Centenary Paper: Christianization of Nahua Religion: Presenting Tezcatlipoca as the Invisible Supreme God in the Works of Bernardino de Sahagún

In his major works, such as the Florentine Codex and the Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España , Bernardino de Sahagún described the Aztec god, Tezcatlipoca, as the only invisible and impalpable supreme deity. This portrayal aimed to present Tezcatlipoca as a god with Christian-like attributes, but far different from other Indigenous deities. This essay, however, extensively challenges such a presentation of Tezcatlipoca by thoroughly examining the divine traits and roles of Tezcatlipoca in Prehispanic historical and religious traditions. Before the Conquest, Huitzilopochtli, not Tezcatlipoca, held the position of the supreme deity as it was the patron god of the Mexicas, the people of Tenochtitlan, who politically and militarily dominated the Prehispanic world. Additionally, characterizing Tezcatlipoca as an invisible and impalpable god contradicts Prehispanic religious practices as Indigenous people were actively engaged in visualizing their gods through the ixiptlahuan (impersonators) and communicated with them through the tlaquimilolli (sacred bundles or gods’ relics). This essay argues that Sahagún assimilated the Indigenous Tezcatlipoca to the Christian god as a strategic move to facilitate his evangelical project.