Centeotl. The Aztec maize god, who appears to have been a maize goddess at an earlier time. He was a son of Tlazolteotl and sometimes mentioned as the husband of Xochiquetzal.
Chalchiutlicue. This Aztec Goddess, whose name means "jade skirt" or "lady precious gren", was matron of lakes and streams. A personification of youthful beauty and ardour, Chalchiuhtlicue was represented as a river from which grew a prickly pear tree laden with fruit, symbolizing the human heart. She ruled over all the waters of the earth; oceans, rivers, rain, etc., but was also associated with marriage. Her husband is Tlaloc, the god of rain. She unleashed the flood (to punish the wicked) that the destroyed the fourth world (according to the Aztec, we are in the fifth world).
Chantico. The Aztec goddess of hearth fires and volcanic fires. When she violated the ban on eating cayenne on fasting day by eating roasted fish with cayenne, she was turned into a dog by the maize-god Tonacatecuhtli. Her name means 'she who dwells in the house'.
Chicomecoatl. "Seven snakes". The Aztec goddess of maize during the Middle Culture period. She is sometimes called "goddess of nourishment", a goddess of plenty and the female aspect of corn. Every September a young girl representing Chicomecoatl was sacrificed. The priests decapitated the girl, collected her blood and poured it over a figurine of the goddess. The corpse was then flayed and the skin was worn by a priest. She comes in various appearances: a girl with water flowers, a woman whose embrace means certain death, and as mother who carries the sun with her as a shield. She is regarded as the female counterpart of the maize god Cinteotl, their symbol being an ear of corn. She is occasionally called Xilonen.
Cihuacoatl. An Aztec earth and mother-goddess, patroness of birth and of women who died while giving birth. She assisted Quetzalcoatl in the creation of the first humans of this era, which are made from the ground bones of the people of the previous era mixed with the blood of the old gods who committed self-sacrifice so that the new era could begin. Mixcoatl is her son. Cihuacoatl, which means 'snake-woman', is occasionally portrayed holding a child in her arms. Cihuacoatl's roaring signaled war. The center of her cult was at Colhuacan (at the Texcoco Lake in Mexico).
Quetzalcoatl. "Feathered Snake". One of the major deities of the Aztec, Toltecs, and other Middle American peoples. He is the creator sky-god and wise legislator. He organized the original cosmos and participated in the creation and destruction of various world periods. Quetzalcoatl ruled the fifth world cycle and created the humans of that cycle. The story goes that he descended to Mictlan, the underworld, and gathered the bones of the human beings of the previous epochs. Upon his return, he sprinkled his own blood upon these bones and fashioned thus the humans of the new era. He is also a god of the wind (the wind-god Ehecatl is one of his forms), as well as a water-god and fertility-god. He is regarded as a son of the virgin goddess Coatlicue and as the twin brother of Xolotl. As the bringer of culture he introduced agriculture (maize) and the calendar and is the patron of the arts and the crafts. In one myth the god allowed himself to be seduced by Tezcatlipoca, but threw himself on a funeral pyre out of remorse. After his death his heart became the morning-star, and is as such identified with the god Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. In dualistic Toltec religion, the opposing deity, Tezcatlipoca ("Smoking Mirror"), a god of the night, had reputedly driven Quetzalcoatl into exile. According to yet another tradition he left on a raft of snakes over the sea. In any case, Quetzalcoatl, described as light-skinned and bearded, would return in a certain year. Thus, when the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés appeared in 1519, the Aztec king, Montezuma II, was easily convinced that Cortés was in fact the returning god. The Aztec later made him a symbol of death and resurrection and a patron of priests. The higher priests were called Quetzalcoatl too. The god has a great affinity with the priest-king Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl, who ruled the Toltecs in Tula in the 10th century. The cult of Quetzalcoatl was widespread in Teotihuacan (ca. 50km northeast of Mexico City), Tula (or Tullán, capitol of the Toltecs in middle Mexico), Xochilco, Cholula, Tenochtitlan (the current Mexico City), and Chichen Itza.
