30 May 2025 / 10 House
Article suitable for older students
Find out moreAn image of Tonantzin?
Tonantzin ‘Our Mother’, Aztec earth goddess
ORIGINAL QUESTION received from - and thanks to - Darlene Olivo: I am a visual artist working on a shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe/Tonantzin. While I’ve found many images of Guadalupe, I have not found a suitable and definitive image of Tonantzin in a large enough file that I can make a tracing. Where might I find one? Thank you so much. I would appreciate any help you can give me. (Answered by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
We should explain to others that that most Catholic of Mexican icons, the Virgin of Guadalupe, embodies the union between the Virgin Mary and the Aztec/Mexica earth goddess, known as Tonantzin (but also as Coatlicue). After all, it was on the hill of Tepeyac (a sacred hill for the Aztecs, where they worshipped their Earth Mother Tonantzin) that the Virgin Mary was supposed to have appeared to the Indian Juan Diego in 1531, and insisted that a church be built in her honour. It is of course today the Basilica of Guadalupe, on the outskirts of Mexico City. The story is a classic example of the ‘syncretism’ (fusion) of Aztec and Spanish beliefs.
The Aztecs worshipped mother goddesses in several guises - Tonantzin, Coatlicue, Cihuacóatl, Xochiquetzal... The simple hollow clay rattle figurines of standing, bare-breasted Aztec women wearing skirts and bearing children that we show here (found in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City) are the most common type of Aztec figurine and have often been identified as household images of Tonantzin - although they may simply represent idealized Aztec women, as they lack the costume and headdress of a deity.
So it would seem valid to use either one of these figurines or one of the classic images of the stone monolith Coatlicue - you’ll find more images of her dotted around our website.
Picture sources:-
• Aztec figurines: photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore
• Coatlicue monolith: photo by Ana Laura Landa/Mexicolore
Comments (4)
Maya
7th Nov 2023
This is an amazing article! Thanks from the ethers ✨
Theresa Escobedo
15th Dec 2022
On what days traditionally, and before the arrival of the Spanish, did the Mexica celebrate or venerate Tonanzin?
Mexicolore
As Teteo Innan (Mother of the gods) she was worshipped in the festivals of Ochpaniztli (31 August to 4 September and Tititl (29 December to 2 January).
Miktlaktin Yei Cipactli
22nd Jul 2013
Tonanzin Koatlikue is the original name. Tonanzin translates more along the lines of “our venerable mother” it is a title of high reverence. Guadalupe has nothing in common with Tonanzin Koatlikue. Guadalupe is not an indigenous women but a Moorish one. Guadalupe existed long before the Spanish came to Mexiko. She was worshipped in Cortez’s home town.The reason her basilica was placed on the Tepeyac was because that used to be the place where Koatlicues temple once stood. The spaniards understood that the people will continue to go where their places of worship once stood.
Mexicolore
The one thing they do have in common is the ‘title of high reverence’! Of course they’re not the same - but we have to recognise the shrewd and pretty successful job the Spanish carried out of BLURRING the two together, precisely, as you say, so that the local people would be attracted to the Basilica of Guadalupe...
Darlene Olivo
3rd Dec 2010
Thank you so much, Ian! I understand how difficult it is to keep up with all the demands of teaching. I appreciate your response and clarification, and I think what you’ve given me will be very helpful.
Tonantzin ‘Our Mother’, Aztec earth goddess
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