Las Garzas (Las Garr-Sass)
Prior to inhabiting the valley of Mexico, the Aztecs (known then as the Mexica) had been living in a place called Aztlán (somewhere in south western USA.) Aztlán means “The place of the white heron.” In Aztlán, they received a prophecy from their hummingribrd god of war Huitzilopochtli. (Weet-Zee-Loh-Posh-Tli)
He told them their destiny was to build a capitol somewhere else. They had to leave Aztlán in search of it. They would know they had found it when they came upon an eagle perched upon a cactus with a snake in it’s mouth. After 300 years of searching, they walked into the valley of Mexico and in the middle of Lake Texcoco they saw an eagle perched in a cactus with a snake in it’s mouth. They had found their home, the same site the Spaniards would eventually invade, drain and name Mexico City.
In this painting we see two white herons in a canyon. One is already leaving, the other is deciding if he should go. They might be the same heron, just in different timelines.