You are entering the deer's sanctuary. At the center of a great carved stone disc, a stag stands still in the dry grass, maize around him. This is the hearth, the centre the four directions run from: the gold of dawn to the east, the turquoise of noon to the south, the red of dusk to the west, the violet of night to the north. The deer is your nahual: the essence revealed in animal form.
You return to the hearth. The warmth you carry is the warmth of the first day.
Credits and attributions
This site uses resources created by others. Recognition and gratitude.
3D models
The stag and part of the flora come from Quaternius open-source packs (CC0 license). Xolotl (the dog-brother of Quetzalcoatl who sometimes crosses the scene) uses the Xoloitzcuintle model by Nyilonelycompany, purchased on Fab.com, tinted obsidian. Complementary models (ocotillo, vines) are procedurally generated. The cempasúchil flowers of the North are modelled procedurally. The hummingbirds of the South use the Hummingbird model from Poly by Google (CC BY 3.0 licence), recoloured per species; the fire serpent Xiuhcoatl was modelled by Blender script for this site. The South daytime sky is the photograph “Kloofendal 48d Partly Cloudy (Pure Sky)” by Greg Zaal and Jarod Guest, Poly Haven, CC0 licence, tinted for the scene. The bearers of the West use a Quaternius model (CC0 licence), dressed for this site. The nopal `nopal-google.glb` comes from the Poly by Google archive, like the hummingbird, and is credited as CC BY 3.0 accordingly. A file-by-file record is kept in the repository (docs/credits-modeles.md).
Fonts
Geist Sans and Geist Mono, created by Vercel (SIL Open Font license).
Software libraries
React (MIT), Next.js (MIT), Three.js (MIT), React Three Fiber (MIT), drei (MIT), postprocessing (Zlib), GSAP (standard license), Lenis (MIT), Sass (MIT), TypeScript (Apache 2.0), Vitest (MIT).
Inspirations
Sacred Labs (Joseph Santamaria), Lusion, Immersive Garden, Bruno Simon, Codrops. Fejérváry-Mayer and Borgia codices for cosmology. Miguel León-Portilla's and Alfredo López Austin's studies for the depth of Nahua philosophy.
Cultural recognition
This site is a tribute to the living Nahua culture, not a museum. For Elda, Alondra, Léopoldine, and all who carry this memory.
A song for this direction
Ninoyolnonotza,
campa nicuiz yectli auiacaxochitl?
ac nictlatlaniz?
manoço yehuatl nictlatlani in quetzalhuitzitziltzin,
in chalchiuhhuitzitzicatzin
I speak with my heart:
where shall I gather the fine, fragrant flowers?
Whom shall I ask?
Perhaps the precious hummingbird,
the hummingbird the colour of jade?