Among the ancient Nahuas, the hummingbird was a bird associated with the power of the sun and with the southern, warm region linked to Huitzilopochtli, god of war, whose name translates as “Hummingbird of the South” or “Left-Handed Hummingbird.” In this respect, the hummingbird appears as the nahual of Huitzilopochtli in various pictorial and material representations: either as a hummingbird from whose beak a human face emerges, or as the god wearing a huitzitzilnahualli, a costume of the bird consisting of a helmet and wings, which also appears as a full-body attire. The two offerings excavated at the foot of Huitzilopochtli's shrine in the Templo Mayor provide evidence of deposits of hummingbirds of different species, prepared through taxidermy and oriented toward the sunset. Taken together, the connection among the god, hummingbirds, and other birds expresses the sun's daily celestial movement toward its zenith.
The tiny bird is also recognized for its aggressive and territorial nature, making it an emblem of bravery, an attribute bestowed upon both the Mexica people and their patron deity. Likewise, its ability to “return to life” during the rainy season linked the hummingbird to the cycles of life and death. Thus, those who died on the battlefield were destined to accompany the sun on its journey. After four years, these deceased warriors were transformed into hummingbirds to drink the nectar of flowers. In the House of the Sun, joy, wealth, and sweetness were everlasting. Contemporary Hñahñu (Otomí) myths liken the sweetness of flowers to aguamiel; for this reason, the hummingbird is a tlachiquero who works extracting the sap for the Devil, lord of riches.
The act of drinking the nectar was used as a metaphor for the sexual act, linking the hummingbird to the masculine regeneration and fertility processes headed up by Quetzalcóatl. In this context, the long and slender beak of the hummingbird was related to the masculine member, while the flowers were associated with the vulva. In the myths about the creation of humanity, Quetzalcóatl does penance and autosacrifices consisting of puncturing the penis to extract blood, i.e., semen, which will bring humanity to life. Similarly, among the Maya, the act of extracting nectar from the flowers has been connected to spilling blood, and the hummingbird appears as Pizlimtec, creator deity and father of the contemporary sun, also associated with Xochipilli, Nahua goddess of flowers, song and music. Different narratives allude to the drinking the nectar as a generative act which allows for the structuring of the world. The hummingbird, a symbol of solar-masculine fertility, continues to be present today in Maya myths (Kekchis), where the Sun uses the skin of the small bird to court the Moon.
The sexual symbolism of the hummingbird is also seen in healing contexts, where consuming its meat was prescribed to cure skin pustules brought on by advanced syphilis, an illness contracted through sexual contact. However, ingesting too much of the remedy lead to sterility. During Colonial times, amulets made from dissected hummingbirds, dry herbs and strings were popular in love potions as “means of attraction,” hence the popular name as “little bird of love.” The idea of the hummingbird as a magical object tied to sexuality and fertility has resonance in several ancient myths, where the earthly goddess becomes pregnant after putting one of its feathers on her breast.