What Is Nahui Ollin? The Fifth Sun Behind Our Collection

Nahui Ollin means "Four Movement" in Nahuatl. In Aztec (Mexica) belief, it's the name of the Fifth Sun: the age we're living in right now.

It's also the name of our latest collection. Here's the story behind it, and why it ended up on a hoodie designed in Queens.

The four suns before ours

The Mexica believed the world had already been created and destroyed four times. Each age had its own sun, and each one ended in disaster.

Jaguars. Wind. A rain of fire. A flood that drowned the world.

The old accounts don't always agree on the order. They agree on the ending: every sun so far has fallen.

The Fifth Sun is ours, and its name carries its fate. Ollin means movement, and this age is said to end in earthquakes.

How the Fifth Sun was born

After the fourth sun fell, the gods gathered in the dark at Teotihuacan. Someone had to become the new sun, and the only way in was a sacred fire.

Tecciztecatl, proud and dressed in fine things, volunteered first. He ran at the flames four times and stopped at the edge every time. Nanahuatzin, small and covered in sores, didn't hesitate. He threw himself in and rose as the sun. Tecciztecatl followed him in and became the moon.

Even then the sun just hung there. It took more sacrifice from the gods themselves to set it moving.

That's the debt this whole age runs on. The light came from someone willing to burn.

Quetzalcóatl and the bones of Mictlán

A new sun still needed people. So Quetzalcóatl, the Feathered Serpent, went down into Mictlán, the underworld, to bring back the bones of the people from the age before.

Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of Mictlán, didn't make it easy. He told Quetzalcóatl to blow a conch shell that had no holes. Quetzalcóatl called worms to drill it and bees to make it sound.

On the way out he fell, and the bones broke. The story says that's why people come in all sizes.

He carried them back anyway. The gods bled on the bones, and the people of the Fifth Sun were made. Us.

Tlaltecuhtli and the ground under your feet

Before any of it there was Tlaltecuhtli, a great earth monster drifting in the first waters. Quetzalcóatl and Tezcatlipoca tore her in two. One half became the sky. The other became the earth.

Her hair became trees and flowers. Her eyes became springs and caves. Her shoulders became mountains. Every step you take in this age is on her.

Where you can still see Nahui Ollin

Look at the center of the Sun Stone, the giant carved disk at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. The four squares around the central face show the four suns that came before. Together with the face, they form the sign Nahui Ollin.

Centuries later, it's still one of the most recognized images in Mexico.

The Nahui Ollin collection

We built this collection around the forces that hold the Fifth Sun together.

• Quetzalcóatl Oversize Fleeced Hoodie: the life side. The one who went into the dark and carried something back.

• Mictlantecuhtli Oversized Boxy Hoodie: the keeper of Mictlán, who holds what the world is finished with.

• Fifth Sun Stand Collar Jacket: the age itself, printed front and back.

Quetzalcóatl and Mictlantecuhtli were made to be worn together. Life and death were never opposites.

Limited run. When a size is gone, it's gone. Shop the Nahui Ollin collection.

Quick answers

What does Nahui Ollin mean?

"Four Movement" in Nahuatl. It's a day sign in the Aztec calendar and the name of the Fifth Sun, the current age in Mexica belief.

What is the Fifth Sun?

The fifth and current world age in Aztec cosmology. It began at Teotihuacan when Nanahuatzin sacrificed himself to become the sun, and it's said to end in earthquakes.

What is Mictlán?

The Aztec underworld. Souls crossed its nine levels over four years to reach Mictlantecuhtli at the bottom.

Who makes the Nahui Ollin collection?

Vida y Muerte Co., an independent streetwear and wearable art brand founded by Julio Trejo in Queens, New York.

You're not here forever. Wear something that means something.