Curl Mountain Cave

The Tira de la Peregrinación,in the Codex Boturini is the history of the Aztec migration into Tenochtitlan. It is in the cave of Curl Mountain that the "god" Huitzilopochtli was discovered. He also seems to be a "nuhu." Carried on the back of the priest with a glyph name of Serpent, he led the pilgrims along the road. When the travelers became discouraged and would go no further, the priest insisted that Huitzilopochtli wished them to continue their journey.

The Colombino-Becker Codex shows the same mountain but with a plain white loincloth under the curled top. It also appears as a non-curling mountain under Heaven's star-studded roof in the Zouche-Nuttall Codex.The red and white loincloth is at its base. The Colombino,even in its deteriorated form, shows a whirlpool within the mountain while flowers and fruit trees bloom on top. Its name then is Flower/Fruit Mountain which is also drawn in a similar form in the Codex Ríos.(Lamina 4) In the story, it is an unknown location attacked and conquered by Eight Deer and his companions, one of whom was an ally who wore a similar flower as a badge. The flower image is similar to the form found on top of the stripped "bonnet" of larger drawings of Tlaloc.

This is an "either/or" situation. Either the location is near Jaltepec, at the outer edge of the polity where the populace can point it out to visitors. Or, it is a location far away from the area, but placed on the edge of the map because it is part of the history of the land. The people who remember the direction of their origins will point out the mountain which is in the general area. They would then name the closer mountain by the name of the more distant one

The "or" part of this discussion can be equated to the naming convention of the early settlers of the Americas. They called some of their cities by names such as Paris, Athens, Holland, etc. As farmers, they lived outside of these central areas which finally became cities. The cities named after their homeland existed in their area, but if they ever went "home" it was to France, Greece or the Netherlands.

Finally, in the picture of the Peregrinación, there are actually two sets of footprints. One follows the Huitzilopochtli bundle while the other goes toward the top of the codex. Apparently, there was a split opinion in the community. The priest was only able to convince part of his followers to continue their journey with him. Their new homeland became Tenochtitlan. Where is Curl Mountain? Was it the birthplace of Huitzilopochtli?

On Plate 3 in the lower right hand corner of the Borgia Codex a drawing shows a black star personage wearing the red and white trappings of Tlaloc entering a whirlpool like pond with a curled element on one side. This appears to be the Mixtec designation for "nuhu" which the Aztecs called Huitzilopochtli in his curl top mountain.

The flowers and the small item under his loincloth in the middle indicate that it may well be Flower/Fruit Mountain. The loincloth, curl-top, red and white cloth, the white flowers, and fruit are a strong confirmation of Curl Mountain. It also implies that this personage is probably Huitzilopochtli as a star which fell from the skies under the auspices of Tlaloc.

Is it located near Tilantongo, in the land of the Men of Stone? Is it located in the land of the people of the Red and White bundle near Jaltepec? Or is it part of the story of the Tira de la Peregrinación,in the Codex Boturini?