Ītzpāpālōtl

{{Short description|Aztec goddess}} {{For|the Aztec ruler|Acamapichtli}}{{Infobox deity | type = Aztec | name = Ītzpāpalōtl | deity_of = Ruler of Tamoanchan<br/>Queen of the Tzitzimimeh<br/>Goddess of War and Death | image = Itzpapalotl 1.jpg | caption = Depiction of Itzpapalotl from the Codex Borgia | abode = | consort = | gender = Female | region = Mesoamerica | ethnic_group = Aztec | parents = | siblings = | children = | equivalent1_type = | equivalent1 = | equivalent2_type = | equivalent2 = }} '''Ītzpāpalōtl'''{{efn|{{IPA|nah|iːt͡spaːˈpalot͡ɬ}}}} ('Obsidian Butterfly') was a goddess in Aztec religion.

She was a striking skeletal warrior and death goddess and the queen of the Tzitzimimeh. She ruled over the paradise world of Tamōhuānchān, the paradise of victims of infant mortality and the place identified as where humans were created.{{sfn|Miller|Taube|1993|p=100}}

She is the mother of Mixcoatl and is particularly associated with the moth ''Rothschildia orizaba'' from the family Saturniidae.<ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.insects.orkin.com/ced/issue-4/butterflies-of-ancient-mexico/ | title = Beutelspacher's Butterflies of Ancient Mexico | website = Orkin | author = Hugo E. Ponce-Ulloa, M. Sc. | access-date = 2020-12-12}}</ref> Some of her associations are birds and fire.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://atheism.about.com/od/aztecgodsgoddesses/p/Itzpapalotl.htm?terms=itzpapalotl |title=Itzpapalotl: Itzpapalotl, Goddess of Fire and Birds in Aztec Religion, Mythology |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605143439/http://atheism.about.com/od/aztecgodsgoddesses/p/Itzpapalotl.htm?terms=itzpapalotl |archive-date=5 June 2011 |first1=Austin |last1=Cline |work=About.com Guide |date= }}</ref> However, she primarily appears in the form of the Obsidian Butterfly.<ref name=Gingerich1988>{{cite journal |last1=Gingerich |first1=Willard |title=Three Nahuatl Hymns on the Mother Archetype: An Interpretive Commentary |journal=Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos |date=1988 |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=191–244 |doi=10.2307/1051822 |jstor=1051822 |url=https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/english-facpubs/1/ |url-access=subscription }}</ref> thumb|''Rothschildia orizaba'', the moth genus and species with which the Itzpapalotl goddess is associated

==Iconography== Itzpapalotl's name can either mean "obsidian butterfly" or "clawed butterfly;" the latter meaning seems most likely.{{sfn|Miller|Taube|1993|p=100}} It's quite possible that clawed butterfly refers to the bat and in some instances Itzpapalotl is depicted with bat wings. However, she can also appear with clear butterfly or eagle attributes. Her wings are obsidian or tecpatl (flint) knife tipped.{{sfn|Miller|Taube|1993|p=100}} (In the ''Manuscript of 1558'', Itzpapalotl is described as having "blossomed into the white flint, and they took the white and wrapped it in a bundle.") She could appear in the form of a beautiful, seductive woman or terrible goddess with a skeletal head and butterfly wings supplied with stone blades. Although the identity remains inconclusive, the Zapotec deity named Goddess 2J by Alfonso Caso and Ignacio Bernal may be a Classic Zapotec form of Itzpapalotl. In many instances Goddess 2J, whose image is found on ceramic urns, is identified with bats. "In folklore, bats are sometimes called "black butterflies"".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Benson |first1=Elizabeth |title=The Maya and the Bat |journal=Latin American Indian Literatures Journal |volume=4 |issue=2 |date=Fall 1988 |pages=99–124 }} Citing: {{cite book |last1=Parsons |first1=Elsie Clews |title=Mitla, town of the souls, and other Zapoteco-speaking pueblos of Oaxaca, Mexico |date=1936 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=318 |oclc=185287287 }}</ref> Itzpapalotl is sometimes represented as a goddess with flowing hair holding a trophy leg. The femur is thought by some scholars to have significance as a war trophy or a sacred object in Pre-Hispanic art.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yoneda |first1=Keiko |chapter=Glyphs and Messages in the ''Mapa de Cuauhtinchan No. 2'': Chicomoztoc, Itzpapalotl and 13 Flint |pages=161–203 |chapter-url={{Google books|1UxGR6UB7AwC|page=161|plainurl=yes}} |editor1-last=Carrasco |editor1-first=Davíd |editor2-last=Sessions |editor2-first=Scott |title=Cave, City, and Eagle's Nest: An Interpretive Journey Through the Mapa de Cuauhtinchan No. 2 |date=2007 |publisher=UNM Press |isbn=978-0-8263-4283-6 }}</ref>

