Ehecatl

deity sky Aztec single tradition · 5

Ehecatl is the God of Wind who, after the Fifth Sun was initially created and did not move, began slaying all other gods to induce the newly created Sun into movement. Ehecatl pursued Xolotl who was unwilling to die to give movement to the new Sun. In the end, Ehecatl succeeded in finding and killing Xolotl.

↻ synthesized from 5 sources

When

First attested
1500 BCE
Attested period
-1500 – 2020
Historical notes
Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican wind deity documented in Aztec creation myths.

Relationships

aspect of
Quetzalcoatl
enemy of
Xolotl
syncretized with
Quetzalcoatl
manifested by
Quetzalcoatl

Expand to full subgraph →

Sources

Source passages

“Ehecatl ('God of Wind') consequently began slaying all other gods to induce the newly created Sun into movement. Xolotl, however, was unwilling to die in order to give movement to the new Sun. In the end, Ehecatl succeeded in finding and killing Xolotl.”

#13909 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

“They present themselves to Ehecatl, who offers them up one by one. Then, with the powerful wind that arises as a result of their sacrifice, Ehecatl makes the Sun move through the sky, nourishing the earth rather than scorching it.”

#16982 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“According to an account by Franciscan missionary Bernardino de Sahagún, following the sacrifices of Nanahuatl and Teucciztecatl in a great fire, Tonatiuh rose weakly and did not move until the wind god Ehecatl (also known as Quetzalcoatl or called Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl) executed Xolotl and blew Tonatiuh into motion.”

#17546 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“He also had anthropomorphic forms, for example in his aspects as Ehecatl the wind god.”

#33130 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“Ehecatl (Classical Nahuatl: Ehēcatl [eˈʔeːkatɬ], ) is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica. He is most usually interpreted as the aspect of the Feathered Serpent deity (Quetzalcoatl in Aztec and other Nahua cultures) as a god of wind”

#33504 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001