The Myth of Huitzilopochtli: Diachronic and Structural Interpretation

Abstract

The paper investigates the myth about the birth of Huicilopochtli, the deity considered by the Spanish conquistadors to be the supreme god of the Aztecs. Aztec myths are even today usually interpreted diachronically, strictly following the sequence of events. Structural analysis, on the other hand, in attempting to uncover the message a myth holds, doesn’t deem the sequence of events in the story important, but rather, studies the interrelation of chains of essential units of myth – mythemes. These two kinds of analysis provide two different interpretations of the same myth: while formal analysis gives a cosmological interpretation, structural analysis points to the powerful social contradictions which this myth tries to reconcile.