Xiuhtecuhtli (Mdz13r)

The colors red and turquoise are both linked to this divinity because, as Christian Roy (Traditional Festivals, 2005, 211) has stated, "turquoise was the symbolic equivalent of fire for Aztec priests." Eloise Quiñones Keber (Codex Telleriano-Remensis, 1995, 141) identifies Xiuhtecuhtli as the "Turquoise Lord" and a "fire god." Mutsumi Izeki (Conceptualization of 'Xihuitl,', 2008, 34–35) identifies fire and the color red as an "extended sense" of xihuitl as exemplified in Xiuhtecuhtli, a divine force often called the "god of fire," the "god of year," and the "god of turquoise." Notice how the glyph for turquoise stone has some red leaf shapes in the middle, and glyphs for xihuitl as "year" can also have red highlights. All of these features represent visual associations of color with fire and precious stones, and with the sun, the calendar, and religious beliefs and practices (such as the drilling of fire at the end of a 52-year calendrical cycle where years were represented by turquoise.