In Aztec mythology, Coyolxauhqui ("golden bells" more correctly: "She with the bells on her cheeks" Consider the orbiting full moon and the stone carving's facial details.) was a moon goddess. She was a daughter of Coatlicue and the ruler of the Centzon Huitznahuas, the star gods. She was a powerful magician and led her siblings in an attack on their mother, Coatlicue, because she became pregnant(as she swept the temple, a few hummingbird feathers fell into her bosom feathers) This pregnancy of Coatlicue ( the maternal Earth deity) made her other children embarassed, including her oldest daughter, the Moon. Coatlicue's fetus, Huitzilopochtli, sprang from her womb in full war armour and killed Coyolxauhqui, along with many of the brothers and sisters. He cut off her limbs, then tossed her head into the sky where it became the moon, so that his mother would be comforted in seeing her daughter in the sky every night. The Aztec civilization recognized many gods and supernatural creatures. ... General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Atomic mass 196. ... In the study of mythology, a lunar deity is a god or goddess associated with or symbolizing the Moon: see Moon (mythology). ... In Aztec mythology, Coatlicue (skirt of serpents) was our Mother goddess of the Earth, the goddess of fire and fertility, mother of the southern stars. ... In Aztec mythology, the Centzon Huitznahuas (Four Hundred Southerners; alternately: Centzonhuitznauac) were the four hundred gods of the stars in the southern sky, each representing a different star. ... The Pleiades, an open cluster of stars in the constellation of Taurus. ... Two feathers Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. ... A pictorial representation of Huitzilopochtli from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e História, México In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli, (IPA: (Hummingbird of the South, He of the South, Hummingbird on the Left (South), or Left-Handed Humming Bird – huitzil is the Nahuatl word for hummingbird...

A shield-shaped stone frieze reflecting this story was found at the base of the stairs on the Templo Mayor. In this frieze, Coyolxauhqui is shown spread out on her side, with her head, arms and legs chopped away from her body. She is distinguished by balls of eagle down in her hair, a bell symbol on her cheek, and an ear tab showing the Mexica year sign. As with images of her mother, she is shown with a skull tied to her belt. Scholars also believe that the decapitation and destruction of Coyolxauhqui is reflected in the pattern of warrior ritual sacrifice. First, captive's hearts were cut out, then they were decapitated, their limbs chopped off, and finally their bodies were cast from the temple, to lie, perhaps, on the great Coyolxauhqui stone. Frieze of the Tower of the Winds. ... The Great Pyramid or Templo Mayor was the main temple of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City). ...

"What really is going on in this story is that it is an astronomical observation of the phenomenon observed in the sky every day upon Earth. The Sun, with its light, "destroys" the moon and the stars as the daylight arrives. The "severed" Coyolxauhqui is nothing but the various phases of the moon: arms, legs, and a whole composite." Marcela Andre Lopez.

She is a major deity in Mesoamerica, living on in other areas in the approach to worship in all-night prayer vigils ongoing today in central Mexico, fully clothed in Christian adoration mixed with local ancestral rememberances and invocations.

Coyolxauhqui's celestial associations are not limited to the moon. Other scholars feel she should be understood as the Goddess of the Milky Way, or be associated with patterns of stars associated with Huitzilopochtli. The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias), sometimes referred to simply as the Galaxy), is a barred spiral galaxy of the Local Group. ...

External link

• - Coyolxauhqui - private photo.

Reference

• Duran, Fray Diego (Doris Heyden, Translator). "The History of the Indies of New Spain." University of Oklahoma Press, Norman Oklahoma, 1994.