n the legends about the Teuhtli volcano, it is almost always a warrior who fights alongside Popocatepetl or against him, for the love of Iztaccíhuatl.
The Teuhtli volcano is a little known and visited place in CDMX.
The Teuhtli or Teuctzin is an extinct volcano of the Hawaiian type and of a shield type formation. This means that its diameter is much greater than its height. It is located south of Mexico City, and reaches a height of 2,710 meters above sea level, serving as the geographical limit of the Milpa Alta, Tláhuac and Xochimilco delegations.
Teuhtli is located northeast of the Ajusco-Chichinauhtzin mountain range, which divides the Xochimilco area from the Milpa Alta valley, on its slopes there are towns such as San Antonio Tecómitl and San Juan Ixtayopan (east), San Pedro Atocpan (South West ), Santiago Tulyehualco (North-East), San Gregorio Atlapulco and San Luis Tlaxialtemalco (north) and Villa Milpa Alta (south)
There are numerous New Hispanic legends about this volcano that mix pre-Hispanic myths with Catholic elements. The theogony of the ancient Mexicans says that after the creation of the first man and the first woman, when Tezcatlipoca became the sun, a race of giants arose on the face of the earth. Among that race of giants, two young warriors named Popocatepetl and Teuhtli stood out, who when seeing their world in danger in the face of imminent destruction, tried to defend themselves and forget that both were in love with the same woman: Ixtaccihuatl.
It was Popocatepetl who was in charge of removing her from the battlefield and heading east , but the young woman already had a mortal wound. The brave warrior was also seriously injured, despite this he was able to flee with his precious cargo and move away to put it out of danger. Teuhtli kept resisting until he dropped dead. It was divine punishment for the excesses and constant struggles that existed between men, but also the emergence of the second sun, the sun of the water that Quetzalcoatl was transformed into.
Popocatepetl, deposited the woman on a promontory and sat next to her . Time did the rest, little by little, it covered the warrior and the maiden with snow. The same thing happened, far from there, with Teuhtli, whose melting summit became a source source for the Chalco and Xochimilco lakes. The era of the second Sun began.
The enemy against whom Teuhtli and Popocatepetl fought, was the god Tezcatlipoca transformed into one or more tigers , who “finished them off and ate, of which there was none left” of the members of this race of giants, who in ancient times populated the world.
Chris Huiven
They are also behind versions that try to explain the relationship between the Teuhtli and the Yeteco . Yeteco was conceived by Ixtaccihuatl and the Teuhtli, but because the woman did not breastfeed the child, the enraged father kicked her so hard that her impulse made her fall in the place she is today, on the limits of the State. from Mexico and Puebla, next to the Popocatepetl colossus. Also adding that the lack of maternal food was the cause that the Yeteco did not grow and will remain tiny to this day.
Another legend speaks of wise Teuhtli, as wise as the Popocatepetl and the Tepozteco. He was a great man to whom the ancient inhabitants of Milpa Alta came to ask for advice. An example is in an inhabitant of Malacateticpac , he goes to him to tell him what the firewood of the newlywed is, and to be able to fulfill one of the jobs that the father of the girl he had fallen in love with as a condition and to be able to marry she.
The natives of Milpa Alta flock to old Teuhtli when the rain fails to meet the Nahuaques, guardians of Moctezuma, in the hope of ending the suffering of their milpas. The wise Teuhtli, after asking them for some presents, sends them to the Tepozteco to make the same request. The wise Tepozteco receives them and grants the rain; however, he asks them to come and greet the daughter of the old Teuhtli, Ixtaccihuatl . The white woman or “Mariquita” provides the Indians with some “granicitos” and stones that they present before the Tepozteco and with this ends the drought in Milpa Alta.
Today, a ceremonial is held by the people of Milpal. The Teuhtli has played an important role in Milpa Alta, as a communal boundary, a sulfur mine and as a ceremonial center in pre-Hispanic times until the first half of the 18th century . Currently, the inhabitants of Milpa Alta climb the volcanic cone on May 3, the day of the Holy Cross, to celebrate a mass on the cross that is located at the top.
To make this route, you have to use one of the roads built by the peasants of the region, reach the foot of the volcano and start the ascent through the small gravel and sand roads , which in some parts make access difficult. From the volcano you can appreciate one of the most beautiful views , on the one hand the majestic Mexico City with its great buildings , the remains of the lake and the chinampas of Xochimilco, the farmlands of Atlapulco, Tlaxialtemalco, Tulyehualco and Ixtayopan.
On the other, the twelve towns that make up the Milpa Alta Delegation, surrounded by lands cultivated with nopal and other products of the field , its volcanoes, among which the Cilcuayo, Tonan, Tlaloc, Cuautzin, and a small portion of Chichinautzin stand out, together this to the blue of your sky.
Location: Xochimilco, Milpa Alta, Tláhuac, CDMX.
Source: mxcity.mx
