Aztec Creation Story
The mother of the Aztec creation story was called "Coatlique", the Lady of
the Skirt of Snakes. She was created in the image of the unknown, decorated
with skulls, snakes, and lacerated hands. There are no cracks in her body
and she is a perfect monolith (a totality of intensity and self-containment,
yet her features were square and decapitated).
Coatlique was first impregnated by an obsidian knife and gave birth to
Coyolxanuhqui, goddess of the moon, and to a group of male offspring, who
became the stars. Then one day Coatlique found a ball of feathers, which she
tucked into her bosom. When she looked for it later, it was gone, at which
time she realized that she was again pregnant. Her children, the moon and
stars did not believe her story. Ashamed of their mother, they resolved to
kill her. A goddess could only give birth once, to the original litter of
divinity and no more. During the time that they were plotting her demise,
Coatlicue gave birth to the fiery god of war, Huitzilopochtli. With the help
of a fire serpent, he destroyed his brothers and sister, murdering them in a
rage. He beheaded Coyolxauhqui and threw her body into a deep gorge in a
mountain, where it lies dismembered forever.
The natural cosmos of the Indians was born of catastrophe. The heavens
literally crumbled to pieces. The earth mother fell and was fertilized,
while her children were torn apart by fratricide and them scattered and
disjointed throughout the universe.
Ometecuhlti and his wife Omecihuatl created all life in the world. Their
sons: Xipe Totec - The Lord of the Springtime Huitzilopochtli - the Sun god
Quetzalcoatl - the Plumed Serpent Tezcatlipoca - the god of Night and
Sorcery. Coatlicue - She of the Serpent Skirt.
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