Mexican archæology : $b an introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish AmericaJoyce, Thomas Athol
History
Mexican archæology : $b an introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish America
Joyce, Thomas Athol
Mayas -- Antiquities; Mexico -- Antiquities
Among the fertility gods must be mentioned the goddess of flowers,
love and pregnancy, Xochiquetzal (Pl. IX, 6; p. 82), especially
worshipped by the Tlalhuica (also at Tlaxcala), and mentioned as
the wife of Cinteotl, though one legend makes her the first wife of
Tlaloc, stolen by Tezcatlipoca, the Mexican Jupiter. Her distinguishing
_insignia_ are two large feather plumes upon her head, and she
seems to be akin to the Tarascan goddess of Tzintzuntzan, Xaratanga,
who was associated with Curicaveri as his wife. The functions of this
deity however were rather more extended, since she was also regarded
as an earth- and maize-goddess, and was connected with the game
_tlaxtli_. Xochiquetzal was the especial patroness of weaving
and embroidery, of which arts she was the supposed inventor. The male
equivalent to this goddess was Xochipilli, god of flowers, dance,
song and games (Pl. V, 1). He is figured with the high crest of the
coxcoxtli bird on his head, a white butterfly painted on his mouth,
and occasionally with the tear face-paint. He appears to have been
introduced from the Xelhua district on the Oaxaca border, and in one
of his manifestations was known by the calendrical name of Macuil
Xochitl (Five Flower), in which case he bears a hand painted across
his mouth (a constant feature of gods into whose name the number five
enters). He was further regarded as identical with, or as the son
of, Pilzintecutli, a sun-god, who again was thought to be the son of
Mictlantecutli, the lord of the underworld. During recent excavations
in Mexico city, a stone figure of Xochipilli was found with a large
number of miniature musical instruments in stone and pottery.
[Illustration: MEXICO
_British Museum_
1. STONE FIGURE OF XOCHIPILLI (THE CHARACTERISTIC HIGH
CREST OF THE HEAD-DRESS IS MISSING) 2. STONE WITH FIGURE OF A
XIUHCOATL (FIRE-SNAKE IN RELIEF)
(Scale: 1, ⅛th; 2, ⅑th)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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