Cihuateteo

Cihuateteo (singular: Cihuateotl ) are in the Aztec mythology, the spirits of those women who had died giving birth to her first child.

Due to this fact, they enjoyed the same prestige as male warriors who had been killed or sacrificed in battle. Cihuateteo live in the West and accompany the sun from its zenith to its position on the western horizon. They are the servants of the gods Tezcatlipoca and Tlazolteotl. In addition, they are in contact with the earth goddess Cihuacoatl and are sometimes viewed as emissaries from the underworld Mictlan. According dark and ominous is its occurrence in the night: you haunt at crossroads, kidnap children, bring diseases such as febrile convulsions or insanity or seduce men to fornication.

Are shown Cihuateteo as fearsome female characters in an aggressive posture with bared teeth and clawed fists. Such sculptures were often made to Mended their wandering spirits, as they - were regarded as a danger to small children and unborn babies in the womb - even childless.

Swell

  • Royal Academy of Arts ( ed.): Aztecs. Cologne 2003, pp. 435 f
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