The hummingbird is a beloved creature that has captivated people for centuries with its beauty, speed, and magical ability to hover in midair. Hummingbirds are found only in the Americas, and there are over 300 different species. These tiny birds have long been featured in the myths and folklore of indigenous cultures across North and South America.
The Hummingbird in Indigenous American Folklore
For many Native American tribes, the hummingbird is a powerful spirit messenger that represents energy, joy, and the renewal of life. In the legends and oral traditions of tribes like the Cherokee, Navajo, and Hopi, the hummingbird often plays important symbolic and spiritual roles.
In the mythology of some South American indigenous peoples, such as the Yanomami tribe of Brazil and Venezuela, the hummingbird is portrayed as a hero who brought fire to humans so they could cook food, keep warm, and have light. The hummingbird achieved this feat by flying all the way to the dwelling place of the gods and stealing a flame from them.
Other South American myths depict the hummingbird as a healer or bringer of luck. For example, in Ecuador, the Shuar people believe hummingbirds can cure illnesses by using their long, needle-like beaks to draw sickness out of the body. And for the Matsés people in Peru, spotting a certain rare hummingbird species signifies upcoming good fortune.
The Aztec God Huitzilopochtli
One of the most prominent roles of the hummingbird in legend is found in Aztec mythology. To the Aztec civilization of pre-Columbian Mexico, the hummingbird was connected with their highest deity and most important god, Huitzilopochtli.
Huitzilopochtli was the sun god, the god of war and human sacrifice, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire. Aztec legends say that Huitzilopochtli guided the Aztecs’ ancestors on their long migration from northern Mexico (Aztlan) to eventually settle in the Valley of Mexico, where they built their empire.
The Aztecs believed Huitzilopochtli was born on Coatepec Mountain near the city of Tula. His mother was the goddess Coatlicue. According to myth, when Coatlicue became mysteriously pregnant, her other children—the 400 southern stars known as Centzon Huitznáhuac—feared she was shaming them and resolved to kill her. As Coatlicue was sweeping on the mountain, the southern stars attacked her, but just as they descended on their mother, Huitzilopochtli burst forth from her womb fully grown and armed for battle.
In the form of a fearsome hummingbird or eagle, Huitzilopochtli drove his brothers away and peace was restored. His conquering of his siblings made Huitzilopochtli the deity associated with war and the rising sun. To honor him, the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice and offered the still-beating hearts of victims to sustain him.
The Aztecs likely connected Huitzilopochtli with the hummingbird due to the hummingbird’s speed, aggressiveness, and the way it darts quickly between flowers, much as a warrior darts between foes on the battlefield. The hummingbird’s association with fire may also link it to Huitzilopochtli as the sun god.
The Huitzilopochtli Origin Story
The legend describing Huitzilopochtli’s miraculous birth and defeat of his brothers is an origin story the Aztecs told to explain their long migration from Aztlan to settle in central Mexico. It portrays Huitzilopochtli as the divine protector who led the Aztecs to the promised land where they built their sprawling empire.
The migratory aspect of the myth mirrors the likely historical journey the ancestral Aztecs took from northern Mexico around the start of the 13th century until they arrived in the Valley of Mexico in 1325, led by their priests. According to legend, Huitzilopochtli directed the Aztecs to settle where they spotted an eagle eating a snake on top of a cactus—the sign their priests eventually found on an island in Lake Texcoco, where Tenochtitlan was founded.
The Great Temple of Tenochtitlan
Once established in Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs built a huge temple complex dedicated to Huitzilopochtli called Templo Mayor or the Great Temple. This religious center was also known as Huītzilōpōchtli Icalli [wiːt͡siloː’poːt͡ʃt͡ɬi iˈkalli], meaning “House of Huitzilopochtli.”
The Great Temple was located in the sacred center of Tenochtitlan next to the twin pyramids honoring Tlaloc, the rain god. It was built and expanded by successive Aztec rulers between 1325 and 1519. The temple was nearly 100 feet tall and sat at the heart of a sprawling sacred precinct taking up over two city blocks.
On the steps of Huītzilōpōchtli Icalli, thousands of human sacrifices where conducted to appease Huitzilopochtli and ensure the sun would rise each day. Sacrificial victims had their still-beating hearts torn out by priests and offered to Huitzilopochtli’s idols inside the temple chambers.
Sections of the massive temple were painted blue to symbolize fire, associating the site with Huitzilopochtli’s fiery qualities as the sun’s heat and rays. The temple housed huge drums that were beat each dawn to honor the sun god and ensure he had the strength to begin his daily journey across the sky.
Huitzilopochtli’s central, raised shrine inside Huītzilōpōchtli Icalli was decorated with racks displaying thousands of human skulls—the tzompantli—as well as wooden racks holding hundreds of bleached bones and displaying flayed human skins.
Rituals to Huitzilopochtli also took place across Tenochtitlan at smaller shrines known as quauhcalli [kwawˈkalːi], meaning “houses of the eagle.” These were essentially circular, sometimes mobile, wooden racks used to display more sacrificial skulls and bones as offerings to the sun god.
The Fall of Tenochtitlan
The Great Temple and Tenochtitlan were razed after the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec capital in 1521. Cortés had the temple leveled stone by stone as part of campaigns to destroy sites of human sacrifice and traditional indigenous religion.
Today, the Templo Mayor ruins in Mexico City mark the spot where the towering temple complex once stood. Ongoing excavations continuously uncover new sections of the temple, as well as artifacts like the immense stone disc of the war god Huitzilopochtli that once adorned the top of his shrine. These finds provide modern glimpses into the legends of powerful Aztec gods like Huitzilopochtli whose myths shaped an empire.
The Resilience of Hummingbird Lore
While the hummingbird took on one of its most prominent mythological roles as a symbol of the Aztec’s highest deity, its legend certainly did not disappear with the fall of the Aztec civilization. Even as indigenous groups in the Americas were decimated by diseases and warfare after European contact, their cultural traditions and folklore persevered.
The hummingbird continued to hold vital symbolic meaning as a source of joy and spiritual connection. Its perseverance and energy came to represent the resilience of Native cultures and identities.
In the present day, the hummingbird remains an important figure in indigenous art and storytelling. Its legendary power to fly swiftly between worlds, carrying messages, luck, and healing, lives on in the cultural memory of native peoples whose ancestors revered this tiny, captivating bird.
Conclusion
The Aztec legend of Huitzilopochtli the sun god was a defining narrative of the Aztec empire at its height. But it was only one thread in the hummingbird’s intricate tapestry of mythological significance across indigenous cultures of the Americas. Hundreds of years before the rise and fall of the Aztecs, Native peoples were incorporating the spiritual darting hummingbird into their stories, seeing it as a creature that transcended the ordinary world to access mystical realms.
That timeless, magical quality remains part of the hummingbird’s appeal and lore. Striking in its jewel-like coloring yet delicate in its proportions, the hummingbird’s very existence seems improbable. In defying expectation, it continues to inspire legends new and old across time and culture.
