Goddesses of the Month: Tzitzimime

16th Jul 2008

Aztec Tzitzimime

The Terrible Tzitizimime: Monsters of the Celestial Vault.
Have you ever wondered what the end of the world would be like? The Aztecs believed that some pretty horrific things would happen to them if the sun didn’t come up each morning! (Written/compiled by Julia Flood/Mexicolore)

Tzitzimime were tremendous star demons that lived in the darkness. Their ultimate goal was to wait until both humans and gods could not keep the world alive, and then attack and destroy humankind. A special Aztec ceremony called Xiuhmolpilli or ‘The Tying Together of the Years’ was held to help ensure that they continue to exist every 52 years - the length of an Aztec century.

At the end of each century, a ‘New Fire’ ritual took place in which all Aztec hearths but one were extinguished. From the only flame left alight was kindled a new fire that promised a fresh beginning to all. If a fire could not be coaxed into life, dire consequences could ensue: darkness would descend upon the Aztecs and the terrifying Tzitzimime would come to tear apart all mortal beings.

How to avoid a visit from a Tzitzimitl: a short guide to survival
Although many Aztecs grew up to fear and dread the presence of these monsters, Tzitzimime could usually be anticipated at certain times of the year or during special religious festivities. The following guidelines will help anyone avoid them.

You can relax if:-
1. It’s the dry season. These ferocious creatures don’t appear in any rituals during the months in which the land is parched.
2. You’re in daylight. Tzitzimime only attack in total darkness.
3. It’s not the 52nd (and final) year of the century.

Keep your eyes peeled:
1. If you’re a child. Tzitzimime love attacking youngsters.
2. During the rainy months, the New Fire ceremony, solar eclipses (when the moon is said to eat the sun), and at night.
3. If you hear the rattle of shells behind you! (Tzitzimime had shell skirts)
4. If you’re a pregnant woman - you might be turned into a Tzitzimitl!

THE TENOCHCA MORNING HERALD
Grain shortage crisis and 5 of the worst days in our nation’s history. Tenochtitlan’s corn prices soar as pregnant women all over the city live to see another day...

The period that all Aztecs had been dreading for years concluded at sunrise this morning. Tenochtitlan’s 200,000 strong population’s prayers have been answered during this century’s final five days, or nemontemi.

As each solar year comes to a close, we are left with five final, inauspicious days that are not attached to any month These days can bring terrible luck to humankind and this is why local temples have been crammed with offerings to the gods over this period. To make matters worse, end-of century tension was running high amongst citizens as many feared the sun might never rise again. Most fearsome of all was the possibility that Tenochtitlan would be infested with Tzitzimime, terrible goddesses and heralds of darkness. Known to tear apart children and pregnant women, these petrifying beings are themselves, mothers who died in childbirth. According to healers, people who encounter Tzitzimime tremble, their limbs wither and twist, and foam forms at their mouths. For this reason, pregnant Tenochca women were hidden in grain bins to wait out the nemontemi period. Given symbolic masks made out of Maguey (cactus) fibre, they were guarded against the monsters. Once discovered by ghoulish Tzitzimime, women could be turned into them!

Farmer Yauhtzin, from Coyoacán, south west of Tenochtitlan, had to safeguard three women in his grain deposit during the five nail-biting days prior to the Xiuhmolpilli (Tying together of the Years) ceremonies. Luckily, no Tzitzimime visited his or anyone else’s land, and Tenochtitlan’s ruler declared that the world’s destruction had been postponed until the end of another century. The Aztec Xiuhmolpilli ceremonies took place as planned and this morning, the appearance of the beautiful rising sun confirmed that all would be well.

Although grain stock in the region has been ruined by the wear and tear of being used as living quarters, the Aztec administration has assured us that this was a measure needed to safeguard our nation state’s pregnant women and children. Prior to the dangerous end-of-century period, all Aztec communities spent months storing food and provisions in case disaster struck.

A Tzitzimitl’s appearance is not to be forgotten...