==Ritual==

Itzpapalotl is the patron of the day and associated with the stars Cozcuauhtli and Trecena 1 House in the Aztec calendar. The Trecena 1 House is one of the five western trecena dates dedicated to the cihuateteo, or women who had died in childbirth. Not only was Itzpapalotl considered one of the cihuateteo herself, but she was also one of the tzitzimime, star demons that threatened to devour people during solar eclipses.{{sfn|Miller|Taube|1993|p=100}}

One of the prominent aspects of the ritual surrounding Itzpapalotl relates to the creation story of the Chichimec. The ritual is illustrated in the sixteenth century document known as the Map of Cuauhtinchan No. 2.<ref>{{Cite book|title=In the maw of the each monster: mesoAmerican ritual cave use|last=Brady|first=James E.|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-292-70586-9|editor-last=Keith M. Prufer|location=Austin, TX|pages=69–87}}</ref> An illustration from this document shows Chichimec warriors emerging out of a seven-chambered cave behind Itzpapalotl. The deity is shown brandishing a severed leg, thought to be a symbol of battle. Beginning in the 1990s, archeologists exploring the Barranca Del Aguila region, southwest of Mexico City, have discovered caves carved to simulate the seven chambered cave, known as Chicomoztoc, from the ritual creation narrative.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gidwitz |first1=Tom |title=Map Quest |journal=Archaeology Magazine |date=2009 |volume=62 |issue=2 |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/0903/abstracts/cuauhtinchan.html }}</ref>

==Mythology== According to the ''Manuscript of 1558'', section VII, Itzpapalotl was one of two divine 2-headed doe-deers (the other one being Chimalman) who temporarily transformed themselves into women in order to seduce men. Itzpapalotl approached the two "cloud serpents named Xiuhnel {{IPA|nah|ˈʃiwnel|}} and Mimich {{IPA|nah|ˈmimit͡ʃ|}}", who transformed themselves into men (so as to disguise themselves when all the others of the Centzonmimixcoa had been slain in the ambush?). To Xiuhnel, Itzpapalotl said "'Drink, Xiuhnel.' Xiuhnel drank the blood and then immediately lay down with her. Suddenly she ... devoured him, tore open his breast. ... Then Mimich ... ran and ... descended into a thorny barrel cactus, fell into it, and the woman fell down after him."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leon-Portilla |first1=Miguel |last2=Shorris |first2=Earl |title=In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature, Pre-Columbian to the Present |date=2002 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-32407-5 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QF5VgTGrTGEC&pg=PA61 }}</ref> In the myth-history narrative of the Annales de Cuauhtitlan, the cloud deity victims take the form of deer, the hearts of whom are eaten by Itzpapalotl. The theme of the heart devouring goddess appears in other global mythologies.<ref name=Gingerich1988/>

