Saturday, October 27, 2007

Chicomecoatl



Aztec goddess of sustenance and, hence, of maize a goddess of plenty and the female aspect of corn. Chicomecoatl means Seven-Serpent, an esoteric name for maize; she was also called Chicomolotzin (Seven Ears of Maize). A very ancient goddess of Nahua-speaking peoples, she was one of several maize deities, of whom Centeotl (the god of the maize plant) and Xilonen (goddess of the young corn) were especially important.
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 waterflowers, 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.

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