XIUHCÓATL: ORIGIN AND LEGEND OF THE FIRE SERPENT - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Xiuhcóatl is an iconographic representation that refers to the "fire serpent", a fantastic and mythological animal with the head and body of a serpent, curved fangs, a snout stretched into a trunk and an elongated body.

It appears mainly in the history of the original peoples of Mexico as a divine symbol of power, historically associated with two essential elements: religion and rulers.

Xiuhcóatl, also known as the fire serpent. Photo: Codex Nuttal, l 2006: 79-I.

His figure represents the strength and hierarchy of a deity. The power that leaders can possess through the seizure of a weapon from another world, which endowed them with supernatural abilities unattainable by humans.

Origin

Although its most popular meaning is found in the legend of the god of war Huitzilopochtli as the lethal weapon that he used as an instrument for victory, the first appearances of Xiuhcóatl go far beyond that representation.

Its origin is found in the Mixtec culture, long before the rise of the Mexica, as is recorded in a large number of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican codices.

In them it has another name, Yahui, characterized by being something more than a mythological serpent.

Yahui is instead a fantastic animal endowed with parts and features that could be attributed to other animals, such as eagle claws, dragon legs, the head and body of a snake, the jaws of a reptile, a quadruped, as well as carrying a knife on the tip of his nose.

Xiuhcóatl means "turquoise snake", considered a representation of the god of fire in the Mixtec and Nahua codices. The truth is that Xiuhcóatl appears as a symbol of power for the gods in various manifestations.

In the Bourbon Codex, he perches on the back and neck of Xiuhtecuhtli, god of fire, as a characteristic and leading element of his clothing. Also in the same scriptures the fire serpent is illustrated together with Tezcatlipoca, the god of life, lord of the heavens and the Earth.

Despite the contrasts that could be distinguished in its different versions, it is indisputable that serpentine features predominate in all of them and their symbols of fire, war, power and dominion of the deities.

Legend

Beyond its extensive and deep historical origin, behind this representation there is a very strong and transcendental legend that has defined Xiuhcóatl as a lethal weapon of the gods:

The birth of Huitzilopochtli

Coatlicue was the mother of 400 Surianos and Coyolxauhqui, the warrior leader of the lineage. The woman was committed to sweeping all day and all night, it was her duty, her ordinance, her penance. This is how she spent her life at the tip of Coatépec, the Serpent Mountain, where she counted hours, days and months watching her life run out after having given birth so much.

Until one day, while sweeping, Coatlicue spots a ball of plumage falling from the sky that she decides to pick up from the ground. Fine and delicate feathers that she finally shelters in her breasts, motivated by curiosity and stunned by an indescribable sensation.

But little time passed since he kept the plumage on his chest when it disappeared out of nowhere, without explanation. And even less had an explanation for what happened next: as by the work of the gods and without the pure presence of a man to procreate, she had become pregnant. It did not take long for her children, the 400 Surianos and the warrior Coyolxauhqui to realize the situation.

Disconcerted to see their mother leading a life in her womb that she had not conceived with her father, evil clouded the 400 and they decided to attack their mother, not knowing that Huitzilopochtli, the god of fire who would later become, lay in her womb. in the main deity of the Mexican peoples.

Wounded by what she considered an unforgivable disgrace, Coyolxauhqui heated the spirits of the 400 Surianos by inciting them to murder their own mother. Filled with hatred and flushed with anger, they all marched towards the top of the Serpent Mountain to end Coatlicue's life. Like war-hungry captains, they went up the roads, commanded by their sister.

But among many, one would be the exception: Cuahuitlícac. He was convinced that the wrath of the gods was something that should not be dealt with, so he decided to escape the ranks and warn Huitzilopochtli of the coming danger.

And it is that he was such an omnipotent god that he had already been born several times before, with Coatlicue being only one more of those births, but no less important for that.

When the children who decided to kill her reached the top of the mountain, Coatlicue gave birth and Huitzilopochtli was born as an adult, carrying a firearm snake called Xiuhcóatl that only obeyed him.

Xiuhcóatl guided his instincts and god powers and annihilated Coyolxauhqui. He cut off his head and dismembered it, scattering its parts all over the mountainside, the same end that would happen to the 400 Southerners.

Like rabbits being chased by a hunter, they ran madly trying to flee from the wrath of the god Huitzilopochtli, but it was too late. The deity finished them with ease and seized all their belongings, among them the most valuable: their destiny.

The veneration of

The Mexican Ministry of National Defense was inspired by Xiuhcóatl and the legend of Huitzilopochtli's birth to create the “FX-05 Xiuhcóatl” assault rifle, the first to be completely designed in the country.

For its elaboration, they took into account elements such as the height and average length of the arms of Mexican soldiers, with the intention of achieving the perfect weapon for the patriots and honoring the history behind their name.

Its power is not less: 750 rounds per minute and 5.56 caliber barrel with a magazine suitable for 30 rounds.

The serpent of fire in the stone of the sun

Xiuhcóatl is also one of the most representative symbolic figures of the Stone of the Sun. The snake borders it with flamboyant elements, claws, head, fangs, eyes and its characteristic reptilian jaws, accompanied by the date 13 cane, which is awarded per year of the birth of Ollin Tonatiuh, the fifth Sun.

This is how Xiuhcóatl, the fire serpent, transcended the pre-Hispanic codices of Mesoamerica from generation to generation from the Mixtecs, through the Mexica to the present day.

Since then, the same essence of ravenous, fantastic and omnipotent power and potency has emanated that is only worthy of the greatest deities in history.

References

1. Miguel León Portilla, The largest temple in the sacred history of the Mexicas, 1982.
2. Durán, fray Diego, History of the Indies of New Spain, Angel Ma. Garibay, 1967.
3. Manuel A. Hermann Lejarazu, The fire serpent or yahui in the pre-Hispanic Mixtec: iconography and meaning, Anales del Museo de América XVII, 2009.
4. Alvarado, F. Vocabulary in the Mixtec language. Instituto Nacional Indigenista / Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México, 1962.
5. Miguel León Portilla, Rites, priests and vestments of the gods. UNAM, Mexico, 1958.