Centzon Totochtin

In Aztec mythology, the Centzon Totochtin (Nahuatl pronunciation: [sent͡son toːˈtoːt͡ʃtin] "four-hundred rabbits"; also Centzontotochtin) are a group of divine rabbits who meet for frequent drunken parties. They include Tepoztecatl, Texcatzonatl, Colhuatzincatl, Macuiltochtli ("five-rabbit"), and Ometotchtli ("two-rabbit"). Their parents were Patecatl and Mayahuel, and they may have been brothers of Ixtlilton.

Their destruction is part of the myth of Huitzilopochtli's birth. One day Huitzilopochtli's mother Coatlicue is sweeping the temple where she serves. When Coyolxauhqui and the Centzon Totochtin hear about this, they are livid, and attack and prepare to decapitate her. Just prior to or at the moment Coatlicue is decapitated, Huitzilopochtli leaps fully armed out of her womb, cuts off Coyolxauhqui's head, and throws her off the temple. The Centzon Totochtin try to escape, but Huitzilopochtli either rips out their hearts, decapitates them, throws them off the temple, or stabs them. Copil's heart is thrown onto the island where Tenochtitlan was to be founded.

Aztec priests used this myth to try to justify their ritual of human sacrifice.

See also

• Aztec mythology
• Pulque
• Tepoztecatl

Additional reading

• (French) (Nahuatl)