The concept of the conflict and harmony of cosmic opposites is fundamental in Mesoamerican thought. This theme is evident in the numerous deities representing opposing forces that engage in a struggle to drive the universe's dynamism. Examples include the Sun versus the Moon and stars, and the diurnal, celestial, masculine, and luminous forces against the nocturnal, subterranean, feminine, and dark forces. However, two deities epitomize the harmony of these opposites rather than their conflict. One is Ometéotl, the "god two," the supreme deity in the Nahuatl religion, and the other is Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, the planet Venus, which is embodied by two twin brothers: Quetzalcóatl and Xolotl.
Quetzalcóatl, the god of the morning star, represents light, the heavens, and life. In contrast, Xolotl, the evening star, symbolizes darkness, the underworld, and death. Mesoamerican people understood that Venus was a single star with two manifestations, a fact the Mayans confirmed with precise calculations of the planet's cycle. Quetzalcóatl heralds the sunrise, while Xolotl guides the Sun through its daily journey into the underworld, akin to the xoloitzcuintli dog's role in transporting human spirits to Mictlan.
In the Bourbon Codex (p. 16), Xolotl is depicted with the solar god, Tlachitonatiuh, wearing a breastplate adorned with a cut snail, Quetzalcóatl's symbol. This signifies Xólotl as the nocturnal aspect of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, tasked with leading the solar god into the underworld. The Sun is illustrated as a disk about to be swallowed by the Earth deity's jaws, with Quetzalcóatl's symbol foreshadowing the Sun's rebirth, led by Xolotl transformed into his twin brother.
Though there is no equivalent dog god like Xolotl in Mayan sources, similar representations exist. For instance, the Dresden Codex (p. 40b) shows a dog detaching from an astral band with the sign of Venus, carrying a torch as a symbol of solar fire. Additionally, the Popol Vuh describes Venus as the herald of the newly created Sun, and in a myth of the Kekchí and Mopán peoples, Venus, the Sun's brother, is depicted as a dog running ahead of the star.
As Quetzalcóatl's dark twin, Xolotl was the deity of twins, associated with everything double, such as the double-ended molcajete (texólotl). Representing darkness and the underworld, he was the patron saint of sorcerers and also transformed into a turkey, huexólotl, making the bird's meat sacred, like that of the xoloitzcuintli. Xolotl is also the patron of the seventeenth day sign, ollin (movement), symbolized by intertwined bands representing the harmony of opposites. This duality also makes him the deity of the ball game, reflecting the cosmic struggle of stars and the opposing sacred forces of Sun, day, light, and life against Moon, stars, night, darkness, and death. During the atamalcualiztli festival, a stanza was sung: "Xólotl plays ball, in the magical field Xólotl plays ball," underscoring his connection to the ball game, an important ritual for the ruling class.
A mythical figure linked to Xólotl is Nanahuatzin, who, in a cosmogonic myth recorded by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, becomes the Sun of the fifth cosmic age after throwing himself into a bonfire. A beautiful, vain god named Tecuciztécatl, who hesitated and followed Nanahuatzin, became the Moon. This myth conveys a moral lesson against pride and vanity, paralleling the Mayan Popol Vuh, where a proud Sun is destroyed by twin heroes destined to become the Sun and Moon of the last cosmic age. The association with Xólotl arises not from Nanahuatzin's abnormality but from the ollin sign, representing Xólotl, which names the Fifth Sun: nahui ollin, Sun of motion.
In this myth, Xólotl and other gods sacrifice themselves to set the newly appeared Sun and Moon in motion. Xólotl, fearful, hides among cornfields, transforming into double corn (xólotl), then among magueys, becoming double maguey (mexólotl), and finally into the water, turning into the axolotl fish. He is eventually found and killed. This narrative illustrates Xólotl's role as a dark and rare deity who contributed to the stars' movement, initiating time and life in the universe. His creation of all abnormalities in nature and his mission to transport the dying Sun to the underworld underscore the essential role of darkness, abnormality, and death in cosmic life.
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