Mixcoatl (Verg33r)

Mixcoatl is the name of a divine force and a popular personal name in this digital collection. According to Sahagún, it was a divine force among the Chichimecs, and carried a powerful significance for the Nahuas. Some scholars have seen it as a divinity associated with hunting, others as part of a Tlaloc complex (of clouds, rain, lightning, etc.), and still others as a symbol for a whirlwind (remolino). The vast majority of compound hieroglyphs for this name include clouds plus a serpent. The tlacuilo here did not prefer that iconography; perhaps he was intentionally avoiding the use of a serpent for the -coatl part of the name to avoid raising concerns among the colonial clergy. Serious events in Tetzcoco in 1539 may have made Nahua tlacuilos more cautious when writing and painting about aspects of their faith. See Patricia Lopes Don for information about the Inquisition case against don Carlos Ometochtli, a Chichimecatecuhtli executed in late 1539, in Bonfires of Culture, 2010. Bradley Benton (The Lords of Tetzcoco, 2017, 46) also writes that the case “demonstrates that blatant disregard for Christianity had serious consequences.”