Cōātlīcue

How to recognise Cōātlīcue

1. Face of two serpentsTwo great rattlesnake heads rise from the neck and meet fang to fang, forming a single face; most art historians read them as streams of blood, while a minority read them as the life-giving blood of Aztec thought.
2. Skirt of snakesInterwoven, coiling rattlesnakes make up her skirt, which gives her name, “Snakes-Her-Skirt.”
3. Necklace of hands and heartsA necklace of human hands and hearts, with a skull pendant at the centre of the chest, hangs over her bare breasts.
4. Skull-buckled beltHer belt is fastened by skull buckles at front and back, and snake heads appear at its ends.
5. Serpent-headed handsHer arms are bent upward and her hands end in snake heads.
6. Eagle clawsHer feet are clawed like a bird of prey's, as the museum describes them.
7. Monumental, maternal bearingThe standing, frontal figure leans slightly forward and is carved in grey andesite; her sagging breasts suggest an older, nursing mother, and her sheer scale is meant to overwhelm.

Names and titles

• Snakes-Her-SkirtThe meaning of her Nahuatl name, from her skirt of woven serpents
• Mother of the GodsTēteoh īnnan, 'the deities, their mother', her title as mother of the gods and of mortals
• Sweeper of CoatepecIn the Florentine Codex story she was sweeping on Snake Mountain when the ball of feathers fell
• Mother of the Southern StarsThe Four Hundred Southerners, her children, became the southern stars
• Earth, Giver and ReceiverThe earth as both creator and destroyer, giving life and taking the dead back

Feast days

• Tozoztontli7 April, every year

  Tozoztontli, 'Little Vigil', is the third twenty-day month of the Mexica solar calendar. It was dedicated mainly to Cōātlīcue, 'Serpent Skirt', and marked the maize harvest and its abundance.

  How it's celebrated. Colonial-era sources record that Cōātlīcue's image was richly adorned with flowers from flower sellers, who counted her as their patron. Flowers and food were also offered to the maize goddess Chicomēcōātl, and children under twelve fasted and gave blood. Scholars place the month differently in the Gregorian year. I found no firm record of a fixed present-day rite.

  Sources: Arqueología Mexicana: Tozoztontli (veintena 3) · Arqueología Mexicana: Las fiestas de las veintenas

• Quecholli13 November, every year (date to be confirmed)

  Quecholli, named for a bird of rich plumage, is the fourteenth Mexica veintena. It centred on Mixcōātl, 'Cloud Serpent', patron of hunters. Cōātlīcue, Huitzilopochtli and others were also honoured.

  How it's celebrated. Sources describe two halves: arrows were made at Huitzilopochtli's temple, and fallen warriors were honoured with burned bundles of arrows. Hunters are said to have dressed as Mixcōātl, set ritual fires and hunted on Mount Zacatepetl. In the second half, people impersonating Cōātlīcue, Mixcōātl and two pulque deities were offered in sacrifice. No fixed present-day observance turned up in my sources.

  Sources: Arqueología Mexicana: La fecha de hoy y el calendario mexica (Quecholli) · World History Encyclopedia: Mixcoatl · Arqueología Mexicana: Las fiestas de las veintenas

• Títitl12 January, every year (date to be confirmed)

  Títitl, whose name is read as 'shrinking' or 'stretching', is the seventeenth Mexica veintena. It was dedicated mainly to Ilamatēuctli, 'Old Lady', an aspect of Tēteoh īnnan, 'Mother of the Gods', a title also linked to Cōātlīcue. Mixcōātl was honoured too.

  How it's celebrated. Colonial-era sources record a ritual hunt meant to feed the earth and fire, and a rite in which someone embodying Ilamatēuctli was offered. Priests then ran up a temple to take a 'divine flower' and cast it on a pyre. Some Mexican groups now hold modern gatherings for the month, seeing it as a time of rest, offerings to Mother Earth, children's chasing games and warming stews.

  Sources: Arqueología Mexicana: Veintena 17, Títitl · Instituto Xilonen: Festividad de la veintena de Tititl · Arqueología Mexicana: Las fiestas de las veintenas