Yacatecuhtli
Aztec/Mexica · deity · cosmogonic · deity
Yacatecuhtli is the god of going first. The pochteca were not shopkeepers: they travelled hundreds of miles into hostile country, armed, in organised parties, and they came back with quetzal feathers, cacao, jade and intelligence — which meant the guild was wealthy, hereditary, legally privileged and thoroughly disliked. On the road they bundled their black staffs together at each camp and worshipped the bundle as the god, offering paper, incense and their own blood. A god whose image is the walking stick you are carrying is a very portable religion, which is the point.
Domains
- trade
Sources
- Reference treatment of Yacatecuhtli as god of merchant adventurers.