It’s quite easy to get confused between different Aztec deities when looking at how they are represented in codices. The lord of the underworld, Mictlantecuhtli, looks very similar to a Tzitzimitl. In fact, he often was portrayed as one because he was a sky bearer (one of the deities that holds the sky away from the earth). Here he is in the full length picture.
The other sky-bearers, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, Xiuhtecuhtli, and Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl, could also turn into Tzitzimime.
Nevertheless, these monsters were usually females. Although you wouldn’t be likely ever to forget a Tzitzimitl if you bumped into one, here is a list of their defining physical features:-

A crown of paper banners in the hair (1) and a necklace of human hearts, blood and hands (A):
The presence of these symbols underlines the strong link between tzitzimime and human sacrifice. These monstrous beings were the organs of humans that died on the sacrificial stone.
Blue eye sockets (2):
show a deathly hue.
A fleshless face:
The skeletal faces of Tzitzimime related them to death and destruction.
Blood stained claws (3):
These were talons used for tearing people apart.
Stars for joints or monsters’ faces (5):
The Tzitzimitl pictured has knees, elbows and wrists dotted with star symbols that look like eyes. Tzitzimime were considered to be constellations of stars that could turn into monsters. Investigators believe that these marks could also be small faces of monsters.
Ornaments (4):
Most gods wore fine adornments such as earrings, bracelets and anklets, like the one shown above.
A skirt made of shells (for females) (B):
Rumour had it that the person who heard the rattle of a shell skirt behind him would die at the hands of a Tzitzimitl. The skirt could be decorated in a skull and crossbones or stars motif.
Cape of skull and cross bones:
this could often be seen hanging down in between a Tzitzimitl’s legs.

Tztitzimime were good too.
Were Tzitzimime completely bad? They were not only spirits of pregnant women, but deceased gods and royalty too. They had it in their power to commit both good and bad deeds. They might inflict an illness such as epilepsy or dropsy on one unfortunate Aztec, yet cure his neighbour of a similar fever.
Various gods in the Aztec pantheon could take on the guise of Tzitzimime and perform tasks to aid humans.

Coatlicue (Her Skirt of Snakes) was one such deity (picture 14). She presided over childbirth rites and her shell skirt was a token of her role as midwife. The curing of sick children was performed in conjunction with a Tzitzimitl who was an aspect of the Aztec patron god, Huitzilopochtli. He must wear a special cape that identified him as a healer.
In picture 12, a Tzitzimitl is offered blood in return for the wellbeing and health of the Aztec people. She (or he) is standing on a platform that shows white skull and cross-bone designs on a black background. Archaeological digs performed by the Mexican scholar Alfonso Caso indicate that this same design of altar was used at the New Fire Ceremonies at the end of each 52 year cycle.
A similar motif is used as the backdrop to an image of a healer or midwife in the Codex Tudela (picture 13), thus reinforcing the link between Tzitzimime and healing.

Gods who were also Tzitzimime
Itzpapálotl (Picture 15) - patroness of the paradise of Tamoanchan and HEAD TZITZIMITL. She is a facet of the creator goddess Tonacacíhuatl.
Cihuacóatl - Ilamatecuhtli - fertility goddess. Sky-Bearers - four deities that held the sky away from the earth.
Cihuateteo - spirits of women who died in labour. They accompany the sun from its noon day zenith to the place where the sun sets. They are patrons of the western sky come to the aid of midwives.
Maquiltotonaleque or Ahuiateteo - male counterparts of the Cihuateteo.
Tlaltecuhtli - earth goddess and first sacrificial victim. She is a monstrous being.

Editor’s Note: According to Mexican scholar Dr. Carmen Aguilera, the word tzitzimitl is ‘probably a repetition of the onomatopoeic syllable tzi, the sound the arrow mitl makes when thrown...’ (from ‘Ensayos sobre Iconografía’, vol. II, 2010, p. 145)

Bibliographic sources:-
Graulich, Michel, Ritos Aztecas de las fiestas de las veintenas
Instituto Nacional Indigenista, Mexico, 1999
Graulich, Michel, ‘Los dioses del altiplano central’, Arqueología Mexicana No.20 p32, 1996, Mexico.
Klein, C.F., The Devil and the Skirt. An iconographic inquiry into the prehispanic nature of the Tzitzimime, U.C.L..A, Los Angeles.
Miller, Mary, Karl Taube, The gods and symbols of ancient Mexico and the Maya: an illustrated dictionary of Mesoamerican religion, Thames and Hudson, 1993, London.
Rul, Francisco González, ‘Hacia el fin de un milenio indígena’, Arqueología Mexicana, no. 41, p60, 2000, Mexico.
Sahagún, Fray Bernadino de, Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España, Comments by Angel María Garibay, 6th ed., Editorial Porrúa, 1985, Mexico City, Mexico.
Smith, Michael E. The Aztecs, 2nd edition, Blackwell Publishing, 1996, Oxford, UK.

