Cihuateteo
Also called Ciuateteo, Ciuapipiltin.
The Cihuateteo are the deified spirits of Aztec women who died in childbirth, escorting the sun down the western sky and haunting crossroads at night to strike children and seduce men.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Aztec mythology
- Region
- Mesoamerica (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Water-Beckoners
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- gods is Gods are worshipped powers governing natural or abstract domains, represented as human, animal, vegetal, or formless; Mesoamerican categories resist simple European equivalence.
why
The Cihuateteo — the name is rendered Women Gods — arise from one of the most deliberate symmetries in Aztec religion.
- woman is Woman denotes a complex feminine principle linked to moon, earth, water, instinct, nourishment, protection, and destruction; folklore also embeds patriarchal creation anxieties.
why
The pairing is exact because the Aztecs construed birth as battle — a woman in labor was taking a captive, and a woman who died in the attempt was a warrior slain in the field.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Haunts liminal crossroads
why
The tradition is emphatic that the Cihuateteo were no benevolent mothers: descending to earth on the days sacred to them, they haunted crossroads at night, struck children with seizures and madness, stole them outright, and seduced men into adultery and other transgressions.
Curses
- Child stealing
why
The tradition is emphatic that the Cihuateteo were no benevolent mothers: descending to earth on the days sacred to them, they haunted crossroads at night, struck children with seizures and madness, stole them outright, and seduced men into adultery and other transgressions.
- Seductive charm
why
The tradition is emphatic that the Cihuateteo were no benevolent mothers: descending to earth on the days sacred to them, they haunted crossroads at night, struck children with seizures and madness, stole them outright, and seduced men into adultery and other transgressions.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Anima carries both readings
2 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Cihuateteo."
- Mary Miller and Karl Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, p. 61.
- Shadow carries both readings
2 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Cihuateteo."
- Mary Miller and Karl Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, p. 61.
- Death meets
2 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Cihuateteo."
- Mary Miller and Karl Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, p. 61.
- Queen meets
2 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Cihuateteo."
- Mary Miller and Karl Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, p. 61.