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Chalchiuhtlicue

Chalchiuhtlicue.

Chalchiuhtlicue (also spelled Chalciuhtlicue, Chalchiuhcueye, or Chalcihuitlicue) ("She of the Jade Skirt") is an Aztec goddess of water, rivers, seas, streams, storms, and baptism. Chalchiuhtlicue is associated with fertility and she is the patroness of childbirth.

Description[]

Chalchiuhtlicue was often depicted as “a river, out of which grew a prickly pear cactus laden with fruit, which symbolized the human heart.” She was believed to be the personification of youth, beauty, and zeal, although she should not be confused with Tlazolteotl (also known as Ixucuina or Tlaelquani), who was the Aztec goddess of midwives, steam baths, purification, sin, and was the patroness of adulterers. Although the two goddesses often overlapped, they were distinct from one another.

Tlaloc and Chalchiuitlicue share similar attributes as they are both water deities, however Chalchiuitlicue was often associated with groundwater, unlike Tlaloc. She was also the mother of Tecciztecatl, the Aztec moon god. In other texts, she was Xiuhtecuhtli’s wife, who was a senior deity for the Aztecs.

Chalchiutlicue wasn’t just associated with the many fasciates of water but is also credited with being involved with the death of those who died in drowning accidents.

Overview[]

Chalchiuhtlicue once ate the sun and the moon. She is often associated with serpents, as most Aztec water deities are. It is thought that her association with water and fertility speaks to the Aztecs’ association with the womb and water. She often withheld a dual role in Aztec mythology, as both a life-giver and life-ender. In the Aztec creation myth of the Five Suns, Chalchiuhtlicue presided over the Fourth Sun, or the fourth creation of the world.

It is believed that Chalchiuhtlicue retaliated against Tlaloc's mistreatment of her by releasing 52 years of rain, causing a giant flood which caused the Fourth Sun to be destroyed. She built a bridge linking heaven and earth and those who were in Chalchiuhtlicue's good graces were allowed to traverse it, while others were turned into fish. Following the flood, the Fifth Sun, the world which we now occupy, developed. It is important to note that the Aztecs first began to use maize under her reign, which became a paramount staple to the Aztec diet and economy.

Chalchiuitlicue was the wife or the sister of the Aztec god of rain, Tlāloc. In Aztec religion, Chalchiuitlicue helps Tlaloc to rule the paradisal kingdom of Tlālōcān. Chalchiutlicue brings fertility to crops and is thought to protect women and children.

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