page_title: El Zapotal
section_title: Cihuatéotl
hierarchical_section_title: El Zapotal / The Site / Cihuatéotl
caption_attribution_description: English: A stone statue of Cihuacoatl, an Aztec fertility goddess. Here she emerges from the mouth of a serpent holding an ear of maize in her left hand. Discovered in Cuernavaca. Dated 1325 - 1521 CE. Owned by the Museo Nacional Antropologia.
context_page_description: El Zapotal is a Totonac culture archaeological site, located in the region known as Mixtequilla, between the Blanco and Papaloapan rivers in the Ignacio de la llave Municipality in the Veracruz State, Mexico.
  Its finding has great significance for the understanding of ancient cultures of Veracruz and Mexico.
  It is considered that site was inhabited by the Totonac culture, grandiose pottery pieces were found, among these figures is the Mictlantecuhtli sculpture, God of death.
  The various sculptures were accompanied by an ossuary composed of hundreds of ceramic figures, among them are the so-called smiling faces and a set of women with naked torso, these were called "The ladies of the Earth", as representations of Cihuateotl figurines.
  El Zapotal is currently located on an ancient totonac city in ruins, which flourished in 600 to 900 CE, in what archaeologists call the "classical" period.
context_section_description: Female goddesses, warriors, Sun companions, grandiose and eternal. Fertility Symbol and lineage willingness, example of courage and deliverance. Their eyes closed, open mouth, singing to death, death or singing, eternal life and the struggle between what man is and what the gods represent.
  Magnificent clay sculptures, samples of mastery and mystery, walking towards Mictlan, red, blue, adorned with snails and extraordinary snakes, burning copal pleasing the gods of the sky. Are the El Zapotal Cihuatéotl, the best example of female power, of the respect that its characteristic strength gives them.
  Their eyes closed, as if hiding something more than a glance behind her eyelids, hiding life reality that sometime was sublime. Mouth open, as if expressing the mother’s pain and recounted the history that hundreds of women like her lived.
  There are several representations and names related, in Azteca mythology.
  Cihuacoatl: Snake woman, first to give birth, hence considered birth protector.
  Cihuatéotl, probably a derivation of the previous deity, the composite Nahuatl word would have the following meaning: "cíhuatl" (woman) and yōllōtl (heart or interior) the heart or interior of woman.
  Cihuateteo, archetype of the women killed in childbirth
  In Aztec mythology, the Cihuateteo (also Ciuteoteo, Ciuateoteo or Civateteo; singular Ciuateotl or Cihuateotl, lit. goddess) were the spirits of human women who died in childbirth (mociuaquetzque.). Childbirth was considered a form of battle, and its victims were honored as fallen warriors. Their physical remains were thought to strengthen soldiers in battle while their spirits became the much-feared Cihuateteo who accompanied the setting sun in the west. They also haunted crossroads at night, stealing children and causing sicknesses, especially seizures and madness, and seducing men to sexual misbehavior.
  Their images appear with the beginning day signs of the five western trecena, (1 Deer, 1 Rain, 1 Monkey, 1 House, and 1 Eagle) during which they were thought to descend to the earth and cause particularly dangerous mischief. They are depicted with skeletal faces and with eagle claws for hands.
  They are associated with the goddess Cihuacoatl and are sometimes considered envoys of Mictlan, the world of the dead. Cihuateteo are servants of the Aztec moon deities Tezcatlipoca and Tlazolteotl.
  Cihuatlán,  (a city in Jalisco State) comes from the union of the Nahuatl words "cíhuatl" (woman) and "tlan" (between); which is interpreted as: ""Among Women"" or ""Place with many women"".
caption: Stone statue of Cihuacoatl, showing her framed by the mouth of a serpent, holding an ear of maize in her left hand.
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