1/13/2024 0 Comments Age of water aztecIn any case, the goddess is often depicted wearing jade, along with other jewels, because of the importance jade held in ancient Mesoamerica. Montero believes that the use of the word “jade” instead of “precious stones” in Chalchiuhtlicue’s name was a simple mistake that was repeated over time. A cueitl, in Nahuatl, was a type of skirt worn by high status women and often depicted as part of the wardrobe of many ancient Mexican goddesses. It could be used to include serpentine and even turquoise. A modern take on her name, reinterpreted by Professor Arturo Montero of the Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM, has this name meaning, “Woman of the Skirt of Greenish Precious Stones.” The professor claimed that the ancient meaning of the word chalchihuitl means “precious greenish stone” and was not used specifically to identify jade. Many 16 th Century documents were written from word-of-mouth stories that had been passed down for generations and show great variety according to the region of Mexico in which they were found.īesides being the ruler and destroyer of an entire universe of existence, who was Chalchiuhtlicue? Many references state that the word Chalchiuhtlicue means “She of the Jade Skirt,” in the language of the Aztecs, Nahuatl. Researching the Aztec creation stories can be a bit confusing, and many legends seem to contradict each other. As ruler of the Fourth Sun, or Nahui-Atl, Chalchiuhtlicue called up the waters and destroyed existence on purpose because she was angry with people and wanted to demonstrate her power to the other gods and goddesses. Another version of the story, a more unofficial version, does not portray Chalchiuhtlicue as being so delicate as to be so easily hurt by others’ words. The floods from Chalchiuhtlicue eventually destroyed the whole world and ushered in a new one, the Fifth Sun, which is the existence we currently live in. Because of this, people turned themselves into fish in order to survive. She cried for 52 years and flooded the whole earth. Chalchiuhtlicue was so distraught by these accusations that she cried tears of blood. She feigned this affection, he asserted, out of selfishness and vanity because she just wanted to be worshipped. The god Tezcatlipoca did not approve of the reign of Chalchiuhtlicue and claimed that her affection for the people of the earth was fake. In the official story, Chalchiuhtlicue was a benevolent goddess presiding over the fourth existence of creation, or the Fourth Sun, and she loved the people of the earth whom she saw as her children. An Aztec emperor called Ahuizotl tried to standardize religion throughout the Aztec Empire in the late 1400s, but many non-standardized varieties of the official Aztec religious dogma persisted. The Aztecs called this Fourth Sun Nahui-Atl, or “The Water Sun.” All the ancient Mexican stories involving the gods and other supernatural forces and aspects have variety to them, and this has to do with some cultural groups evolving isolated from one another over time. ![]() When the third existence or the Third Sun was burned to ashes Chalchiuhtlicue and the other gods and spirits created the new Fourth Sun, or fourth existence which Chalchiuhtlicue would rule over. Sometimes she was referred to as Chalchiuhtlatonac or Matlalcueye. She was called by other names among the ancient Mexicans. Most people in central Mexico called her Chalchiuhtlicue and while kind and nurturing, she could also be a force to be reckoned with. The Fourth Sun, or fourth existence ever created, was ruled over by a very powerful feminine presence. It’s a story that’s been told for over a thousand years.
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