Aztec mythology Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were a culture living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend ...

, Chicōmecōātl "Seven Serpent", was the Aztec goddess of agriculture during the Middle Culture period. She is sometimes called "goddess of nourishment", a goddess of plenty and the female aspect of

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

. More generally, Chicōmecōātl can be described as a deity of food, drink, and human livelihood. She is regarded as the female counterpart of the maize god ''

Centeōtl In Aztec mythology, Centeōtl (also known as Centeocihuatl or Cinteotl) is the maize deity. ''Cintli'' means "dried maize still on the cob" and ''teōtl'' means "deity".''Nahuatl Dictionary.'' (1997). Wired Humanities Project. University of Or ...

'', their symbol being an ear of corn. She is occasionally called ''Xīlōnen'', (meaning doll made of corn), who was married also to ''

Tezcatlipoca Tezcatlipoca ( ) or Tezcatl Ipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion. He is associated with a variety of concepts, including the night sky, hurricanes, obsidian, and conflict. He was considered one of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omec ...

''.

Significance of Name

Chicomecōātl's name, "Seven Serpent", is thought to be a reference to the duality of the deity. While she symbolizes the gathering of maize and agricultural prosperity, she also is thought to be harmful to the Aztecs, as she was thought to be of blame during years of poor harvest.

Appearance & Depiction

Her appearance is mostly represented with red ochre on the face, paper headdress on top, water-flowers patterned shirt, and foam sandals on the bottom. She is also described as carrying a sun flower shield.Bernardino de Sahagún, ''Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain'' (Translation of and Introduction to Historia General de Las Cosas de La Nueva España; 12 Volumes in 13 Books ), trans. Charles E. Dibble and Arthur J. O Anderson (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1950-1982), p.4 She is also often appeared with attributes of ''

Chalchiuhtlicue Chalchiuhtlicue (from ''chālchihuitl'' "jade" and ''cuēitl'' "skirt") (also spelled Chalciuhtlicue, Chalchiuhcueye, or Chalcihuitlicue) ("She of the Jade Skirt") is an Aztec deity of water, rivers, seas, streams, storms, and baptism. Chalch ...

'', such as her headdress and the short lines rubbing down her cheeks. Chicomecōātl is usually distinguished by being shown carrying ears of maize. She is shown in three different forms: * As a young girl carrying

flowers Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

*As a woman who brings death with her embraces *As a mother who uses the

sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

as a shield File:Chicomecoatl 2.jpg, Chicomecōātl, as depicted in

Codex Magliabechiano The Codex Magliabechiano is a pictorial Aztec codex created during the mid-16th century, in the early Spanish colonial period. It is representative of a set of codices known collectively as the ''Magliabechiano Group (others in the group include ...

File:Relief with Maize Goddess (Chicomecóatl).jpg, ''Relief with Maize Goddess (Chicomecóatl''), Stone, Aztec. File:Maize Deity (Chicomecoatl) MET DT5110.jpg, Maize Deity (Chicomecoatl), basalt File:Chicomecoatl (Museo Nacional de Antropologia).jpg, (Museo Nacional de Antropologia) File:Chicomecoatl Iconographic Annotation.png, An annotation highlighting the main iconographic features of the Aztec deity, Chicomecoatl, based on the features present on the 15th–early 16th-century basalt statue from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Festivals

She is particularly recognized during Huey Tozoztli, the first of sequence of three festivals held in high season marking the harvest. During the festival, her priestesses designate seed corn that is to be planted in the coming season. To appease the deity, as well as to ask for good harvest, priests often engaged in

child sacrifice Child sacrifice is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please or appease a deity, supernatural beings, or sacred social order, tribal, group or national loyalties in order to achieve a desired result. As such, it is a form of human ...

. Dried seed maize, harvested and retained for the following year, bore the title Chicomecōātl, while maize consumed following harvest season was generally referred to as Cinteotl.

References

* {{mesoamerica-myth-stub Aztec goddesses Agricultural goddesses Death goddesses Solar goddesses Food deities Food goddesses Triple goddesses

Significance of Name

Appearance & Depiction

Festivals

See also

References