Picture sources:-
• Images from Codex Borgia, Primeros Memoriales, Codex Mendoza (corn bins), Mictlantecuhtli diagram, Tonan Tititl Cihuacóatl supplied by Julia Flood
• Photos of artefacts in National Museum of Anthropology by Ana Laura Landa/Mexicolore
• Photo of wooden corn store cages by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore
Image of New Fire year glyph from Codex Mendoza (original in Bodleian LIbrary, Oxford)
• Images from Codex Tudela (original in the Museo de América, Madrid), scanned from our copy of the Testimonio Compañía Editorial facsimile edition, Madrid, 2002

Comments (17)

quechaya

11th Dec 2024

Hi, I was wondering why you listed Tlaltecuhtli as a god who is also Tzitzimime. It seems to me that the only thing uniting them is their feminine identities and monstrous desire to devour humans. Some important differences I noted: Tzitzimime are celestial beings, while Tlaltecuhtli an the earth goddess. Tzitzimime try to stop the sun from being born by attacking it at dawn and dusk and especially during eclipses, while Tlaltecuhtli devours the sun every night and gives birth to it every morning.
Could you please explain their connection, as I haven’t been able to find any relevant sources. Thank you. Your website is very interesting and helpful.

Mexicolore

Some of these connections can certainly be obscure and subtle. Both are monsters that threaten to devour humanity, epitomised by the flint knife so prominent in Tlaltecuhtli’s mouth (and which Gordon Brotherston suggests is a murderous ‘memento’ of the Tzitzimime, invoking a solar eclipse). But there’s another, cosmic, ‘level’ of association, linking stars (Tzitzimime) to the earth (Tlaltecuhtli) as planet: we quote here verbatim from Salvador Mateos Higuera’s entry on the Tzitzimime in his great Enciclopedia del México antiguo:-
’Observando tanto las imágenes pintadas como las esculpidas (Coatlicue y Tlaltecuhtli) se llega a suponer que las caras fantásticas que muestran en sus extremidades no son decoraciones, sino que son parte de su configuración mítica. Observándose estas mismas caras en las imágenes de Tlaltecuhtli, el Señor de la Tierra, que prácticamente viene siendo otro planeta...’

October

13th Nov 2024

I’m doing a project on this, are there any interesting myths or stories told about them?

Mexicolore

Yes! Though very few. We would recommend the story of the origin of the maguey plant, that produces pulque. We recently uploaded an article precisely on this story, in the ‘Aztec Stories’ section, here -
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/stories/the-origin-of-maguey

Sebastian

9th Jul 2024

Learning more about the Mayan pantheon lead me here. Supposedly Goddess O is a Tzitzimime. What do you think? Also I find it very interesting how a lot of the gods have similar features. I wonder what these deities really are and where they went because they way they are talked about is like they walked amongst us. It is very fascinating

Mexicolore

We don’t think Goddess O equates to the Tzitzimime. The latter were pretty much 100% dark and malevolent, whereas Goddess O, whilst associated with floods and storms, was also linked to childbirth, medicine, divination and weaving.

Vivi

5th Oct 2023

If Cihuateteo are the spirits of women who died in childbirth how can there be male counterparts?

Mexicolore

Because they were the female counterparts of male warriors who had died in combat. ‘The Aztecs likened the act of birth to that of obtaining a captive in war, women who died in the attempt were valiant warriors slain in battle’ (Miller & Taube ‘The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya’).

Taytay

7th Jun 2023

Holy cow, I hade no idea there were male Tztzimime!! This article is amazing :D
Also, I was wondering what a sky bearer is exactly? I know that Quetzalcoatl, Mictlantechutli, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, and Xiuhtecuhtl were the sky bearers, I just have no idea what that means, and I can’t find any source that clarifies it.

Mexicolore

Best answer is in the book ‘The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya’ by Karl Taube and Mary Miller: ‘According to Postclassic Central Mexican belief, particular gods had the role of sustaining the sky. According to the “Historia de los mexicanos por sus pinturas”, the heavens were raised by the four sons of the creator couple along with four other gods... The Central Mexican skybearers were far from being entirely benevolent. According to Tezozomoc, the sky bearers were the “tzitzimime”, the fierce star demons of darkness that threatened to descend and destroy the world during eclipses and the night vigil marking the end of the 52-year cycle.’

_Dante_

2nd Mar 2023

Wait, there existed male Tzitzimime? But I thought there were only females!

