Volcano myths

Of course it’s sometimes hard to separate mythology from folklore, but in this case, it hardly matters: in a country like Mexico - a land of beautiful volcanoes - everything in the natural world was imbued by its inhabitants with a living spirit, from humans to animals, from plants to trees, from water to earth. Little wonder then that gigantic snow-capped volcanic peaks, with hearts of fire, were believed in ancient times to be gods, living beings with varied characteristics and personalities, some male, some (such as Iztaccíhuatl and Matlalcueye [‘La Malinche’]) female. These deities, unsurprisingly, controlled much of the weather and the elements vital for farming and settled human life, such as water - mountains were believed to be the source of rain - and fire: it has to be significant that the god of fire is generally recognised by scholars to be the oldest of all ancient Mesoamerican deities.

Popocatépetl from the air

We know that in ancient Mesoamerica physical and mythical connections were believed to exist between the waters contained within mountains and the vast waters of the sea (symbol par excellence of fertility). Even today sacred rites are still performed on the flanks of volcanoes appealing to rain deities to provide precious rain to fuel the growth of staple crops. In pre-Hispanic times the chief rain deity was Tláloc, god of rain, earth, storms and lightning and originator of the weather cycles that volcanoes produced.

Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl form a natural couple, Codex Zouche-Nuttall, folio 11

Here perhaps lies the key to understanding what differentiates myth from common folk tale: when the links of living ritual and ceremony have been lost or broken, a myth begins to slip into legend and simple folklore. The fabled stories of the Mexican volcanoes remain - albeit without the fancy trappings that surround them today - ancient myths rooted in pre-Hispanic beliefs.

On the path ascending La Malinche volcano