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Anthropology Museum

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Coatlicue

This is the mother goddess of the Aztecs, Coatlicue The female force of nature was conceived by the Mexicas as the earth goddess, therefore they carved her enormous image, 2.60 meters high, in volcanic stone and called her Coaticlue because of her skirt of serpents. . The statue summarizes, masterfully, the Nahuatl conception of the earth goddess in her double creative and destructive role. The stream of blood transformed into a snake can only be the symbol of life re-emerging. Her chest is adorned with cut hands and torn hearts. In the lower part of his bust, as well as in the middle of her back, a human skull appears. The skirt of the goddess is made up of intertwined snakes, from which her solid legs emerge, founded on immense feet with chilling claws. Her breasts are hanging, loose like those of a woman who has breastfed many children. The highest mythical resonance is restored by the upper part of the statue.

Coatlicue was the mother of the Centzon Huitznáhuac four hundred Surians, gods of the southern stars, as well as the goddess Coyolxauhqui, who ruled her brothers. He was living on the hill of Coatepec, where he did penance; He was in charge of sweeping. Once, while sweeping, a beautiful plumage fell from the sky, which she collected and placed in her breast. When he finished sweeping, he looked for the pen he had kept, but could not find it. At that time, she became pregnant with the god Huitzilopochtli. That mysterious pregnancy offended her four hundred other children (the Centzon Huitznáhuac) who, instigated by her sister Coyolxauhqui, decided to kill her disgraced mother.
They wanted to, but Huitzilopochtli was completely armed and finished with his star brothers and sisters. He cut off the head of his sister Coyolxauhqui, who remained on top of the hill, while the dismembered body rolled towards the foot of the hill. That story was represented in the Templo Mayor of the Tenochtitlan ceremonial complex. The great pyramid crowned with the temple of Huitzilopochtli represented the Coatepec (it was constellated with serpent heads in stone), and at its foot lay the monolith of the dismembered Coyolxauhqui. The human sacrifices that were made at the top of the pyramid made reference to the ancient myth since the bodies of the victims had to roll down like the body of the goddess Coyolxauhqui.

Anthropology Museum