30 May 2025 / 10 House
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Opochtli with Aztec fishermen, Florentine Codex Book 1
ORIGINAL QUESTION received from - and thanks to - Bella: What were the differences between Opochtli and Mixcoatl? I rarely see info on either of them but it seems mixcoatl is the god of hunting and opochtli also is but including fishing? do we know more about them specifically opochtli? (Answered by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore).
Essentially Mixcoatl was the Aztec god of what we would call game hunting - deer, rabbits and other wild animals - whereas Opochtli was specifically the Mexica god, and patron, of fisherfolk, and of all those who lived from hunting and selling aquatic creatures; he was also patron of boatmen.
Created by supreme water deity Tlaloc to serve him, little is known of his origins, and there are precious few illustrations of him. His name means ‘Left Handed’ - it’s possible he was given this name because Aztec fishermen tended to hold their fishing implements in the left hand (Mateos Higuera, 1993: 171) (though note this is not the case in the main image shown above!)
Opochtli was credited with inventing and gifting to Aztec fisherfolk several highly useful work tools, such as the minacachalli (a trident-like throwing spear embedded with cactus spines), boating poles, and nets for catching fish and birds.
Opochtli dwelled in the eastern watery paradise of Tlalocan. In the illustration of him in the Florentine Codex (left) he holds a rattle staff known as a chicahuaztli (learn more by following the link below). His devotees regularly shook gourd rattles containing seeds, which sounded like maracas.
Info from:-
• Mateos Higuera, Salvador (1993) Enciclopedia gráfica del México antiguo: los dioses creados, Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, Mexico City.
Images:-
• Both images from the Florentine Codex scanned from our own copy of the Club Internacional del Libro 3-volume facsimile edition, Madrid, 1994.
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Opochtli with Aztec fishermen, Florentine Codex Book 1
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