What does Chalchiuhtlicue look like?

What does Chalchiuhtlicue look like?

Appearance and Reputation. The goddess Chalchiuhtlicue is often depicted in pre-Columbian and colonial period books called codices as wearing a blue-green skirt, as her name illustrates, from which flows a long and abundant stream of water. Sometimes new-born children are portrayed floating in this water flow.

What did Chalchiuhtlicue represent?

In Aztec religion, the water goddess was the wife of the rain god Tlaloc, an ancient deity that had long been worshipped throughout Mesoamerica. Chalchiuhtlicue symbolized the purity and preciousness of spring, river, and lake water that was used to irrigate the fields.

What does Chalchiuhtlicue name mean?

Chalchiuhtlicue [t͡ʃaːɬt͡ʃiwˈt͡ɬikʷeː] (from chālchihuitl [t͡ʃaːɬˈt͡ʃiwit͡ɬ] “jade” and cuēitl [kʷeːit͡ɬ] “skirt”) (also spelled Chalciuhtlicue, Chalchiuhcueye, or Chalcihuitlicue) (“She of the Jade Skirt”) is an Aztec deity of water, rivers, seas, streams, storms, and baptism.

What did Chalchiuhtlicue wear?

Chalchiuhtlicue, also spelled Chalchihuitlicue (Nahuatl: She Who Wears a Jade Skirt), also called Matlalcueye (She Who Wears a Green Skirt), Aztec goddess of rivers, lakes, streams, and other freshwaters.

Who is Itzpapalotl?

Itzpapalotl is the patron of the day and associated with the stars Cozcuauhtli and Trecena 1 House in the Aztec calendar. The Trecena 1 House is one of the five western trecena dates dedicated to the cihuateteo, or women who had died in childbirth.

What is the Aztec symbol of water?

Atl is a Nahuatl word meaning ‘water’, which is also the symbol associated with the day. The Mesoamericans believed that Atl was a day for them to purify themselves by facing conflict. It was considered a good day for battle, but a bad day to be idle or rest.

What goddess is protector of children?

The goddess Artemis played an intriguing role in Greek mythology and religion. She was known as the “Mistress of Animals” and the protectress of children, but she was also a huntress and the goddess who could bring death with her arrows.

Who is Mictecacihuatl?

Mictecacihuatl was known as the “lady of the dead.” She ruled the underworld, and watched over the bones of the dead, which the Aztecs believed were a source of life in the next world. Her grinning skull face is strongly associated with Dia de Muertos.

Who was mictlantecuhtli?

Mictlantecuhtli, Aztec god of the dead, usually portrayed with a skull face. With his wife, Mictecacíhuatl, he ruled Mictlan, the underworld.

Who is Tonantzin?

Tonantzin was a title for the maternal aspect of any Aztec goddess, not the name of a particular goddess. When it was used as a title for Mary, the maternal aspect of the Aztec Goddess could be read into the Spanish Marian cult by Nahua Christians.

Who was the most powerful Aztec goddess?

Huītzilōpōchtli

What is the significance of Chalchiuhtlicue?

Chalchiuhtlicue was highly revered in Aztec culture at the time of the Spanish conquest and she was an important deity figure in the Postclassic Aztec realm of central Mexico. Chalchiuhtlicue belongs to a larger group of Aztec rain gods and she is closely related to another Aztec water god, Chalchiuhtlatonal.

What is the Chalchiuhtlicue statue at the National Museum?

Plan for longer lines outside the Museum. The finely carved figure belongs to a sizable group of kneeling females that display costume elements identifying them as water deities called Chalchiuhtlicue (“she of the jade skirt”) in Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Aztecs.

What is the significance of Chalchiuhtlicue’s flood?

The story of Chalchiuhtlicue’s flood shows her dual role as a goddess of both creation and destruction. Like many cultures, the Aztecs saw their water deities as responsible for fertility. Rain and groundwater supplies were necessary to make crops grow. As a female water deity, Chalchiuhtlicue was even more closely linked to human fertility.