Tezcatlipoca or Tezcatl Ipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion. He is associated with a variety of concepts, including the night sky, hurricanes, obsidian, and conflict. He was considered one of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the primordial dual deity. His main festival was Toxcatl, which, like most religious festivals of Aztec culture, involved human sacrifice.
Aztec obsidian mirror.
Tezcatlipoca with all 20 day signs, symbolizing the divine calendar (Codex Borgia)
Tezcatlipoca on page 12 of the Codex Borgia.
Mask representing Tezcatlipoca formed from a human skull, likely worn by priests during sacred rites. Turquoise with iron pyrites for the eyes. From the British Museum.
The Aztec religion is a polytheistic and monistic pantheism in which the Nahua concept of teotl was construed as the supreme god Ometeotl, as well as a diverse pantheon of lesser gods and manifestations of nature. The popular religion tended to embrace the mythological and polytheistic aspects, and the Aztec Empire's state religion sponsored both the monism of the upper classes and the popular heterodoxies.
Mictlantecuhtli (left), god of death, and Quetzalcoatl, god of life; together they symbolize life and death.
Quetzalcoatl, god of the winds and knowledge, in the Codex Borgia
Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of water and mistress of lakes, in the Codex Borbonicus
Tezcatlipoca, god of providence, in the Codex Borgia.
