Chalchihuitlicue, the water goddess of the Aztec, was another example of a dual goddess who symbolize the two most important relationship women have with men as mothers and lovers. The qualities she has reflected the deep ambivalence men feel toward women which is profound need with profound fear. Chalchihuitlicue is depicted as a young goddess who was both beautiful and dangerous. Her dual nature comes into place which she both watered the earth and gives it life which promotes fertility and growth but can also flood the earth that can cause death and destruction, showing how changeable and unpredictable she is. The terrible and destroying aspect that she possessed along with her nurturing aspect overlap into a vision of the lover who has …show more content…
The sculpture of Chalchihuitlicue shows her kneeling down which female figurines kneeling are a recurring theme in Mexica sculpture. There is evidence that she is identified as a fertility goddess because most fertility goddesses are portrayed as young females and they wear variety of headdresses. Her hair is arranged in two large tassels on both sides of her head and appears that there is a large ornament that is holding her tassels and headdress in place. The body, face, and head seem to all be proportionate and symmetrical, and she wears a traditional shawl known as a quechquiemitl that is trimmed with tassels over a long skirt, and her eyes seem to probably be made from shells which is common in Mexica sculptures. Unlike the statue, the image of the goddess in the codices is vastly and starkly different which she is painted blue that symbolizes she is the wife of Tlaloc the rain god and she is also depicted wearing a blue nose ornament in a half-moon form with a snake head on each …show more content…
The opposition between the “male” state and the “female” opponent regularly appear in stories associated with the establishment of Aztec authority and is underscored by the frequent interpretation of the Coyolxauhqui myth as a battle between the sun and the moon. She became prominent in the mythological story of the legend of the virgin birth of Huitzilopochtli. Her mother, Coatlicue already had four hundred children which Coyolxauhqui was the head of them, and when Coyolxauhqui discovered that her mother was pregnant she urged the other children to join in to kill their mother because she had dishonored them. When Huitzilopochtli was fully born he protected his mother by decapitating Coyolxauhqui, but keeping her head intact, and getting rid of all the other children. Archaeologists founded the stone of Coyolxauhqui, an enormous stone monolith carved in low relief at the base of Huitzilopochtli’s side of the temple at the Temple of Mayor. The carving was originally painted is eleven feet in diameter, and her head and limbs are separated from her torso and organized in a pinwheel shape. She is shown as a decapitated and dismembered naked woman and thus she represents shame and dishonor in the Aztec society, because nakedness was a form of humiliation and defeat.
I found the photography piece “From the Road to Tepeyac,” by Alinka Echeverria intriguing. This photography piece was a man kneeling down with a sculpture tied to his back. The woman in the statue had a green flag with multiple stars draped around her. This woman appeared to be the Virgin Mary. Underneath the Virgin Mary was an angel with green, white and red wings. The colors on the flag around the Virgin Mary and the angel’s wings represent Mexico. Also, the stars on the flag present the repetition constructed in this photography piece. There is no physical line for the foreground; however, this piece directs the eye from one point to another by implication. When I first saw this photography piece, I questioned why the statue of the Virgin Mary and an angel were on the man’s back. I realized the Virgin Mary and ...
In this section his initial thoughts show through. “But losers matter, especially in the history of early America.” Many different regions of early America are examined in their years of early conquest when native populations started their descent. The biggest theme throughout the section is the effect that conquistadors and explorers had on the native population in their search for gold and glory. The information that is given is not typical of what is learned of early America, but tries to really focus on the most important figures of the time and there voyages. For example, when talking about the Plains nations and there explorers, Coronado and De Soto a tattooed woman woman is brought up who had been captured by both explorers at different times and different places, but little is known about her. “Of the tattooed woman who witnessed the two greatest expeditions of conquest in North America, and became captive to both, nothing more is known.” This point captures the main idea of the theme and what many know of this time. Horwitz aims to point out the important facts, not just the well known
... A few photos of Tenochtitlan and warriors headdresses, clubs and obsidian blades would increase the pleasure 10 fold. Also in places the author tends to divert to other Ameriindian cultures and use their ritual practices as examples. These comparisons can bring the ritual practices of a 500 year extant culture into modern day belief.
In 1510, Montezuma turned his attention to a series of revolts and revolutionary flare-ups in the Aztec territories. These battles only increased the size of the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs also continued their Flower Wars with the Tlaxcatlecans to provide human sacrifices to their god Huitzilopochtli. Around the same time, Montezuma’s oracles passed information that there were strangers in the midst. In fact, his astrologer priests foretold of the coming of Quetzalcóatl, a white bearded god who was believed to eventually reclaim their empire. Reputed claims of Whit...
