Tonacatepetl- Aztec LocationLocation · Landmark"Mountain of Sustenance"

The Hidden Grains

After the gods created humanity from ground bones and divine blood in the era of the Fifth Sun, the newly formed people had no food. Quetzalcoatl noticed a red ant carrying a kernel of maize and demanded to know its source. The ant refused, but Quetzalcoatl pressed until it relented and led him to Tonacatepetl, the Mountain of Sustenance. Transforming himself into a black ant, Quetzalcoatl followed the red ant through narrow passages deep inside the mountain, where he discovered vast stores of maize and other cultivated grains. He carried them out to Tamoanchan, where the gods waited. They chewed the maize until it softened and placed it on the lips of the infant humans, giving them their first nourishment.

The Breaking of the Mountain

Quetzalcoatl had retrieved a sample, but the bulk of the food remained locked within Tonacatepetl. He tried to carry the entire mountain by tying a rope around it, but he could not move the stone. The gods turned to Oxomoco and Cipactonal, the primordial diviner couple, who cast lots and determined that Nanahuatzin, the humble god who would later throw himself into the fire to become the Fifth Sun, must split the mountain open.

Nanahuatzin struck Tonacatepetl with a bolt of lightning. The mountain cracked asunder, releasing all the grains stored inside. The Tlaloque, rain deities of the four directions, swept in and seized the scattered foodstuffs, carrying them off across the world. From that day, sustenance depended on rain, and the Tlaloque held power over every harvest.