Jaguar Nights Mayan Aztec Calendar book series |
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Coatlicue ("Snake Skirt") is the mother of all gods, and of the sun, moon, and stars. Her son Huitzilopochtli, a war and sun god, killed his sister, Coyolxauhqui, and turned her into the moon, where she reigns in the sky next to her 400 siblings, the Centzonhuitznaua (the Southern stars).
Coatlicue is a complex, multi-faceted goddess, repre- senting both the good, nurturing side of Mother Earth and the terrible, destructive side of Nature. Her aspects include other goddesses associated with motherhood, grandmotherhood, fertility, and snakes, such as Teteoinnan, Toci, Cihuacoatl, Tonantzin, and Tlazolteotl.
The famous 3.5-meter tall statue of her is so fearsome and terrible that after its discovery in 1790, it was reburied almost immediately. It depicts the goddess just after she was beheaded, with two fountains of blood forming dual snake heads above her shoulders. Smaller snakes, as fertility symbols, decorate her skirt, and her necklace represents the corpses she feasts on in the course of Nature reclaiming all those who die. Her feet and hands are clawed to facilitate these grisly meals, but as a counterpoint, her large breasts sag from the many children she has nursed and nurtured with her body.
The original statue is on display at the National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City and a full-sized replica is in Chankanaab Park on Cozumel island.
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