Toci, , “our grandmother”, from ''to-'', first person plural possessive, and ''cihtli'', "grandmother" (the absolutive suffix ''-tli'' is dropped) is a prominent deity in the religion and mythology of the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

Aztec civilization of

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

. In

Aztec mythology Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. Accordi ...

, she is seen as an aspect of the

mother goddess A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility goddess, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or th ...

Coatlicue or Xochitlicue and is thus labeled "mother of the gods"., ''lit.'' "gods, their mother" She is also called Tlalli Iyollo,, meaning "heart of the earth".

Characteristics and associations

Although considered to be an aged deity, Toci is not always shown with specific markers of great age. Toci is frequently depicted with black markings around the mouth and nose, wearing a headdress with

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

spools (Miller and Taube 1993, p. 170). These are also characteristic motifs for Tlazolteotl, a central Mesoamerican goddess of both purification and filth (''tlazolli'' in Nahuatl) and the two deities are closely identified with one another. Toci was also associated with healing and venerated by curers of ailments and

midwives A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; con ...

. In the 16th century '' Florentine Codex'' compiled by Bernardino de Sahagún, Toci is identified with '' temazcalli'' or

sweatbath A temazcal is a type of sweat lodge, which originated with pre-Hispanic indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica. The term ''temazcal'' comes from the Nahuatl language, either from the words (to bathe) and (house), or from the word (house of hea ...

s in which aspect she is sometimes termed '' Temazcalteci'' or "Grandmother of sweatbaths". Tlazolteotl also has an association with ''temazcalli'' as the "eater of filth" and such bathhouses are likely to have been dedicated to either Tlazolteotl or Toci/Temazcalteci. Toci also had an identification with war and had also the

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

"Woman of Discord".

Traditions in mythology

By one

Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: , ;''Nahuatl Dictionary.'' (1990). Wired Humanities Project. University of Oregon. Retrieved August 29, 2012, frolink/ref> singular ) were a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of ...

-Aztec legendary tradition, at some point during their long peregrinations after leaving the mythical homeland Aztlan, the Mexica served as mercenaries to the Culhua at their capital of Culhuacan. The Culhua ruler bestowed his daughter upon the Mexica for an intended marriage with one of the Mexica nobility; however the Mexica's guiding and chief deity Huitzilopochtli intervened and ordered that she be flayed and sacrificed, instead. When this was done she transformed into Toci. The Mexica were expelled from Culhuacan by the Culhua ruler for the act, and the Mexica were pressed on towards Lake Texcoco. It was here that shortly thereafter they founded their capital Tenochtitlan, from which base they would later grow in power to form the Aztec Empire and exert their dominion over the

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico wa ...

(Miller and Taube 1993).

Festivals and rites

During the '' veintena'' of Ochpaniztli in the Aztec calendar, harvest-time festival rites were held to honor Toci in her aspect as "Heart of the Earth" (Miller and Taube 1993).

Notes

References

Bibliography