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Coatlicue

Coatlicue, the earth goddess of Aztec mythology, was the mother of the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the Aztec gods and goddesses. Her name means "serpent skirt." Coatlicue was the source of all life on earth and took the dead back again into her body.

A famous statue in Mexico's National Museum of Anthropology represents the idea of Coatlicue as creator and destroyer. Her head is made up of the joined heads of two snakes, and the skirt that she wears is made of snakes woven together. Snakes are symbols of both death and fertility in many cultures. Her massive breasts show her as a nourishing mother, while her clawlike fingers and toes show her as a devouring monster. She wears a garment of human skin and a necklace of hands and hearts, with a single skull in the center, suggesting that Coatlicue consumed everything that died.

See also AZTEC MYTHOLOGY; SERPENTS AND SNAKES.