#cihuacoatl

Propaganda!

Cihuacōātl was one of a number of motherhood and fertility goddesses in Aztec mythology. She was sometimes known as Quilaztli. Cihuacōātl was especially associated with midwives, and with the sweat lodges where midwives practiced. She is paired with Quilaztli and was considered a protectress of the Chalmeca people and patroness of the city of Culhuacan. She helped Quetzalcoatl create the current race of humanity by grinding up bones from the previous ages, and mixing it with his blood. She is also the mother of Mixcoatl, whom she abandoned at a crossroads. Tradition says that she often returns there to weep for her lost son, only to find a sacrificial knife.

Xiu (facebook)

And for those who did not understand the memazo: Before the arrival of the Spanish the goddess #Cihuacoatl had a temple in the #Tepeyac to which many pilgrimage villages went to give thanks for the favors received. When Catholics witnessed that faith, they tore down the temple and placed the one of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which Mexicans currently call "Our Mother" Do you know how to say "Our Mother" in Nahuatl? It's called #Tonantzin.

Peoples pilgrimage to visit Cihuacoatl said "Let's see Tonantzin-Cihuacoatl" that is "Let's go see Our mother the female snake."

The Spanish were quite bothered that they will call Tonantzin the Virgin of Guadalupe, because they clearly did not refer to her but to her old mother Cihuacóatl, and no, I'm not making it up, here goes the fragment of an old book written by one of the first frails to arrive to Mexico after the fall of Tenochtitlan:

“... and they came from very far away lands, from more than twenty leguas, from all the regions of Mexico, and brought many offerings, men and women, and boys and girls came to these parties, the contest of people was great these days, and everyone said they were going to the party of Tonantzin... ”.

This devotion surprised the Spaniards a lot, in part because for them this goddess was a demon and, on the other, because of the large number of people who participated. Therefore, they decided to demolish this temple and place there the one of the Virgin of Guadalupe. However, devotion to Tonantzin continued and those who went to the hill continued to worship her, despite the fact that the Spanish had demolished the ancient temple. It's more, much to the displeasure of the Spanish, the natives called Tonantzin Guadalupe:

“... and now that the church of Guadalupe is built there also they call it Tonantzin (... ) from where this foundation of this Tonantzin was born it is not known for sure that the vocabulary comes from its first imposition to that ancient Tonantzin, and it is something that should be remedied because the very name of the Mother of God Our Lady is not Tonantzin... ”.

The legend everyone is familiar with (the woman who drowned her children etc. etc.) is the later version of the colonial period; it was morphed into a ghost story because like much of mexican folklore it has its origin in prehispanic times; specifically the nahuatl goddess Cihuacoatl, who was the reaper of the souls of women who died during childbirth (although some people argue she was also identified with Tonatzin, the mother earth goddess).

In any case, there’s this tale about omininous signs Cuauhtémoc received about the inminent fall of the aztec empire, and one of them was the Cihuacoatl appearing at night crying about her "children", her people, the mexicas:

" Hijos míos, amados hijos del Anáhuac, vuestra destrucción está próxima.” (Oh my children, beloved children of Anáhuac, your destruction is nigh.) “¿Adónde irán, adónde los podré llevar para que escapen a tan funesto destino? Hijos míos, están a punto de perderse. “ (Where shall you go? Where could I take you to escape such an awful fate? My children, you are about to be lost.”)

And the tale continues, with the signature wail of La Llorona/Cihuacoatl: 

“Ay mis hijos!” 

So, basically the tale went from an old warning from religious texts and priests to the tlatoani, and through the colonization it became a mere ghost story (with heavy catholic undertones on top of it) to scare children with, but even then it never lost it’s original intent of a mother (the land) mourning the loss of her children (her people) 

f/f february: xochiquetzal & cihuacōātl