Statue of the Aztec wind god Ehécatl, height 195 cms., andesite (volcanic rock), Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, Cologne, Germany.
This sculpture represents Quetzalcóatl (‘Feathered Serpent’) in his guise as the god of wind, Ehécatl (‘wind’ in Náhuatl). This deity played an important role in Aztec creation myths, for he was thought to have set the sun and moon in motion by his blowing. He was also a leading god of agriculture, producing whirlwinds that swept the roads for the rain gods and so ensuring that the dry season ended.
Ehécatl is identified by the mouth mask, which here resembles a duck’s beak. The wide-open nostrils indicate that he is blowing through the mask. The coiled body probably represents a whirlwind of the kind produced by the wind on the Mexican plateau before the rainy season.
Adapted from the RA exhibition catalogue ‘Aztecs’, p. 424.
Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore