Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl

Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl refers to the volcanoes Popocatépetl ("the Smoking Mountain") and Iztaccíhuatl ("sleeping woman" in Nahuatl, sometimes called the Mujer Dormida "sleeping woman" in Spanish)[1] in Iztaccíhuatl–Popocatépetl National Park,[2][3] which overlook the Valley of Mexico and the various myths explaining their existence.

A summary based on one version as recounted at a September 2006 "Myth, Mortals and Immortality: Works from the Museo Soumaya de México" exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.

Popocatépetl became an active volcano, raining fire on Earth in blind rage at the loss of his beloved.

[4] A different tale was told by the Nahuatl-speakers of Tetelcingo, Morelos,[5] according to whom Iztaccíhuatl was the wife of Popo, but Xinantécatl wanted her, and he and Popocatépetl hurled rocks at each other in anger.

Finally Popocatépetl, in a burst of rage, flung an enormous chunk of ice, decapitating the Nevado de Toluca.

One day, a war broke out with the fate of the Empire at stake, and the Aztec warriors had to go South to fight the enemy.

The Emperor told Popoca that he had to bring the head of the enemy chief back from the war, so he could marry his daughter.

He walked a long way until he arrived at some mountains where he ordered his warriors to build a funeral table with flowers and he put Izta lying on top.

He remains there forever, looking after Izta, and, as time passed, dirt, snow, rocks, and Mother Nature covered them, turning them into great mountains.