Old Fire-and-Death God
Otomi · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Otomi/Hñähñu (central Mexico). English 'Old Fire-and-Death God' leads; the figure is best known by the Nahuatl exonym Otontecuhtli (Otontēuctli, 'Otomi Lord'), in Otomi the Old Father Šihta (Šihta Sipi). Also identified with the Nahua Xocotl/Ocoteuctli. Spouse of the Old Mother (Zäna). The Nahuatl 'tl' orthography reflects the Aztec record of this originally Otomi deity.
Domains
- fire
- death and the ancestors
Powers
- kindle life from the burnt body
Epithets
- Otontecuhtli Lord of the Otomi; the old fire-and-death god, patron of the peopleSahagún, Florentine Codex (on the Otomi); Carrasco, Los Otomíes (secondary)
- Xócotl the Fruit (that falls)Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Book 2 (Anderson & Dibble trans.) (secondary)
Relations
- interpretatio: XiuhtecuhtliOtontecuhtli is the Otomi old-fire-and-death god whom the Aztecs themselves worshipped as 'the Otomi lord', assimilated to Xiuhtecuhtli/Huehueteotl and honored in the same Xocotl Huetzi fire-festival.Sahagun, Florentine Codex Bk. 2 (Xocotl Huetzi); Nicholson, Religion in Pre-Hispanic Central Mexico (HMAI vol. 10, 1971); Miller & Taube (1993) (secondary)
- spouse: Old MotherReciprocal of otomi_zana.spouse — The Otomi primordial couple: the Old Mother (moon-earth) is consort of the Old Father (fire and death).Jacques Galinier, La Mitad del Mundo: Cuerpo y cosmos en los rituales otomies (1990) (secondary)
Sources
- Otontecuhtli ('the Otomi Lord') is the ancient Otomi fire-and-death god, the Old Father (Šihta), purifying principle of culture; he was also worshipped under the Nahua names Xocotl/Ocoteuctli at the Xocotl Huetzi festival.: Carrasco, Pedro (1950). Los otomíes: cultura e historia prehispánicas. México: UNAM. (secondary); Galinier, Jacques (2004 [1990]). The World Below: Body and Cosmos in Otomí Indian Ritual. Boulder: University Press of Colorado. (secondary)