Turkeys have held a relevant space in Indigenous life since time immemorial. It is a domesticated bird present throughout all of Mesoamerican territory, bred mostly by women on the patios of their homes. Its value transcends food, and is incorporated into concepts of the cosmovision which appear in different ceremonies and in the organization of society. Some references to their symbolic meaning – in Náhuatl: huexólotl for the male and totolin for the female – are found in myths and imagery such as the Códice Borbónico, where the god Tezcatlipoca appears dressed as a turkey, in a process of metamorphosis related to one of his doubles or nahuales.
This identification is complex, but current Indigenous people still associate the turkey with wizards or people who practice witchcraft and corporal transformation, which are characteristics that can be attributed to Tezcatlipoca in ancient times. These specialists take advantage of the night to turn into animals, such as dogs, bulls, vultures or turkeys. Some cultures in the Huasteco region believe that turkey meat is “very powerful,” so it is used as an ingredient in spells or witchcraft. In the sixteenth century, Frair Bernardino de Sahagún recorded the use of the turkey wattle to bring on impotence in men.
The connection between the god of the smokey mirror and the turkey also appears in the Legend of the Suns, a myth that explains the ages of the world and the creation of humankind today. It says that the Third Age, Nahui Quiahutl (Cuatro Lluvia [Four Rain]) was ruled by Tezcatlipoca and ended in a rain of fire; the survivors turned into turkeys: “Those who died were the ones who had turned into turkeys (pipiltin). And so, now turkey chicks are called pipil-pipil” (Moreno de los Arcos, 1967: 192).
Recent archeological discoveries also point to the presence of the bird—complete or almost complete skeletons—as offerings in the Templo Mayor, in burials and ball games dedicated to Tezcatlipoca. These ritual gifts confirm turkeys’ importance to the rituals, considered to be a food for earthly and aquatic gods; turkey blood was offered up as a life-giving liquid to nourish the earth and other sacred entities. Furthermore, turkeys have served as a substitute for the human body and for powerful beings (governors or deities) during sacrifices, meant to enliven cosmic processes and revitalize the gods’ and the authorities’ soul strength.
This idea continues today among cultures during agricultural, community and therapeutic rituals, where turkeys are sacrificed as propitiatory offerings to rain, earthly fertility, the growth of corn, or to restore someone’s health. In some dances, such as the Danza del Volador, the bird has two functions: to be a sacrificial offering dedicated to the Earth and the Stick, ensuring the protection of the flyers, and simultaneously serve as the flyer’s body to avoid being devoured by the earth. Even with such a wide-ranging symbolism, turkeys continue to represent fundamental principles of Mesoamerican cosmovision, whether it’s “under the triple aspect of the earth/maize, of rain and wind” (Mazzetto, 2022) or as a manifestation of the dualisms: masculine/feminine, life/death, evident in the division of agricultural and domestic labor (Roldán, Rodríguez, et al., 2020).