Chicomecoatl: Maize Deity of the Aztecs
Completed April 22, 2021
Agriculture holds an important place in all societies, especially those of the ancient Americas who placed a great emphasis on their agricultural production in many ways. Looking particularly at the Aztec civilization in Mexico, agriculture and the production of corn were an essential part of their daily lives. Not only is it a versatile crop, but its harvest represents the cycle of life. Planting, growth, and reproduction of maize is the metaphor for the cycle of birth, destruction, and regeneration of life.1 The green husks of the plant and the yellow color of the seeds were represented in other items such as gems, ritual attire, and ornamental designs. For this reason, there are a handful of deities which are associated with maize and the different stages of their harvest. While there are many names of deities associated with corn, their identities and what they represent seem to be understood differently depending on what institution is being referenced. The names most commonly seen are Xilonen, who represented the earliest maize of the summer, Cintéotl who represented the ripe ears of maize,2 Centeocihuatl the male maize deity, and Chicomecoatl-who is the focus of this paper.
Her name meaning “Seven Serpents”3 in the Aztec language Nahuatl, Chicomecoatl is the goddess of sustenance-of all edible plants but mainly corn-and the personification of matured maize which would be used for the following harvest.4 She is said to be the consort of the corn god, Centéotl. It was she who the Aztec people prayed to to bless their harvest.5 Her importance in society was represented through ceremonial rituals and in households through miniature sculptures of the deity herself. Chicomecoatl being a powerful deity due to her influence over the harvests, as well, made the Aztec people fear her. For this reason, representations of her were sacred and allowed people to communicate with and propitiate her. Therefore, people kept representations of her in their homes.
One of the small-scale house sculptures of Chicomecoatl is currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York City under the name Maize Deity (Chicomecoatl) and dates from the 15th-early 16th century.6 This fourteen-inch tall basalt sculpture7 depicts Chicomecoatl standing barefooted, wearing a long skirt which is held in place by a belt, and holding two maize cobs in her right hand. At first glance one is taken aback by her headdress-known as amacalli or “paper house-”8 which is larger than her body. The amacalli frames her face and serves as a door to which she appears out of which is another reference to her significance in the household. Looking further up, three twisted elements are running horizontally across the front. At the top right and left corners are rosettes with streamers hanging from them. In the center of the headdress, there is a rectangular design framed by two twisted elements which are most likely ropes.
As described in the Florentine Codex, Chicomecoatl is commonly depicted having a red ocher color on her face, a paper headdress, flower ornamented shirt, and typically has older facial features since she is the representative of mature and dried maize. 9 However, this is not seen in the household’s smaller-scale sculptures.
Carved from a narrow basalt stone slab, the sculpture takes on a rectangular shape with many straight edges as part of the design. The only round objects on this deity are the rosettes and her face. Her features are generic, which could allude to the Aztec people being able to take on her persona during festivals. It, as well, aids in her conceptualization as an anonymous maternal authority who is protective and fertile.10 Her face is small and rounded with almond-shaped eyes and mouth. Her nose appears to be broken off with small nicks around the entirety of the sculpture, which are possibly a result of time wearing it down.
There is one more sculpture of this deity housed in the MET under the same name as the sculpture being discussed, made out of the same medium-basalt and the same height and width. Having two of these sculptures is what further aids researchers to hypothesize that the small-scale Chicomecoatl sculptures were mass-produced by the Aztecs and served as household idols.
As previously mentioned, Chicomecoatl, praised for her abilities, was also feared by the Aztec people as she held the power to harm them by poisoning their harvest.11 This fear is illustrated in her name “seven serpents.”12 To please her, the Aztec people created festivals and performed ceremonies to help ensure a bountiful harvest. The months of Atlcaualo Cuauhitleua, Huey Tzotzosotlí, and Ochpanitztli13 now commonly known as March, April, and September each held a special ritual of the festival associated with different deities. Rituals occurring in Huey Tzotzosotlí are specifically for the deity Chicomecoatl. Bernadino Sahagún, a Spanish Franciscan friar who spent much of his time in Mexico, wrote during this festival the Aztec people would retrieve maize with flowers and bring them in front of their deity at the house calpulli.14 Following this they would go to the house of Chicomecoatl and transform it so they could plant one seed to serve as the blessed heart for the following harvest.15 Out of masa, which they called tzoalli, they would carve an image of the deity and offer her everything made of maize.16 It was during Ochpaniztli that one young child, particularly a girl, was chosen to personify Chicomecoatl and would be sacrificed. Those who took on the role of the deity wore actual amacalli headdresses which were elaborately created using brightly colored stiff bark paper.17
As for Aztec sculptures, a variety of materials were used, including volcanic rock to highly revered semi-precious stones such as jade. As for this Chicomecoatl sculpture, basalt was the preferred choice in its creation. While there are limited sources on basalt from this period, Bernardino de Sahagún wrote in the Florentine Codex18 a brief description of this stone and a possible explanation that would aid researchers in alluding to the sculpture being a household object.
