Oxomoco Explained

Oxomoco also known as Oxomo[1] is an Aztec deity, the goddess of the night, the astrology and the calendar. Oxomoco and Cipactonal were said to be the first human couple, and the Aztec comparison to Adam and Eve in regard to human creation and evolution.[2] [3] They bore a son named Piltzintecuhtli, who married a maiden, daughter of Xōchiquetzal.[4] As an older woman she was also known as Itzpapalotl.[3]

Origin of the name

Dr. Rafael Tena of the INAH translates the name Oxomoco as "First Woman" saying that it is a Huastec word morphed into Nahuatl. Uxumocox; Uxum (Woman) and Ocox (First).

Depictions

Oxomoco and Cipactonal are mentioned in the Aztec Annals of Cuautitlán; they were in charge of the calendar.[5] They also appear in Quiché legends such as within the Popol Vuh.[6] Some scholars, such as the Nicaraguan Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés claim that Cipactonal was actually the female and Oxomoco actually the male and referred to one of them as Tamagastad.[3] Other scholars from the Nicaraguan perspective such as Ephraim George Squier and Frank E. Comparato also claim that Oxomoco was male and Cipactonal female and claim that they were sorcerers and magicians.[6] Nahuatl terms of the four shamans who stayed at Tamoanchan are not gendered with the exception of Oxomoco who was female.[7] In the Codex Borbonicus, Oxomoc, like Cipactonal, usually wears the tobacco gourd of priests on her back. In some depictions the goddess is wearing a butterfly mask and throwing maize and beans from a vessel.[8] In the Florentine Codex, Oxomoco is depicted divining with knotted cords. There is a notable carving of Oxomoco and Cipactonal near Yautepec, Morelos.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Book: El Mundo Mágico de los Dioses del Anáhuac. Editorial Universo México. Otilia Meza. es. 1981. México. 47. 968-35-0093-5.
  2. Book: Austin, Alfredo López. The human body and ideology: concepts of the ancient Nahuas. 26 October 2011. 1988. University of Utah Press. 978-0-87480-260-3. 238.
  3. Book: Austin, Alfredo López. The rabbit on the face of the moon: mythology in the mesoamerican tradition. 26 October 2011. 1996. University of Utah Press. 978-0-87480-527-7. 102–6.
  4. Web site: Aztec cosmology. University of Texas. 26 October 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120111093701/http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant322m_files/cosmology.htm. 11 January 2012.
  5. Book: New World Archaeological Foundation. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation. 26 October 2011. 1995. New World Archaeological Foundation. 227.
  6. Book: Squier. Ephraim George. Comparato. Frank E.. Observations on the archaeology and ethnology of Nicaragua. 26 October 2011. 1990. Labyrinthos. 978-0-911437-08-9. 29.
  7. Book: Boone, Elizabeth Hill. Cycles of time and meaning in the Mexican books of fate. 26 October 2011. 2007. University of Texas Press. 978-0-292-71263-8. 24, 25–.
  8. Book: Nowotny. Karl Anton. Everett. George A.. Sisson. Edward B.. Tlacuilolli: style and contents of the Mexican pictorial manuscripts with a catalog of the Borgia Group. 26 October 2011. 2005. University of Oklahoma Press. 978-0-8061-3653-0. 61.
  9. Book: Smith. Mary Elizabeth. Boone. Elizabeth Hill. Painted books and indigenous knowledge in Mesoamerica: manuscript studies in honor of Mary Elizabeth Smith. 26 October 2011. 2005. Middle American Research Institute. 978-0-939238-99-6. 14.

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