Mexicolore

No, they can be of both genders, even though they’re most common as females. There’s one in the Codex Tudela which is very definitely male.

Xochipapalotl

19th Dec 2022

On the topic of the Tzitzimime, do we know what their name means/translates to? I’m learning my regions Nahuatl dialect and I’m curious on the etymology on the Tzitzimime. Since no sources I’ve seen have given a proper definition.

Mexicolore

Good question. Very few dictionaries include the term. Obviously the Spaniards called tzitzimime ‘devils’, but the Nahuatl meaning is elusive. However Cecllio Robelo, in his Diccionario de Mitología Nahuatl (1951) gives the following:-
’Tzitzimitl: flecha o dardo que pica, que penetra’.

Tlazōlteōtl

20th Nov 2021

Im not sure if we are reincarnates or the actual beings but I do know who I am, without a doubt so far. i just want to learn more so I can understand

xochitl

22nd Jul 2018

tzitzimeme has been very relatable to me since i was much younger
mi familia is from thay area, i am deeply connected with more than just deja vu, and a month ago on a new moon and a flash flood warning night i had a miscarriage and was hospitalized
my question being, when is the next end of the 52 century? thanks!!_

Mexicolore

Sorry to hear of your woes. As far as I recall, without checking, it’s 2027...

Chris Biggs

21st Jan 2017

I am a bit confused it seems that the Cihuateteo also cover the same areas as the Tzitzimitl. What is the difference between the two or is this a case of similar spheres of influence, The description of them here pretty much makes them identical, as does other sources

Mexicolore

Fair point! Cihuateteo (Women Gods) are female warriors, or women who have died in childbirth. They regularly haunt crossroads at night, can cause madness, paralysis, deformities (their preferred victims were children) and can cause men to commit adultery. They were associated specifically with the singularly unlucky day 1-House. Tzitzimime (Star Demons - they could be male or female) are MANIFESTATIONS of deities (the most important being Tezcatlipoca but of others too, including Cihuateteto!), responsible for attacking the sun at critical and dangerous times: during total solar eclipses - when albinos were sacrificed to counteract the forces of darkness - and potentially for bringing about the end of the present (fifth) world at the completion of every 52-year cycle. Because of their strong association with era-ending, they were particularly feared by the Mexica. They had the power not just to disfigure but to completely devour humankind.

Xoc

12th Feb 2015

Where did the idea Itzpapalotl is a facet of Xochiquetzal come from? Not a single source I have mentions that and most scholars believe she is a dead form of the goddess Cihuacoatl.

Mexicolore

We think you’re probably right, and have amended this - thanks for pointing this out! Itzpapálotl (‘Obsidian Butterfly’) was essentially a form of the creator deity Tonacacíhuatl and just one of her ‘secondary denominations’ was Cihuacóatl (‘Serpent Woman’). If the author of this article, Julia, comes back to us on this, we’ll let you know...!

Pancho

15th May 2014

How can I learn more about the ritual performed every 52 years?

Mexicolore

In our ‘Aztec Stories’ section - ‘The New Fire Ceremony’ - here:-
http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/stories/new-fire-ceremony

Doris

19th Jun 2013

The aztec gods are really facanating I am learning about them in my class (4hv) corsham primary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gaelita

21st Jan 2010

For those interested in Further reading, I recommend CECILIA KLEIN’s “The devil and the skirt: an iconographic inquiry into the prehispanic nature of the Tzitzimime”.
This is a very interesting article in which, among other things, the author explores the “good side” of the Tzitzimines.

Read it here:
http://www.ejournal.unam.mx/ecn/ecnahuatl31/ECN03102.pdf

DARQUETIPO

18th Dec 2008

muy buen esta la informacion.

henry

12th Dec 2008

how could the Tzitzimime be good and bad. did they do bad deeds more than they did good deeds.

Mexicolore

Thanks for writing in, Henry! The Aztecs believed most of their gods had two 'faces' - a good side and a bad side. Think of the rain god, for instance: he could send rain (good) but also send hail (bad). When you think about it, we humans all have good and bad in us...

teixi

2nd Sep 2008

i know that the aztecs thought that the planets were male Tzitzimime and they knew about 5 planets. Hola desde Mexico.

Mexicolore

Hola, Teixi. Thanks for writing! You may well be right: the planets they recognised were Venus, and probably Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter as well. We should have more on this soon in 'Ask the Experts'...

Aztec Tzitzimime