Hymn of Mixcoatl

I come forth from Chicomoztoc, only to you, my friends, to you, honored ones.
I come forth from Tziuactitlan, only to you my friends, only to you honored ones.
I sought, I sought, in all directions I sought with my pack; in all directions I sought with my pack.
I sought, I sought, in all directions I sought with my traveling net.
I took them in hand, I took them in hand; yes, I took them in hand; yes, I took them in hand.
In the ball ground I sang well and strong, like to the quetzal bird; I answered back to the god.

Mixcoatl, whose name means Cloud Serpent, was a hunter-god, a god of the chase and the morning star, to the Chichimecs and Otomi. As with Xipe Totec, his colors were red and white, and he wore a black mask trimmed with stars. His parents were Tonacatecuhtli and Tonacacihuatl and one of his sons was Quetzalcoatl. He is credited with giving fire to the people.

Myth and reality often blend and the truth is difficult to discern. Mixcoatl may have been a real warrior who lived at the fall of Tula, in the 9th century CE. He was most likely a leader of a band of warriors roaming around the areas inhabited by the Tolteca-Chichimecs. One of his legends is that Mixcoatl and his band of warriors were leaving Chicomoztoc, which the Toltec's ruled, to go to Cholula to help those people in their battle with the Toltecs. Before he got to that battle, he and his band conquered Culhuacan. He married a Culhuacan noble woman called Chimaman and together they had a son named Ce Actal Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl.


Sources:

Translation of Hymn of Mixcoatl is from http://www.sacred-texts.com
Mixcoatl: Man and God, Nigel Davies.

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