Coatlicue was one of the most important gods in the Aztec pantheon. Not only was she the goddess of fertility, but she also gave birth to Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war and the sun. Her high ranking in the pantheon doesn’t mean she received the respect she deserved, however. Many Aztec gods came to violent ends, and Coatlicue was no different, slaughtered by her own children.
Coatlicue and the Bloody Birth of Huitzilopochtli
The primary myth that Coatlicue appeared in was the birth of her son, Huitzilopochtli. At the beginning of the story, Coatlicue is a humble priestess (or earth goddess, depending on the version) who had been tasked with maintaining the shrine atop the legendary mountain Coatepec, also known as Snake Mountain.
One day, as she was doing her daily chore of sweeping the floor, a ball of feathers fell from the heavens and landed in front of her. Thinking little of it, she picked the ball up and placed it in her apron pocket. For reasons lost to time, placing the ball in her apron magically impregnated her. Being a magical birth, she soon started to show. The problem was Coatlicue’s other children were not exactly enamored with the idea of having another sibling.
Coatlicue already had a daughter, Coyolxauhqui, as well as four hundred sons, the Centzonhuitznahua. Coyolxauhqui was a powerful goddess in her own right, as she represented the moon, and her brothers represented the myriad stars in the sky.
A colorized version of a massive monolith of Coyolxauhqui,…
