Tlaltecuhtli- Aztec GodDeity"Earth Lord"
Also known as: Tlāltēcuhtli
Description
Torn apart by Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl to create the world, her hair became trees and her eyes the springs. Tlaltecuhtli never stopped crying out at night for blood to heal her wounds. The earth is her body, and it is still hungry.
Mythology & Lore
The Tearing of the World
Tlaltecuhtli, "Earth Lord" though depicted as female, was a monstrous being swimming in the primordial waters before the world existed. The Histoyre du Mechique describes her as toad-shaped and immense, with fanged mouths at every joint of her body.
Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl descended from the sky to confront her. They transformed themselves into great serpents, seized Tlaltecuhtli, and tore her body in two. From her upper half they made the sky. From her lower half, the earth. Her hair became trees, her eyes the springs and caves. But Tlaltecuhtli was not dead. She had been torn apart, not killed, and her cries rang through the darkness: the earth's own voice, howling for blood to heal the wound the gods had inflicted.
The Hungry Earth
The earth was Tlaltecuhtli's body, and it demanded feeding. Human blood and hearts were poured into the ground, medicine for a creature in endless pain. Every sacrifice soothed her and coaxed the earth to yield its fruits. Every burial returned flesh to the body from which all flesh had come.
Each evening, Tlaltecuhtli opened her great fanged mouth and swallowed the sun, pulling it into the underworld. Each dawn, she released it. The sun rose from her maw wet with darkness.
Relationships
- Slain by
- Associated with