What Does He Stand For?
Mictlantecutli was the god of the dead and darkness. Mictlantecutlui was also known as the Lord of the Underworld. He was also associated with war and sacrifice, obviously through death (Berdan 2005).The worship of Mictlantecutli with the consuming of human flesh in or around the temple. He was seen as a blood splattered skeleton with a head dress of owl feathers and paper banners and a necklace of human eyeballs. Several other gods worn shown in this way (with bones and skulls). Although in most cultures skeletons are associated with an evil depiction of death the Aztecs saw it as a sign of fertility, health, and abundance. He also had a female counterpart that was known as the Goddess of the Underworld or better known as Mictlancihuatl. He was also associated with spiders, owls, and bats, the eleventh hour, and the northern compass direction (referring to Mictlan the northern most layer of the underworld.) Mictlantecutli was one of the few gods who governed over all three types of souls (people who died of normal deaths, heroic deaths, and non-heroic deaths.) He was also associated with the day sign Itzcuintli (dog) It was said that he was required to supply the souls of those who were born on that day, so it seems that he had a connection with life.
It was said that the dead in Mictlan “devour the worst of foods and are continually eaten by Mictlantecuhtli. (Carrasco, 1995)
Mictlantecuhtli
Mictecacihautl, there
in Mictlan they eat
feet, hands. Their food
is the black beetle;
their gruel, pus. They drink it that way,
from a skull. They eat many
stinking tamales in Mictlan. The
tamales are the waste matter from
black beetles.
…Everything which
on earth is not eaten is food in
Mictlan.
And it was said: “Now
nothing is eaten, Much
poverty is suffered there in
Mictlan” (Sahagun, 1569)