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Goddess of the month: Chicomecoatl

29th Jan 2025

Aztec maize goddess Chicomecoatl, Florentine Codex Book 1

We are most grateful to longstanding Panel of Experts member and nationally-recognised scholar of Nahuatl and the Nahua (Aztecs) Dr. John F. Schwaller, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of Albany, for writing for us this illuminating article on Mexica goddess Chicomecoatl, the ‘female embodiment of maize’.

Chicomecoatl: A deity rooted in the calendar and nature
In the panoply of the principal Mexica deities a few are associated with days in the tonalpohualli. Of these, Chicomecoatl was a very important deity associated with fertility and the production of maize, and food in general. Bernardino de Sahagún listed her fifth among the deities in Book 1 of the Florentine Codex, after truly important deities like Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca. The month of Huey Tozoztli, in the 365 day xiuhpohualli was dedicated to her veneration. The deity appeared in numerous forms, especially in sculpture. Most importantly, she demonstrates how a date from the tonalpohualli, the ritual or day-count calendar, became associated with the mature corn stalk and a powerful Mexica deity.
The date Seven Snake (Chicomecoatl) in the tonalpohualli was particularly lucky (picture 1). Children born on that day could expect fertility and crops, real wealth, and sustenance. Unfortunately, the days that surrounded it were very unlucky. Five House, Six Lizard, Eight Death, and Nine Deer were all considered inauspicious. Seven Snake was a safe harbor in a series of potentially disastrous days. Sahagún notes that parents of children born on Five House or Six Lizard would wait until Seven Snake for the ritual bath so that some of the bad luck associated with the birthday might be mitigated by the good fortune associated with Seven Snake (FC, IV, 49).

Sahagún noted that she had power over food and drink, and the work of humans. He also outlined the ceremonies and rituals of the month of Huey Tozoztli, the fourth month of the xiuhpohualli. In many of the accounts, Chicomecoatl is continually merged with the deity Cinteotl, the god of corn. For example, Sahagún writes that the ceremonies for the deity took place in the temple of Chicomecoatl, known as Cinteopan, “the place of Cinteotl” (FC, II, 62-63).
Cinteotl is generally considered to be male, whereas Chicomecoatl is considered female. H. B. Nicholson, in his analysis and categorization of the Mexica deities, noted that Chicomecoatl was the “fundamental maize goddess” and was known in some regions as Xilonen, the tender green ear of maize. Cinteotl (or Centeotl as Nicholson wrote) was not simply a male manifestation of Chicomecoatl but was also associated with “an important group of youthful solar - fertilities deities” (Nicholson, 1971, 417). In his organization of Mexica deities, he placed both in the “Centeotl - Xochipilli Complex.” Within that complex, Chicomecoatl and Xilonen were the only female deities, the rest being characterized as males (Nicholson, 1971, Table 3). Chicomecoatl also became associated with the female half of the progenitor deity, Ometeotl, particularly Tonacacihuatl (Our Flesh Lady) (Nicholson, 1971, 417).

Looking specifically at Sahagún’s description of Huey Tozoztli, as noted, the rituals associated with Cinteotl occur in the temple of Chicomecoatl. In the Spanish version the friar explicitly notes: “During this month, they would celebrate a festival for the god of corncobs, called Cinteotl, and for the goddess of food, called Chicomecoatl” (FC Book 3, Chap. 23, Spanish to English). The Nahuatl version does not have this same explicit reference in the opening paragraph. Rather, in the middle of the description of the festivities, Sahagún notes: “And they established, they celebrated this feast for Chicomecoatl.” He goes on to note that the goddess was not simply a corn deity, but rather a goddess of sustenance: “she made all our food” (FC, Book 3, Chap 23, 64). As will be seen below, when Sahagún described the array of the deity worshiped during Huey Tozoztli, it was clearly Chicomecoatl, a goddess arrayed completely in red.

Diego Durán sheds additional light on the nature of the deity. He associates her with Chalchiuhcihuatl (Turquoise Lady) along with Xilonen. Sahagún does not mention any deity called Chalchiuhcihuatl, although Chalchiuhtlicue (Turquoise Her Skirt) was also a major deity and consort to Tlaloc. This might explain why, when describing the image of the goddess Chicomecoatl Durán notes that “it stood in a chamber next to the great god Huitzilopochtli” (Durán, 1971, 222). He provides a curious explanation of the name Seven Snake. He associated the name with early frost that would destroy crops. The natives attributed the loss of crops to unknown beasts (tecuani), such as: an ice beast had eaten their crops. He then noted that she was a seven-headed snake that harmed the crops. In other sources, the death of crops to early frost is normally attributed to Iztlacoliuhqui (Curved Obsidian Blade). Durán then goes on to describe the rituals and ceremonies dedicated to Chicomecoatl corresponding to the month of September, of Huey Tecuilhuitl (Durán, 1971, 222-23). Later in the work, Durán provides yet another explanation for the name of the goddess. While discussing the celebrations of the month, the friar notes that the goddess received her name because she had “prevailed against seven serpents, or sins” (Durán, 1971, 437).

Both Durán and Sahagún agree on the array of the goddess. The predominant color of her costume was red, with red face paint and a red paper headdress. She had a necklace of greenstones. She wore a red overblouse embroidered with water flowers. Her red skirt was also decorated with flowers and called a bed covering, “cacamoliuhqui”. She had two bells on her legs, sandals of a noble person (or foam sandals), carried a ruler’s shield with a sun design and in her other hand double maize ears (Sahagún, FC 1, 4; FC 2, 65 or f. 29v). Durán substituted a necklace of golden maize ears bound with a blue ribbon and noted that the base color of her dress was red (Durán, 1971, 222).