Chalchiutlicue. This Aztec Goddess, whose name means "jade skirt" or "lady precious gren", was matron of lakes and streams. A personification of youthful beauty and ardour, Chalchiuhtlicue was represented as a river from which grew a prickly pear tree laden with fruit, symbolizing the human heart. She ruled over all the waters of the earth; oceans, rivers, rain, etc., but was also associated with marriage. Her husband is Tlaloc, the god of rain. She unleashed the flood (to punish the wicked) that the destroyed the fourth world (according to the Aztec, we are in the fifth world).
Chantico. The Aztec goddess of hearth fires and volcanic fires. When she violated the ban on eating cayenne on fasting day by eating roasted fish with cayenne, she was turned into a dog by the maize-god Tonacatecuhtli. Her name means 'she who dwells in the house'.
Chicomecoatl. "Seven snakes". The Aztec goddess of maize during the Middle Culture period. She is sometimes called "goddess of nourishment", a goddess of plenty and the female aspect of corn. Every September a young girl representing Chicomecoatl was sacrificed. The priests decapitated the girl, collected her blood and poured it over a figurine of the goddess. The corpse was then flayed and the skin was worn by a priest. She comes in various appearances: a girl with water flowers, a woman whose embrace means certain death, and as mother who carries the sun with her as a shield. She is regarded as the female counterpart of the maize god Cinteotl, their symbol being an ear of corn. She is occasionally called Xilonen.
Cihuacoatl. An Aztec earth and mother-goddess, patroness of birth and of women who died while giving birth. She assisted Quetzalcoatl in the creation of the first humans of this era, which are made from the ground bones of the people of the previous era mixed with the blood of the old gods who committed self-sacrifice so that the new era could begin. Mixcoatl is her son. Cihuacoatl, which means 'snake-woman', is occasionally portrayed holding a child in her arms. Cihuacoatl's roaring signaled war. The center of her cult was at Colhuacan (at the Texcoco Lake in Mexico).
Quetzalcoatl. "Feathered Snake". One of the major deities of the Aztec, Toltecs, and other Middle American peoples. He is the creator sky-god and wise legislator. He organized the original cosmos and participated in the creation and destruction of various world periods. Quetzalcoatl ruled the fifth world cycle and created the humans of that cycle. The story goes that he descended to Mictlan, the underworld, and gathered the bones of the human beings of the previous epochs. Upon his return, he sprinkled his own blood upon these bones and fashioned thus the humans of the new era. He is also a god of the wind (the wind-god Ehecatl is one of his forms), as well as a water-god and fertility-god. He is regarded as a son of the virgin goddess Coatlicue and as the twin brother of Xolotl. As the bringer of culture he introduced agriculture (maize) and the calendar and is the patron of the arts and the crafts. In one myth the god allowed himself to be seduced by Tezcatlipoca, but threw himself on a funeral pyre out of remorse. After his death his heart became the morning-star, and is as such identified with the god Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. In dualistic Toltec religion, the opposing deity, Tezcatlipoca ("Smoking Mirror"), a god of the night, had reputedly driven Quetzalcoatl into exile. According to yet another tradition he left on a raft of snakes over the sea. In any case, Quetzalcoatl, described as light-skinned and bearded, would return in a certain year. Thus, when the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés appeared in 1519, the Aztec king, Montezuma II, was easily convinced that Cortés was in fact the returning god. The Aztec later made him a symbol of death and resurrection and a patron of priests. The higher priests were called Quetzalcoatl too. The god has a great affinity with the priest-king Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl, who ruled the Toltecs in Tula in the 10th century. The cult of Quetzalcoatl was widespread in Teotihuacan (ca. 50km northeast of Mexico City), Tula (or Tullán, capitol of the Toltecs in middle Mexico), Xochilco, Cholula, Tenochtitlan (the current Mexico City), and Chichen Itza.