Editing Huītzilōpōchtli (section)

==Iconography==
[[File:Huitzilopochtli in the Codex Borbonicus.jpg|left|thumb|Huitzilopochtli in the Codex Borbonicus.|241x241px]]
[[File:Huitztlampa.jpg|thumb|255x255px|Xiuhtecuhtli in the [[Codex Borgia]].]]
In art and [[iconography]], Huitzilopochtli could be represented either as a [[hummingbird]] or as an anthropomorphic figure with just the feathers of such on his head and left leg, a black face, and holding a scepter shaped like a snake and a mirror. According to the Florentine Codex, Huitzilopochtli's body was painted blue.<ref name="Florentine Codex">{{cite book|last1=Sahagún|first1=Bernardino|title=Florentine Codex|publisher=Miguel Leon-Portilla|at=Book III, Chapter 1}}</ref> In the great temple his statue was decorated with cloth, feathers, gold, and jewels, and was hidden behind a curtain to give it more reverence and veneration. Another variation lists him having a face that was marked with yellow and blue stripes and he carries around the fire serpent Xiuhcoatl with him.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://atheism.about.com/od/aztecgodsgoddesses/p/Huitzilopochtli.htm|title=Who Are the Deities of War and Battle?|newspaper=About.com Religion & Spirituality|access-date=2017-02-11|archive-date=2011-09-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918231807/http://atheism.about.com/od/aztecgodsgoddesses/p/Huitzilopochtli.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to legend, the statue was supposed to be destroyed by the soldier [[Gil González de Benavides]], but it was rescued by a man called [[Tlatolatl]]. The statue appeared some years later during an investigation by [[Juan de Zumárraga|Bishop Zummáraga]] in the 1530s, only to be lost again. There is speculation that the statue still exists in a cave somewhere in the [[Anahuac Valley]].

He always had a blue-green hummingbird helmet in any of the depictions found. In fact, his hummingbird helmet was the one item that consistently defined him as Huitzilopochtli, the sun god, in artistic renderings.<ref>{{cite book|last=Read|first=Key Almere|title=Mesoamerican Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of Mexico and Central America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y053PeFmS5UC|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|pages=195|isbn=978-0-19-514909-8 }}</ref> He is usually depicted as holding a shield adorned with balls of eagle feathers, a homage to his mother and the story of his birth.<ref name="Florentine Codex"/> He also holds the blue snake, [[Xiuhcoatl]], in his hand in the form of an [[Spear-thrower|atlatl]].<ref>{{cite web|title=God of the Month: Huitzilopochtli|url=http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/gods/god-of-the-month-huitzilopochtli|website=Mexicolore}}</ref>