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Xōchiquetzal

Aztec deity

Field	Value
type	Aztec
name	Xochiquetzal
deity_of	Goddess of Beauty, Love, and Flowers
Protector of Women
image	File:Xochiquetzal from Codex Borgia.jpg
other_names	Xochiquetzalli, Xochitl, Macuixochiquetzalli
caption	Xōchiquetzal as depicted in the Codex Borgia.
abode	Tamoanchan (Codex Ríos)
consort	• Tlaloc (Codex Ríos)
• Tezcatlipoca (Codex Ríos)
• Piltzintecuhtli (Codex Zumarraga)
• Cinteotl (Codex Le Tellier)
• Xiuhtecuhtli (Codex Florentine)
parents	Xochitlicue (Codex Ramírez)
siblings	Xochipilli
children	Cinteotl (Codex Zumarraga) With Piltzintecuhtli
gender	Female
region	Mesoamerica
ethnic_group	Aztec, Tlaxcaltec, Toltec (Nahua)
greek_equivalent	Aphrodite
maya_equivalent	Ixchel (God O)
festivals	Tlaxochimaco, Miccailhuitontli

Protector of Women • Tezcatlipoca (Codex Ríos) • Piltzintecuhtli (Codex Zumarraga) • Cinteotl (Codex Le Tellier) • Xiuhtecuhtli (Codex Florentine)

In Aztec mythology, Xochiquetzal ( ), also called Ichpochtli ( , meaning "maiden"), was a goddess associated with fertility, beauty, and love, serving as a protector of young mothers and a patroness of pregnancy, childbirth, and the crafts practiced by women such as weaving and embroidery. In pre-Hispanic Maya culture, a similar figure is Goddess I.

Name

The name Xōchiquetzal is a compound of xōchitl (“flower”) and quetzalli (“precious feather; quetzal tail feather”). In Classical Nahuatl morphology, the first element in a compound modifies the second and thus the goddess' name can literally be taken to mean “flower precious feather” or ”flower quetzal feather”. Her alternative name, Ichpōchtli, corresponds to a personalized usage of ichpōchtli (“maiden, young woman”).

Description

Unlike several other figures in the complex of Aztec female earth deities connected with agricultural and sexual fecundity, Xochiquetzal is always depicted as an alluring and youthful woman, richly attired and symbolically associated with vegetation and in particular flowers.

By connotation, Xochiquetzal is also representative of human desire, pleasure, and excess, appearing also as patroness of artisans involved in the manufacture of luxury items.

Worshipers wore animal and flower masks at a festival, held in her honor every eight years. Her husband was Tlaloc until Tezcatlipoca kidnapped her and she was forced to marry him. At one point, she was also married to Centeotl and Xiuhtecuhtli.

Anthropologist Hugo Nutini identifies her with the Virgin of Ocotlan in his article on patron saints in Tlaxcala.

Worship

The worship of Xochiquetzal along with Tlaloc partook in the festival of Hueypachtli. During this festival Xochiquetzal was honored and also offered a variety of gifts consisting of flower offerings, drinking and fornications. A young woman was chosen to be a ixiptlatli which impersonated the goddess and was decapitated, flayed and her skin was worn by a selected man who would then weave as part of a representation of "the gender ambiguity embodied in the cult of lunar deities".

Notes

References

Cecilio A. Robelo. (1905). "Diccionario de Mitología Nahoa". Editorial Porrúa.
Cecilio A. Robelo. (1905). "Diccionario de Mitología Nahoa". Editorial Porrúa.
Cecilio A. Robelo. (1905). "Diccionario de Mitología Nahoa". Editorial Porrúa.
Susan D. Gillespie. (1989). "Los Reyes Aztecas: La Construcción del Gobierno en la Historia Mexica". Siglo XXI Editores.
Otilia Meza. (1981). "El Mundo Mágico de los Dioses del Anáhuac". Editorial Universo.
Cecilio A. Robelo. (1905). "Diccionario de Mitología Nahoa". Editorial Porrúa.
''Nahuatl Dictionary.'' (1997). Wired Humanities Project. University of Oregon. Retrieved September 1, 2012, from [http://whp.uoregon.edu/dictionaries/nahuatl/index.lasso link] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-12-03)
Clendinnen (1991, p.163); Miller & Taube (1993, p.190); Smith (2003, p.203)
Nutini (1976), ''passim.''
"Xochiquetzal".

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aztec-goddesses beauty-goddesses childhood-goddesses handicraft-deities fertility-goddesses love-and-lust-goddesses nature-goddesses textiles-in-folklore

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