Xiuhtecuhtli, «Lord of fire and of the year», is one of the forty-five energies that rule the days, trecenas and veintenas of the Mexica calendar. Fire, warmth and the passing of time.

Why do you call Xiuhtecuhtli an energy and not a god?

Because «god» translates badly. The Mexica did not separate the deity from the force it stands for as the European word does. «Energy» is not perfect either, but it does not carry that freight. It is a decision of this site, declared as one — and it applies to Xiuhtecuhtli as to the other forty-four.

Why is the full entry on Xiuhtecuhtli only in Spanish?

Because the entry on Xiuhtecuhtli quotes Sahagún, Durán and the codices in their own sixteenth-century words. A quotation carried across stops being a quotation. The Spanish entry is linked from this page.

The energies

One of the forty-five energies

Xiuhtecuhtli

Lord of fire and of the year

What it rules

Fire, warmth and the passing of time.

Why «energy» and not «god»

Because «god» translates badly. The Mexica did not separate the deity from the force it stands for in the way the European word does, and calling them gods imports an idea that is not theirs. «Energy» is not perfect either, but it does not carry that freight. It is a decision of this site, and it is declared as one.

The full entry is in Spanish, and here is why

What you have read above is this project's own summary of Xiuhtecuhtli. The full entry — the part that rests on the sixteenth-century sources — has not been translated, and that is a decision rather than an omission.

We chose not to touch the primary text. Those sections quote Sahagún, Durán and the codices in their own words, often in sixteenth-century Castilian. A quotation carried across stops being a quotation: it loses the register, the ambiguity and the exact wording someone might want to check against a facsimile.

In Spanish the entry carries:

El nombre
El fuego de cada casa
Señor del año
De dónde viene su imagen

Read the full entry in the original Spanish → Nahuatl names and terms are identical in both versions.

How to cite this page

Alma Mexica, «Xiuhtecuhtli», The energies. Revised 2026-09-17. https://almamexica.org/en/energy/xiuhtecuhtli/

The name

The root xihuitl means at once «grass», «turquoise», «year» and «comet». The name of this energy condenses fire (turquoise as its sacred colour), time (the year that is counted) and the natural cycle (the grass that grows back).