord of the night sky, sorcery and fate. This page focuses primarily on his wind aspect: the epithet Yoalli Ehécatl, night wind, and his rule over the north, the region of the dead, Mictlampa.

The night wind is thereby a metaphor for the invisible and intangible: just as the wind of night blows through the world, so does Tezcatlipoca, without anyone being able to grasp him. As night wind, he is associated with night winds and hurricanes; in the variant Itztlacoliuhqui, he embodies the cold, cutting obsidian wind of frost and ice.

Overview: Tezcatlipoca

Type: Lord of the night sky, sorcery and fate, also night wind and the north
Origin: Central deity of the Aztecs, Tlaxcaltecs and Toltecs
Texts: Codex Florentinus (Sahagún), Diego Durán, codices
Period: Postclassical Nahua culture
Appearance: God with a smoking obsidian mirror

Textual history

Period of the Texts

The evidence belongs to postclassical Nahua culture; the main sources are Sahagún’s Codex Florentinus and the work of Diego Durán.

Area of Diffusion

The central Mexican highlands; Tezcatlipoca was a central deity of the Aztecs, the Tlaxcaltecs and the Toltecs.

Sources

The source material is very good: the Codex Florentinus, further codices and Durán’s accounts document the cult and mythology in detail.

Name and variants

Nahuatl: Tēzcatlīpohca means Smoking Mirror, from tezcatl, mirror, and poca, to smoke, an allusion to the obsidian divination mirrors. The central wind-related attestation is the epithet Yoalli Ehécatl, night wind, a metaphor for the invisible and intangible.

Form and effect

Appearance

His hallmark is the smoking obsidian mirror on his chest, hand or in place of his right foot, which he lost in battle with the earth monster Cipactli. He wears black and yellow facial bands, his primary colour is black; his animal form is the jaguar.

Effect

Tezcatlipoca is a bringer of both good and evil, the embodiment of change through conflict. His connection to wind is real but only a partial aspect: as night wind, he is associated with night winds and hurricanes, he rules over the north, Mictlampa, the region of the dead, and as Itztlacoliuhqui he embodies the cold obsidian wind. His true role is that of the all-powerful, quasi-invisible creator, fate and ruler god.

Profile: Tezcatlipoca

The key aspects of the night wind god at a glance.

Tradition

Central deity of the Aztecs, Tlaxcaltecs and Toltecs; the night wind Yoalli Ehécatl is one of his epithets and aspects.

Object of Influence

Night sky, sorcery and fate; as night wind, the invisible, along with the north, Mictlampa, the region of the dead.

Depiction

God with a smoking obsidian mirror on his chest, hand or in place of his right foot, black and yellow facial bands and the jaguar as his animal form.

Sphere of Influence

Bringer of good and evil, change through conflict; in his wind aspect, night winds and hurricanes as well as the cold obsidian wind Itztlacoliuhqui.

Cult

Main festival Toxcatl, with a young man serving as a living image of the god; the priests blackened themselves with soot and burned copal incense four times a day.

Distinctions

Ehecatl is the rain-bringing wind god; Tezcatlipoca’s night wind, by contrast, is merely one aspect of a much broader god.

Yoalli Ehécatl: the wind of the night and the north

The name Tezcatlipoca means Smoking Mirror and alludes to the obsidian divination mirrors. The central evidence for the wind aspect is the epithet Yoalli Ehécatl, Night Wind: a metaphor for the invisible and intangible quality that characterises the god. The main sources are Sahagún’s Codex Florentinus and Diego Durán.

The wind aspect unfolds in three directions: as Night Wind, Tezcatlipoca is associated with night winds and hurricanes. He rules over the north, Mictlampa, the region of the dead. And in the variant Itztlacoliuhqui, he embodies the cold, cutting obsidian wind of frost and ice. All of this remains embedded in his actual role as an almighty, quasi-invisible creator, fate and ruler god.

Reception and classification

The turquoise- and skull-adorned Tezcatlipoca mask in the British Museum is world-famous. Guilhem Olivier’s monograph and a collected volume edited by Elizabeth Baquedano are standard works; the trickster archetype lives on in literature, film and games.

From a religious-studies perspective, Tezcatlipoca is not a simple devil, which would be a colonial distortion, but a creator and life god. The four Tezcatlipocas are colour variants; only the black one is the actual Tezcatlipoca. And the wind aspect, night wind and north wind, is a real but limited part of his very broad role.

Toxcatl: the festival of the living image

His main festival was Toxcatl: a flawless young man lived for a year as the god’s living image, teixiptla, was married to four goddesses during the last twenty days, broke clay flutes as he ascended the temple, and was sacrificed at the end of the dry season. The priests blackened themselves with soot and burned copal incense four times a day. The smoking obsidian mirror itself is regarded as his very own sign.

Night wind and day wind: parallels and distinctions

Within the Maya world, Tohil and K’awiil are related to the smoking obsidian knife; in terms of role typology, without any historical connection, Tezcatlipoca resembles the trickster and fate deities of other cultures, such as Loki. Within his own pantheon, he stands opposite Ehecatl: Ehecatl is entirely a wind god, bringer of the rain winds as an aspect of Quetzalcoatl, whereas the night wind of Tezcatlipoca remains just one epithet among many, the metaphor of an ungraspable god.

Frequently asked questions about Tezcatlipoca

What does Tezcatlipoca mean?

Smoking Mirror, an allusion to the obsidian divination mirrors.

What is his wind aspect?

The epithet Yoalli Ehécatl, Night Wind, and rulership over the north, the region of the dead, Mictlampa.

Is he a devil?

No. That is a colonial distortion; he is a powerful creator and fate god.

Further links

Literature (selection)

Further standard works in the bibliography.

As the Aztec night wind Yoalli Ehécatl, Tezcatlipoca, named the Smoking Mirror, reveals his most unsettling side: the god who, like the wind of night, is everywhere and can be grasped nowhere.