In Aztec mythology, Cihuacoatl ("snake woman"; also Cihuacóatl, Chihucoatl, Ciucoatl) was one of a number of motherhood and fertility goddesses. (See also Ilamatecuhtli, Teteoinnan, Tlazolteotl, and Toci.) The Aztec civilization recognized many gods and supernatural creatures. ... For other uses, see Snake (disambiguation). ... In Aztec mythology, Citlalicue (star garment; also Citlalinicue, Ilamatecuhtli) created the stars along with her husband, Citlalatonac. ... In Aztec mythology, Teteoinnan (also known as Tozi and Toci) was the mother of the gods, the personification of the power of nature, and the goddess of healing and sweat baths. ... In Aztec mythology, Tlazolteotl was an earth, sex, childbirth and a mother goddess. ... In Aztec legend, Toci was the goddess of the earth (mother earth), and she looked after all the injured wildlife and people. ...

Cihuacoatl was especially associated with midwives, and with the sweatbaths where midwives practiced. She is paired with Quilaztli and was considered a protectress of Chalmeca and patroness of Culhuacan. She helped Quetzalcoatl create the current race of humanity by grinding up bones from the previous ages, and mixing it with his blood. She is also the mother of Mixcoatl, who she abandoned at a crossroads. Tradition says that she often returns there to weep for her lost son, only to find a sacrificial knife. Culhuacan or Colhuacan was one of the Nahuatl-speaking pre-Columbian city-states of the Valley of Mexico. ... Quetzalcoatl in human form, from the Codex Borbonicus Quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent or plumed serpent) is the Nahuatl name for the Feathered-Serpent deity of ancient Mesoamerican culture. ... Grays Anatomy illustration of a human femur. ... Human blood smear: a - erythrocytes; b - neutrophil; c - eosinophil; d - lymphocyte. ... In Aztec mythology, Mixcoatl (Cloud Serpent) was a god of the hunt, the north star and war. ... Human sacrifice was practiced in many ancient cultures. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Although she was sometimes depicted as a young woman, similar to Xochiquetzal, she is more often shown as a fierce skull-faced old woman carrying the spears and shield of a warrior. Childbirth was sometimes compared to warfare and the women who died in childbirth were honored as fallen warriors. Their spirits, the Cihuateteo, were depicted with skeletal faces like Cihuacoatl. Like her, the Cihuateteo are thought to haunt crossroads at night to steal children. In Aztec mythology, Xochiquetzal (flower feather) was a goddess of flowers, fertility, games, dancing and agriculture, as well as craftsmen, prostitutes and pregnant women. ... In Aztec mythology, the Cihuateteo (also Ciuteoteo or Ciuateoteo) were the spirits of human women who died in childbirth (). Childbirth was considered a form of battle, and its victims were honored as fallen warriors. ...

References

• Sahagún, Bernardino de, 1950-1982, Florentine Codex: History of the Things of New Spain, translated and Edited by Arthur J.O. Anderson and Charles Dibble, Monographs of the school of American research, no 14. 13. parts Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press
  
• The History of the Indies of New Spain by Diego Durán, translated, annoted and with introduction by Doris Heyden

See also

• La Llorona (a similar modern myth)
• Teotihuacan Spider Woman