It is the 1450s. Foreigners have invaded your land, and they’re capturing the citizens living there for their lethal rituals. (Doc. A) You are unlucky enough to find yourself kidnapped, along with your family. Your mother is taken away quickly, but your father is forced to become a human sacrifice for the Aztec gods. What does this mean, exactly? According to The History of the Indies of New Spain by Friar Diego Duran, your father’s chest is severed, and his heart is taken out of his body. This is all while he is still awake, and before the time of pain medication. He slowly bleeds to death on the temple stairways - and you’re watching it all. This sounds terrible, does it not?
n Chapter 3, “Entering Into the Serpent”, Anzaldua discuss about serpents and snakes and she was told they were dangerous growing up. Then, she goes in with a history of the goddesses of Mexican and Chicano cultures. According to Anzaluda, many of the Indian groups had goddesses that were respected feminine, the wild, the beast within women. She explains that most of the tribal leaders were females but, then the Aztec rulers changed things, though, by destroying documents, rewriting mythology, creating wars and defeat. The Aztecs changes the view of the strong female goddess and made them evil and subduing men. This chapter make realize ho man became the dominant gender when it comes to household or ruling a country. They are intimidate by
Malintzin, also known as La Malinche, played an important and vital role in the European conquest of the Aztec Empire. During her participation in the conquest, Indians and Spaniards alike respected her. Yet in the 19th and 20th century, historians and critics labeled her as a traitor or a victim of Spanish cruelty. In this essay, I will discuss the historical legacy of La Malintzin. I argue that she was not a traitor or a victim, but one of the great “deciders” of history.
The Aztec civilization was a very complex society that was feared and known well for their various gory sacrifices done to please their many gods in their polytheistic religion. The much feared civilization began by the exile of one of the two Toltec leaders, which lead to the decline of the Toltec state that was later replaced by Mexica, or the Aztecs. According to the Aztecs, the land chosen to build their main city was chosen by the portrayal of an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. Through military might, the Aztecs managed to become the most powerful civilization in the mid-fourteenth century. They maintained their power through military might and the fear they caused other civilizations because of the human sacrifices they performed on their captured victims.
One can immediately see the involvement of age in this sculpture because of her hunched back, bone structure, wrinkles, baggy eyes, saggy breasts, and all the other imperfections, but also shows that she has some kind of background history. She is also missing her arms, which one would be carrying a basket with fruits or vegetables, and the other could be carrying a chicken. Her dress, slipped off of one shoulder, epitomizes women of age during childbearing years had
In conclusion, this poem gives great insight into the culture of Aztec women during this time in history. Women who have given birth successfully were depicted to have strength and great fortune. The author presents the role of a midwife in Aztec culture helping and teaching wisdom throughout the woman's labor. The author of the poem also explained the hazards of giving birth and when successfully born, to give God praise.
The legend of La Llorona goes back thousands of years ago all over the world. La Llorona is known for drowning her children in a river over sadness and rage when she finds out that her lover is set to marry a woman of “higher class” than her. She immediately regrets her decision of pushing her kids into the busy river; She tried to chase them down and save them, but it was too late. La Llorona then jumped into the river and took her own life because of the regret she felt. After the incident, many people have claimed to see a woman in white clothing, weeping for her children by the edge of rivers. The tragic story of La Llorona, a woman who drowns her children in a river over jealousy and anger, affected Hispanic culture by becoming one of
The statue was important to not only the Aztecs but to the Spanish as well for Catholics seen she as being related to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Coatlicue is seen as wearing a serpent skirt given the name of her meaning of the serpent skirt. Serpents meant childbirth and blood to the Aztecs which is why it is important that she wears a serpent skirt as it represents the childbirth of Huitzilopotchi and the blood from the decapitation of her head from the two serpents. In the Aztec culture, man trained to for battle while woman were the child bearers. Those who died during childbirth were believed to have become goddesses which relates to the Aztec myth. The Coatlicue’s face has been carved in many monuments to keep in touch with the earth since she was the goddess of earth and fire. The Aztecs were the largest army in Mesoamerica and took in many prisoners of war. They believed in ritual sacrifice so that their god would not desert them and their world would not come to an end. Thought to have been through four different worlds already, they believed to have lived in the final world that the gods sacrificed themselves for. The prisoners captured by the Aztec were mostly
The myth talks of a woman living in the time of the Aztecs who is caught between her culture and that of Cortez cultures in the time of Hernando Cortes. The woman served as a mediator between Cortes and her people. She was his lover and stood aside as Cortes conquered her people making her seem as a traitor (Fitts).The woman and Cortes had a child; then Cortez abandoned the both of them, and the woman stayed alone the rest of her life. La Malinche means “bad woman” the woman got this name by turning on her people for Cortes by selling them out for revenge from how badly they treated, and ultimately destroys the civilization
Certain parts of her body are heavily exaggerated; she has overly huge breast, her stomach is large and as well as her butt. She appears to be smooth and her parts of her body I would consider to be very symmetrical. The artist that created her has chosen to exaggerate her breast and make them appear large and full. As well as they have done with her stomach, by making it appear overly large and to symbolize fertility or a late stage of pregnancy for women. The artist carriers, this plumpness and roundness of the female figure throughout out the stature. The artist has demonstrated plumpness of the female figure through her legs and carries it to her back side as well. The one aspect of this figure the artist had heavily rendered in detail, is the figures female genitalia. The genitalia is heavily rendered to show a female reproductive organs. It’s this aspect of the sculptural nature that makes me think that the artist had created her for fertility reasons.
In conclusion, the development of the folktales leads to the obtaining of ideas about gender. In many ways our society supports the idea that women seem underestimated as well as physically and mentally weak in comparison with the men who is portrayed as intelligent and superior. This can be shown in many ways in the different versions of this folktale through the concepts of symbolic characters, plot and narrative perspective.