Editing Xiuhtecuhtli (section)

==Attributes==
[[Image:Máscara de Xiuhtecuhtli Cultura Azteza-Mixteca Ars Summum.JPG|left|200px|thumb|The mask of Xiuhtecuhtli, from the [[British Museum]], of [[Aztec]] or [[Mixtec]] provenance.<ref name="Matos Moctezuma 2002, p.476" />]]  Xiuhtecuhtli's face is painted with black and red pigment.<ref name="Bezanilla 2000, p.25" /> Xiuhtecuhtli was usually depicted adorned with turquoise mosaic, wearing the turquoise ''xiuhuitzolli'' crown of rulership on his head and a turquoise butterfly pectoral on his chest,<ref>Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189. Barrera Rodríguez & López Arenas 2008, p.19.</ref> and he often wears a descending turquoise ''xiuhtototl'' bird (''[[Cotinga amabilis]]'') on his forehead and the Xiuhcoatl fire serpent on his back.<ref name="Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189">Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189.</ref> He owns fire serpent earplugs.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140" /> On his head he has a paper crown painted with different colors and motifs. On top of the crown there are sprays of green feathers, like flames from a fire.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140" /> He has feather tufts to each side, like pendants, toward his ears. On his back he has plumage resembling a dragon's head, made of yellow feathers with marine conch shells.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140" /> He has copper bells tied to the insteps of his feet. In his left hand he holds a shield with five greenstones, called ''chalchihuites'', placed in the form of a [[cross]] on a thin gold plate that covered almost all the shield.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140" /> In his right hand he has a kind of scepter that was a round gold plate with a hole in the middle, and topped by two globes, one larger than the other, the smaller one had a point.<ref name="Luján 2005, p.140" /> Xiuhtecuhtli is closely associated with youthful warriors and with rulership, and was considered a solar god.<ref>Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.419-20.</ref> His principal symbols are the ''tecpatl'' (flint) and the ''mamalhuatzin'', the two sticks that were rubbed together to light ceremonial fires.<ref>Fernández 1992, 1996, pp.104-6.</ref> A staff with a deer's head was also an attribute of Xiuhtecuhtli, although not exclusively so as it could also be associated with [[Xochiquetzal]] and other deities.<ref>Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.468.</ref>

Many of the attributes of Xiuhtecuhtli are found associated with [[Mesoamerican chronology|Early Postclassic]] [[Toltec]] warriors but clear representations of the god are not common until the [[Mesoamerican chronology|Late Postclassic]].<ref name="Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.189" /> The ''[[nahual]]'', or spirit form, of Xiuhtecuhtli is [[Xiuhcoatl]], the Fire Serpent.<ref name="Fernández 1992, 1996, p.107">Fernández 1992, 1996, p.107.</ref>

Xiuhtecuhtli was embodied in the ''teotecuilli'', the sacrificial brazier into which sacrificial victims were cast during the [[New Fire ceremony]].<ref name="Fernández 1992, 1996, p.107" />  This took place at the end of each cycle of the Aztec calendar round (every 52 years),<ref>Smith 1996, 2003, p.249.</ref> when the gods were thought to be able to end their covenant with humanity.  Feasts were held in honor of Xiuhtecuhtli to keep his favors, and human sacrifices were burned after removing their [[heart]].