page_title: Tecpatl
section_title: Tecpatl represented as tongue or nose
hierarchical_section_title: Tecpatl / Tecpatl represented as tongue or nose
caption_attribution_description: Español: Mictlantecuhtli
context_page_description: In the Aztec culture, a tecpatl was a flint or obsidian knife with a lanceolate figure and double-edged blade, with elongated ends. Both ends could be rounded or pointed, but other designs were made with a blade attached to a handle. It can be represented with the top half red, reminiscent of the color of blood, in representations of human sacrifice and the rest white, indicating the color of the flint blade.
  It was the sign of the eighteenth day, the twentieth day of the month of the Aztec calendar and the beginning of one of the twenty trecenas of the tonalpohualli.
  The Tecpatl knife was traditionally used for human sacrifice by the Aztecs, but it also was the short-range weapon of the jaguar warriors. Although it may have seen only limited use on the battlefield, its sharp edges would have made it an effective sidearm.
context_section_description: The knife inserted into the nasal cavity symbolizes "cut the air", which is a vital element in symbolizing death. The tongue in the form of an obsidian knife (tecpatl) exposed to outside, indicates the need to be fed with the magical substance that was human blood flowing from the heart.
  In excavations of the Templo Mayor, 33 skull-masks representing Mictlantecuhtli (god of death) were found; made out of the rostral portion of human skulls, adorned with shell and pyrite to represent the eyes, and sacrificial knives to simulate nose and tongue.
  In the Codex Borbonicus, Xolotl's tongue is made out of flint and he is carrying another knife with his right hand. Tlaltecuhtli (Lord of the Earth), is found in various sculptures and manuscripts, with tecpatl representing the tongue of the deity. In the Sun Stone, the tongue of the central face of Tonatiuh is a tecpatl. In the Codex Borgia, Mictlantecuhtli (lord of the underworld) appears as an active sacrificer armed with an ax or a técpal, ready to draw the hearts of his victims, his nose and tongue accuse the form of sharp knives.
caption: Mictlantecuhtli with tecpatls representing his nose and tongue (Codex Borgia, page 18).
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