General Aztecs Maya Tocuaro Kids Contact 19 Mar 2024/2 Death
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Huaxtec female deities

Huaxtec female deities in the British Museum

Stone sculptures of Huaxtec female deities, 900-1450 CE, British Museum.

’The early Spanish chroniclers on the Gulf Coast of Mexico gave eye-witness descriptions of spectacular fan-shaped headdresses made of painted bark paper and brilliantly coloured feathers. These accounts match the costumes of Huaxtec deities recorded in the codices and rendered here in stone. Such sculptures once stood in Huaxtec shrines and temples. Tlazolteotl is the best known of several feminine deities. In Náhuatl the term tlazolli is identified with filth in the form of vices and disease. As the goddess of tlazolli, Tlazolteotl was charged with purification and curing. She is also linked to concepts of birth, fertility and sacrifice.’ (Gallery notes).

Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore

Learn more about the patron goddess of midwives and healers