Skip to content
Huixtocihuatl
EntityQ936993· pop 15· linked from 146 articles

Huixtocihuatl

Sign in to save

In Aztec religion, Huixtocihuatl (or Uixtochihuatl, Uixtociuatl) was a fertility goddess who presided over salt and salt water. The Aztecs considered her to be the older sister of the rain gods, including Tlaloc in most sources. Much of the information known about Huixtocihuatl and how the Aztecs celebrated her comes from Bernardino de Sahagún's manuscripts. His Florentine Codex explains how Huixtocihuatl became the salt god. It records that Huixtocihuatl angered her younger brothers, the Tlaloques, by mocking them, so they banished her to the salt beds. It was there where she discovered salt

Key facts

Deity.name
Huixtocihuatl
Deity.type
aztec
Deity.image
File:Huixtocihuatl from Primeros Memoriales.png
Deity.caption
Depiction of Huixtocihuatl from Bernardino de Sahagun's "Primeros Memoriales", which was published in 1590 (fol. 264r). She holds a reed staff in her hand and wears garments with a water design.
Deity.gender
female

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
goddess
Gender
female
Image
Huixtocihuatl from Primeros Memoriales.png
Show 2 more facts
Commons category
Huixtocihuatl
worshipped by
Aztec mythology
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~7 min read

Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • Associations
  • Iconography
  • Ritual
  • References

In Aztec religion, Huixtocihuatl (or Uixtochihuatl, Uixtociuatl) was a fertility goddess who presided over salt and salt water. The Aztecs considered her to be the older sister of the rain gods, including Tlaloc in most sources. Much of the information known about Huixtocihuatl and how the Aztecs celebrated her comes from Bernardino de Sahagún's manuscripts. His Florentine Codex explains how Huixtocihuatl became the salt god. It records that Huixtocihuatl angered her younger brothers, the Tlaloques, by mocking them, so they banished her to the salt beds. It was there where she discovered salt and how it was created. As described in the second book of the Florentine Codex, during Tecuilhuitontli, the seventh month of the Aztec calendar, there was a festival in honor of Huixtocihuatl. The festival culminated with the sacrifice of Huixtocihuatl's ixiptla, the embodiment of the deity in human form.

== Associations == Huixtocihuatl was considered a provider god along with Chicomecoatl and Chalchiuhtlicue. The three were sisters who together provided people with three life essentials: salt, food, and water.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Huixtocihuatl” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (4)