30 May 2025 / 10 House
Article suitable for older students
Find out moreWhich feast was dedicated to Chalchiuhtlicue?
ORIGINAL QUESTION received from - and thanks to - Chickie Farella: Can u tell me the feast date celebrated in reverence to chalchiuhtlicue? (Answered by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
Well, there was more than one! According to Professor Manuel Aguilar-Moreno (on our Panel of Experts) in his book Handbook to Life in the Aztec World, ‘The Aztec divided the year into 18 months of 20 days each; in seven of these months, the water gods were venerated’. The two principal water deities were Tlaloc (male) and Chalchiiuhtlicue (female). Both of these, according to Aguilar-Moreno, were worshipped in the first Aztec ‘month’, Atlcahualo (Ceasing of Water) (Feb 14-Mar 5); in the third, Tozoztontli (Short Vigil) (Mar 26-Apr 14); in the fourth, Huey Tozoztli (Long Vigil) (Apr 15-May 4) (though they took second place here to the main maize gods); and in the sixth, Etzalcualiztli (Eating of Grains) (May 23-Jun13). Chalchiuhtlicue was also honoured in the eighteenth month of Izcalli (Growth or Sprout) (Jan20-Feb 8). I would be inclined to put in first place in this list the first ‘month’, Atlcahualo.
Image scanned from our own copy of Los Calendarios Mexianos by Mariano Fernández de Echeverría y Veytia, Museo Nacional de México facsimile edition, Mexico City, 1907.
Comments (2)
A
Alice
31st Aug 2021
Hi! I wonder why I can’t find a page for the water goddess Chalchiuhtlicue? She is my favorite and I would like to know more(relationships, designs, lores, etc..) Thank you ^ ^
M
Mexicolore
Thanks for writing in. We’ll do our best to remedy this...!
A
Ahmed
25th Jan 2021
Where was Etzalcualiztli celebrated?
M
Mexicolore
In our calendar between 23-27 May. See our feature here -
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/calendar/how-do-aztec-monthly-festivals-fit-our-calendar.
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