Chalchihuitlicue
Also called Chalchiuhtlicue.
Chalchihuitlicue is the jade-skirted goddess of lakes, rivers and standing water in Central Mexican tradition, consort of the rain god, who presided over a former world that ended in flood.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Aztec mythology
- Region
- Mesoamerica (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Rain-Holders
- Symbols
- jade
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- jade bears Jade denotes purity, virtue, balanced cosmic powers, immortality, and good fortune, while Mesoamerican sources emphasize jadeite as a prized greenstone.
why
Chalchihuitlicue is the jade-skirted goddess of lakes, rivers and standing water in Central Mexican tradition, consort of the rain god, who presided over a former world that ended in flood.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Controls drought and flood
why
In the sequence of world-ages she presides over one of the former suns, which ends when the waters rise and drown it; the people of that age are described in the accounts as becoming fish.
Utility powers
- Hydrokinesis
why
Chalchihuitlicue — her name refers to the jade or greenstone of her skirt — governs the waters of the surface in Central Mexican tradition: lakes, rivers, springs and the standing water people depend on, as distinct from the rain that falls, which belongs to the storm god with whom she is paired.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Queen carries both readings
1 citation
- Mary Miller and Karl Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, p. 60.
- Water carries both readings
1 citation
- Mary Miller and Karl Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, p. 60.