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: Nanahuatzin

Sources

• Reference treatments of Tecciztecatl and of the fifth-sun myth.