==Influence on modern culture==

* Orizaba the Moth Fairy, a villain in ''Elena of Avalor'', was inspired by Itzpapalotl.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=CraigGerber_ |number=814130781622771712 |date=28 December 2016 |title=Orizaba in "Scepter of Night" was inspired by the Aztec goddess Itzpapalotl. |url=https://archive.today/20161230092023/https://twitter.com/_CraigGerber/status/814130781622771712 }}</ref> * The name of the goddess has been used to name formations, the Itzpapalotl Tessera, on the planet Venus which are being studied for our knowledge of the geological history of our planet.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vorder Bruegge |first1=R. W. |last2=Fletcher |first2=R. C. |title=A Model for the Shape of Overthrust Zones on Venus |journal=Lunar and Planetary Science Conference |date=1 March 1990 |volume=21 |pages=1278 |bibcode = 1990LPI....21.1278V }}</ref> * Additionally, the goddess is one of the Pre-Columbian motifs found in California Chicano Literature.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Klor de Alva|first=J. Jorge|author1-link=Jorge Klor de Alva|title=California Chicano Literature and Pre-Columbian Motifs: Foil and Fetish|date=1986|journal=Confluencia|volume=1|issue=2|pages=18–26|jstor=27921652}}</ref> * Ītzpāpalōtl also features prominently in the novel ''Obsidian Butterfly'', the ninth book in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton. * She was also the monster in ''No One Gets Out Alive'', a movie on Netflix.{{fact|date=May 2022}} * She appears in ''Victor and Valentino'' in disguise based on the folklore.{{fact|date=May 2022}} * She appears in the American fantasy horror TV series, ''From Dusk till Dawn: The Series'', under the guise as La Llorona. * She will be the main antagonist in the upcoming Mexican-Brazilian-French animated film ''The Mark of the Jaguar''. * Citlali's Passive Skill "Itzpapalotl's Star Garments" named after this mythology in ''Genshin Impact''. * She features as part of an Aztec trinity in the religious revival which forms the subject of D.H.Lawrence's ''The Plumed Serpent''<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Martins Preto |first=Tania |title=Scanline |publisher=Universidade Estadual de Campinas |url=https://doi.org/10.47749/t/unicamp.1992.85326}}</ref> * The character Imani from Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series chooses a race called "Obsidian Butterfly" giving her a skeletal appearance and butterfly wings inspired by Itzpapalotl.

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== {{Refbegin|indent=yes}} * {{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Mary |author-link1=Mary Miller (art historian) |first2=Karl |last2=Taube |author2-link=Karl Taube |year=1993 |title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |isbn=978-0-500-05068-2 |oclc=27667317 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill }} * {{cite book |author=Read, Kay Almere |author2=Jason J González |year=2002 |title=Handbook of Mesoamerican Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of Mexico and Central America |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514909-8 |oclc=77857686 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mesoamericanmyth0000read }} * {{cite book |author=Sahagún, Bernardino de |author-link=Bernardino de Sahagún |year=1997 |orig-year=ca.1558–61 |title=Primeros Memoriales |others=Thelma D. Sullivan (English trans. and paleography of Nahuatl text), with H.B. Nicholson, Arthur J.O. Anderson, Charles E. Dibble, Eloise Quiñones Keber, and Wayne Ruwet (completion, revisions, and ed.) |series=Civilization of the American Indians series vol. 200, part 2 |location=Norman |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-2909-9 |oclc=35848992|title-link=Primeros Memoriales }} * {{cite journal |last1=de Alva |first1=J. Jorge Klor |title=California Chicano Literature and Pre-Columbian Motifs: Foil and Fetish |journal=Confluencia |date=1986 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=18–26 |id={{ProQuest|1307994236}} |jstor=27921652 }} * {{cite journal |last1=Gingerich |first1=Willard |title=Three Nahuatl Hymns on the Mother Archetype: An Interpretive Commentary |journal=Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos |date=1988 |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=191–244 |doi=10.2307/1051822 |jstor=1051822 }} * {{cite book |last1=Carrasco |first1=Davíd |last2=Sessions |first2=Scott |title=Cave, City, and Eagle's Nest: An Interpretive Journey Through the Mapa de Cuauhtinchan No. 2 |date=2007 |publisher=UNM Press |isbn=978-0-8263-4283-6 }} {{Refend}}

==External links== * {{cite journal |last1=Brady |first1=James E. |last2=Coltman |first2=Jeremy D. |title=Bats and the ''Camazotz'': Correcting a Century of Mistaken Identity |journal=Latin American Antiquity |date=June 2016 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=227–237 |doi=10.7183/1045-6635.27.2.227 |s2cid=164112975 |doi-access=free }} *[http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/tdorizabatriloba.htm An image of ''Rothschildia orizaba'']

Category:Aztec goddesses Category:Agricultural goddesses Category:Aztec death goddesses Category:Mythological insects Category:Night goddesses Category:Infant mortality Category:Arthropod deities