Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

by Camilla Townsend

They said it was the scene of their storied hero Nanahuatzin’s courageous self-immolation. Sometimes they told the tale in great detail, saying that when the first four imperfect worlds, each with its own sun and living creatures, had all been destroyed, and the earth was left in darkness, the gods met together at Teotihuacan. “The gods gathered and took counsel at Teotihuacan. They said to each other, ‘Who will carry the burden? Who will take it upon himself to see that there will be a sun, that there will be a dawn?’”15 They had great faith in one called Tecuciztecatl (tekw-seez-TEK-at) who volunteered, and they offered him the honor of a forked heron feather headdress for his sacrifice and other gifts; they chose Nanahuatzin for his very ordinariness. When midnight arrived and the moment had come, Tecuciztecatl found he could not do the deed. It was the ordinary Nanahuatzin who shut his eyes and threw himself into the flames “in order that the dawn might break.” He suffered, and in his bravery he became the sun. All the gods honored him; his face had become so bright that none could look upon it. Suddenly Tecuciztecatl, inspired by another’s bravery, found the courage he needed and threw himself in. And he became the moon. Then two ordinary animals, the jaguar and the eagle, modest but brave, threw themselves in likewise and thus proved themselves great warriors. Teotihuacan, the people believed, was the site of the beginning of everything.