In looking at the iconography of the deity, her array was usually red (picture 5). In addition to various drawings in works such as the Florentine Codex, there are numerous sculptures of the deity. Nearly all depict her wearing the distinctive headdress. In the example in Picture 6 the two maize ears seem to be incorporated into the headdress itself, on her right.
At least one of these sculptures retains the red paint that was associated with her raiment (picture 7). In this sculpture the headdress is much smaller, but she does hold the maize ears in both hands, as opposed to one hand holding a shield. She also has the necklace, although it is not clear if the beads are just beads or maize ears.

The deity was also depicted in ceramic pieces. The censer in picture 4 was constructed of many pieces that were assembled to represent the goddess. It shows the goddess in her full regalia, including the paper headdress, the red overblouse and skirts, and she is holding two ears of corn in each hand. There are other notable aspects, but time does not allow us to deepen the inquiry at this point.
Perhaps the most unique image of Chicomecoatl appears in the Florentine Codex in the context of the Huey Tozoztli celebrations (picture 8). As seen before, in this rendering the deity has been depicted as sitting on seven writhing rattlesnakes, while the faithful present offerings of maize, chiles, and other foodstuffs (Digital FC, 2, 29v). The deity wears the paper headdress, has a red overblouse and skirt, and carries the two ears of corn in her right hand, the shield in her left. No necklace is visible, although the overblouse is decorated with flowers while the skirt has a matrix and dot design. In the feast, the faithful bring their crops to present to the deity. The crops listed include many varieties of corn, beans, amaranth, and chia.

One of the distinctive features of a mature corn plant is that they have what look like air roots that emerge from the first node of the stalk above the ground. These air roots are called brace or nodal roots. In contemporary Huastecan Nahuatl they are “toctli itzinnelhuayo,” the young maize stalk, its honored base (Abelardo de la Cruz, personal communication, 2-20-24).
The function of the brace roots is poorly understood, although the name implies that they provide added support to the tall maize stalk. The nodal or brace roots emerge from the stem, as opposed to the seminal roots that come from the seed (picture 9). As is well known, when weighed down with heavy ears the maize plant is susceptible to being downed in winds, called lodging by plant specialists.

The glyph associated with placenames related to corn, as provided by the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, also includes suggestions of the nodal roots. This example (picture 10) is Ohuapan.
There is another, similar illustration in Sahagún, in Book I, (picture 11) where he describes all the major deities. In the illustration, Chicomecoatl is shown with two others: Huixtocihuatl and Chalchiuhtlicue.
Obviously the other two deities do not have name glyphs. While one could argue that Chalchiutlicue is probably wearing a skirt decorated with turquoise, there are no other indications as to their identity other than the parts of their array associated with that particular deity. Which is to say: there is no special name glyph above, beside, or beneath those figures.

So why would there be one with Chicomecoatl? The image in the Florentine Codex represents the stalk of maize rising above the roots. Chicomecoatl, then, represents the fully mature maize plant. Because of the resemblance of the brace roots to little snakes, the day named Seven Snake became associated with the mature maize plant.
Beyond the other goddesses, Chicomecoatl has associations with three more deities. Sources agree that Xilonen was the most common deity related to Chicomecoatl. Xilonen was celebrated during the month of Huey Tecuilhuitl, the month of debt repayment. Durán posited that Chalchiuhcihuatl was another associated deity.

Unfortunately, no other major author mentions Chalchiuhcihuatl. Either Durán was confused, or Chicomecoatl was herself an avatar of the consort to Tlaloc, Chalchiuhtlicue, which is not confirmed by other sources. Clearly in the celebrations of Huey Tozoztli, there is a clear link to Chicomecoatl’s male counterpart, Cinteotl. Xilonen seems to be the deity most closely associated with Chicomecoatl, but their array is somewhat different. Xilonen is painted red and yellow, and a gold disk at her neck and carried a shield and red rattle. What is clear is that all these deities represent important features and phases of the cultivation of maize. Cinteotl is the principal maize deity, represented as the Young Corn God. Xilonen is associated with the tender first ears of maize.

Chicomecoatl, then represents the fully mature maize plant, deeply rooted in the soil and providing nourishment to all. In this way she moved from being just one day in the tonalpohualli to the female embodiment of maize.

Picture sources:-
• Main, pix 8 & 11: images from the Florentine Codex scanned from our own copy of the Club Internacional del Libro 3-volume facsimile edition, Madrid, 1994
• Pic 1: photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore
• Pic 2: image scanned from our copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition of the Codex Borgia, Graz, Austria, 1976
• Pic 3: photo by Ana Laura Landa/Mexicolore
• Pic 5: image scanned from Los dioses supremos by Salvador Mateos Higuera, Enciclopedia gráfica del México antiguo, Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, Mexico City, 1992
• Pix 4, 6, 7 & 9: images supplied by the author
• Pic 10: image from the Codex Mendoza scanned from our own copy of the 1938 James Cooper Clark facsimile edition, London
• Pic 11: image scanned from Códice Durán, Arrendadora Internacional, Mexico City, 1990.

Aztec limerick no. 72 (ode to Chicomecoatl) -
To the Nahua life seemed quite opaque
Unless you were born on 7-Snake:
It augured good health,
Fertility and wealth –
But remember to ‘give, don’t just take…’