Basalt, as described by Sahagún, is “black, dark...hard, very hard...it is solid, round wise; asperous, scabrous, unpleasing, blemished.”19 However, what made this stone favorable is its ability to be manipulated. Being a volcanic rock, the texture of basalt depends on the rate at which the lava cools. On one hand, if the lava cools quickly, the volcanic glass may form, giving it a smoother surface. On the other hand, if the cooling rate is slower, volcanic gas pockets will develop in the rock and leave empty cavities. 20
Even though basalt was a widely used material in Aztec society, obtaining it took effort. For starters, the Aztec people built their central home in Tenochtitlan, now known as Mexico City. Being a water-based city, their location to any volcano would be an extensive walk. Just under 40 miles (60 kilometers) from Tenochtitlan is the Otumba region21 which experienced volcanic activity. Being the closest location to the Aztec city, this is most likely where basalt was sourced. Therefore, getting to the Otumba region would require lots of time and labor. Once basalt was collected, it was distributed throughout the empire to workshops and artisans. Its abundance, as well, made basalt popular, highly accessible, and most likely cheap.22 All of which are probable reasons for its constant use in society.
In chapter eleven, paragraph seven of the Florentine Codex titled “Metlatetl: Stones from which metates are made,”23 it describes the word metlatetl as being comprised of both “metl” meaning maguey (an agave plant typically used to make alcohol) and “tetl” meaning stone.24
Traditionally this was a household or kitchen activity in which metates made from basalt would be used to grind down the plant and other food products such as corn. Both the domestic tools and industrial tools (scrapers and polishers)25 were typical of being part of households or craftsman workshops. Besides being used for household function, Basalt was for art-as we see with the Chicomecoatl sculpture.
Stone sculpture creations began long before the Aztec civilization emerged. Beginning with the Olmecs, stone sculptures have been an integral part of the Mesoamerican cultures as they can represent deities for monumental purposes and household idols. While not all sculptures have survived and others are spread through the world, based on the large-scale empire of the Aztecs, it is easy to assume thousands of stone sculptures were created for different purposes. While many subject matters were depicted, gods and goddesses were the most important. Traditionally, deities depictions followed a similar format: frontward facing, symmetrical, females were occasionally on their kneeling (unlike the Chicomecoatl sculpture), and male figures sitting on their knees with their arms crossed.26 The faces were ageless, as we see with the Chicomecoatl sculpture. They, as well, have slightly open mouths, possible animal features, specific attire to each deity, and most importantly, they expressed ideal female bodies and male strength.27 These physical traits were known by sculptors throughout the empire.
Sculptures were created in workshops that were located around different sacred parts of the empire. These were important jobs as the sculptors helped spread religion through their art commissions and some of their work took part in rituals. The main tools used to create these types of artworks were sand, water, fiber cords, simple stone, and hardwood tools.28
As aforementioned, the Chicomecoatl sculpture was originally made to be in households. Currently, it resides in the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas wing as part of the Mesoamerican Gallery 358.29 Visitors who enter the gallery are in the presence of art spanning from 3000 B.C.E. to the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century. Along with this information, we must understand how The MET acquired the sculpture.
In 1900, the Chicomecoatl sculpture was purchased from the Louis Petich Collection after being on loan for a few years. Chevalier Louis Petich was a former Italian Minister to Peru and later to Mexico.30 Further research shows Petich's collection of Mexican antiquities, in which a number of them were loaned and purchased by the MET, consisted of 1614 pieces31 mainly from the Toltec and Aztecs and a few belonging to other Mexican civilizations which were left unnamed. His collection includes large and small idols, busts, heads, masks, faces, ornaments, weapons, sacrificial objects, Toltec modeling, and Aztec terra cotta and sculptured stones.32 All of these items are said to be incredibly rare and valuable. In regards to how Petich came into obtaining these objects, the collection was “gathered at great expense,”33 and no further information is provided.
Along with Chicomecoatl, more art pieces were purchased from Petichs collection including the Coiled Serpent (Aztecs), another sculpture of Chicomecoatl, and a handful more. Unfortunately, the information provided by the MET is limited and would require further research to find out more about the transaction that occurred between the museum and Louis Petich Collection. In researching Petich, there is a scarce amount of information on him, however, one pdf document from Yale University titled “Toltec Smiling heads in the Petich’s Old Mexican Collection”34 gives a brief account of the Toltec heads from the collection. It is in this document as well that it briefly mentions Petich’s entire collection stating it “has been pronounced by the foremost archaeologists, both American and from Europe, as the most startling one of its kind after the collection of the Museum in Mexico City.”35
One of the last areas to be considered is what effect the museum has on the sculpture. Since this sculpture is of a religious figure, it held great importance to the people who owned it. The sculpture served as a reminder of Chicomecoatl’s power, what she does for people, and her significance in society. The one benefit of having the sculpture in a museum is it aids in research and knowledge of Aztec religion. Nevertheless, there are still downsides to how this sculpture is currently displayed. Museum layouts follow a European mindset, meaning what they find to be the most valuable art will be front and center. This tends to not include the art of the Pre-Columbian era. For the sections of American art, the display tends to be very crowded, in a dark room, and with no individuality for each artifact-as seen here with the MET. It would be easy for artifacts to get glossed over due to the number of objects in the room. Having the sculpture be in a box, and on top of a pedestal does not reflect the importance this statue once had. Instead of it being a religious object, it’s stripped down to an artifact in a box. Visitors will no longer be able to view it the way the Aztec people did. Additionally, the museum labels for artifacts from this culture hardly have descriptions to them. At most, the labels will list object details such as name, date, year, medium, and accession number, while the crucial information about its history is left out.
