Itzpapalotl's Obsidian Host
Mythological Narrative
Obsidian-butterfly warriors of the paradise Tamoanchan — beautiful, jagged, and lethal to the uninitiated.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## Obsidian Butterflies of Tamoanchan
Itzpapalotl, the obsidian-butterfly, rules a host of tzitzimime linked to Tamoanchan. Codex Borgia and related ritual books show skeletal, clawed women with butterfly and knife attributes. The host is a war-band of tzitzimime, not a second biography of Itzpapalotl herself.
## Tamoanchan and the fallen
Nahua sources place Itzpapalotl in Tamoanchan, the paradise from which some gods were cast down for breaking a prohibition, and among the tzitzimime who threaten the world at times of cosmic danger. In the *Codex Borgia* she presides over one of the trecenas (13-day periods) of the ritual calendar. The Chichimec migration accounts in the *Anales de Cuauhtitlan* give her a role in the early history of the northern peoples.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Itzpapalotl's Obsidian Host.
You Might Also Like
Ahuizotl
A fearsome aquatic creature from Aztec mythology resembling a dog with monkey-like hands and a human hand at the end of its tail. It lurks in lakes and rivers, using the hand on its tail to snatch unsuspecting victims and drag them underwater. Those it drowns are found with their eyes, teeth, and nails removed, offerings destined for Tlaloc, the rain god.
Cihuateteo
The spirits of women who died in childbirth, honoured by the Mexica as warriors who accompanied the sun from noon to sunset, and feared because on certain days of the calendar they descended to crossroads to strike children with sickness.
Cipactli
A crocodilian monster of the primordial sea, mouths gaping at every joint and never sated. Tezcatlipoca lured it with his own foot as bait, and the gods made the earth from its body.
Maquizcoatl
The 'bracelet serpent' of Nahua lore, a snake with a head at each end, listed and drawn among the serpents of New Spain in the Florentine Codex; two-headed serpents were regarded as bearers of bad omens.