Tecciztecatl

The rabbit is why the Mexica saw a rabbit in the moon rather than a face: the mark is the animal somebody threw at a coward. Tecciztecatl volunteered first, brought expensive offerings, and then could not do it — four times up to the edge and four times back — and only went in after the sick god had already gone. He rose as bright as the sun, which was intolerable, so a god put a rabbit across his face and knocked the shine off him. It is a story about the difference between offering something valuable and offering yourself, told by a culture that thought about that distinction more than most.

Domains

• moon

Relations

• rival: NanahuatzinThe rich god who hesitated. The myth is not subtle about the moral and does not need to be.Reference treatment of the fifth-sun myth and the contest between the two gods. (secondary)

Sources

• Tecciztecatl is the proud Mexica god who hesitated at the bonfire of Teotihuacan and, after following Nanahuatzin into it, was dimmed by a rabbit thrown in his face and became the moon.: Reference treatments of Tecciztecatl and of the fifth-sun myth. (secondary)