As previously stated, there is a benefit to having this object as it offers a deeper understanding of Aztec religious practices. However, the importance of this object will continue to diminish without its history being provided to visitors of the museum.
Notes
1. See The Art Institute of Chicago Latin American studies “Head of Xilonen, Goddess of Young Maize” pg. 3, first sentence for the mention of the metaphorical association between corn and life cycles.
2. See The Art Institute of Chicago Latin American studies “Head of Xilonen, Goddess of Young Maize” pg. 3, for the brief description of all deities' names and their associations with maize growth stages.
3. See The Metropolitan Museum of Art website for their description of the Chicomecoatl sculpture.
4. Reference back to The Art Institute of Chicago Latin American studies “Head of Xilonen, Goddess of Young Maize” pg. 3.
5. On the mythology of corn and the deities' connection to it see de Orella reading pg. 3-4.
6. See The Metropolitan Museum of Art website for more biographical information and images of the Chicomecoatl sculpture.
7. See The Metropolitan Museum of Art website for more object details.
8. See The Metropolitan Museum of Art website for the brief description of amacalli.
9. On the iconography of Chicomecoatl, see Fordham University Aztec art iconography section.
10. See The Metropolitan Museum of Art website Chicomecoatl sculpture accession number 00.5.28 for different information on the second sculpture of Chicomecoatl.
11. See The Metropolitan Museum of Art website Chicomecoatl sculpture accession number 00.5.28 for brief description on Chicomecoatl.
12. More on the power of Chicomecoatl see Fordham University Aztec Art Chicomecoatl Primary Sources.
13. Names of ritual months can be found in Fordham University Aztec Art Chicomecoatl Primary Sources.
14. See Delgado reading for more description of the ritual months pg. 7 under “Fiestas principales de maíz”
15. Huey Tzotzosotlí ceremony description found on pg. 7 of Delgado reading under “Fiestas principales de maíz”
16. More information on offerings for Chicomecoatl see Delgado reading pg.7 under “Fiestas principales de maíz”
17. See The Metropolitan Museum of Art website for their description of the Chicomecoatl sculpture.
18. For brief information on the Florentine Codex and basalt description see Fordham University website Aztec Art Sculpture of the Setting Sun.
19. Bernardino de Sahagún description of basalt in Florentine Codex see Fordham University website Aztec Art Sculpture of the Setting Sun.
20. Basalt creation and the different forms it can take see Fordham University website Aztec Art Sculpture of the Setting Sun.
21. For more information on the Otumba region in Mexico see Fordham University website Aztec Art Sculpture of the Setting Sun, Aztec use of basalt.
22. For more descriptions on the abundance and accessibility of basalt see Fordham University website Aztec Art Sculpture of the Setting Sun, Aztec use of basalt.
23. For more reference to Bernardino de Sahagún see Fordham University website Aztec Art Sculpture of the Setting Sun materials section
24. For more on basalt and metlatetl see Fordham University website Aztec Art Sculpture of the Setting Sun materials section.
25. For more on Aztec use of Basalt see Fordham University website Aztec Art Sculpture of the Setting Sun.
26. On the difference between male and female deity sculptures see MET essay “Aztec Stone Sculpture” second to last paragraph.
27. On the portraying of deities in sculptures see King MET essay “Aztec Stone Sculpture '' second to last paragraph.
28. On the Aztec Stone Sculpture and their tools see King MET essay “Aztec Stone Sculpture '' last paragraph.
29. For the full MET museum layout overview with gallery descriptions see MET Maps.
30. On the Petich Collection see The American Archeologist Volume 2 pg.304
31. See The American Archaeologist Volume 2 pg. 304 paragraph 5.
32. See The American Archaeologist Volume 2 pg. 304 paragraph 5.
33. See The American Archaeologist Volume 2 pg. 304 paragraph 5.
34. For the full pdf text see“The Toltec Smiling Heads in the Petich’s Old Mexican Collection” from Yale University
35. On “The Toltec Smiling Heads in the Petich’s Old Mexican Collection” see Yale University pdf pg.5.
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