Coat of Arms of Mexico
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The coat of arms of Independent Mexico which was adopted in 1821, depicts a golden eagle, also called "įguila real" eating a snake that it is holding in its claw. The design also forms the center of the Mexican flag.
According to popular legend, the Aztec people, then a nomadic tribe, were wandering in Mexico in search of a sign that their god Huitzilopochtli had commanded them to find: an eagle perched atop a cactus, devouring a snake. After two hundred years of wandering, they found the promised sign on a small island in the swampy Lake Texcoco. Here they founded their new capital, Tenochtitlan.
See also
The Tale of the Eagle: a legend from Albania explaining the origin of their indigenous name, which also features an eagle with a snake.