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In Aztec mythology
Aztec mythology

The Aztec civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many gods and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs....
, Xochiquetzal was a goddess associated with concepts of fertility and female sexual power, serving as a protector of young mothers and a patroness of pregnancy, childbirth, and the crafts practised by women such as weaving and embroidery. Unlike several other figures in the complex of Aztec female earth deities connected with agricultural and sexual fecundity, Xochiquetzal is always depicted as an alluring and youthful woman, richly attired and symbolically associated with vegetation and in particular flowers.






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In Aztec mythology
Aztec mythology

The Aztec civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many gods and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs....
, Xochiquetzal was a goddess associated with concepts of fertility and female sexual power, serving as a protector of young mothers and a patroness of pregnancy, childbirth, and the crafts practised by women such as weaving and embroidery. Unlike several other figures in the complex of Aztec female earth deities connected with agricultural and sexual fecundity, Xochiquetzal is always depicted as an alluring and youthful woman, richly attired and symbolically associated with vegetation and in particular flowers. By connotation, Xochiquetzal is also representative of human desire, pleasure, and excess, appearing also as patroness of prostitutes and artisans involved in the manufacture of luxury items.

She was followed by a retinue consisting of birds and butterflies
Butterfly

A butterfly is an insect of the Order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual Biological life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form....
. Worshippers wore animal and flower masks at a festival, held in her honor every eight years.

Her twin was Xochipilli
Xochipilli

Xochipilli was the god of art, games, beauty, dance, flowers, maize, and song in Aztec mythology. His name contains the Nahuatl words xochitl and pilli , and hence means "flower prince"....
 and her husband was Tlaloc
Tlaloc

Tlaloc was an important deity in Aztec religion, a god of rain, fertility, and water. He was a beneficent god who gave life and sustenance, but he was also feared for his ability to send hail, thunder and lightning, and for being the lord of the powerful element of water....
, until Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca

Tezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion, associated with a wide range of concepts including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, sorcery, beauty, war and strife....
 kidnapped her and she was forced to marry him. At one point, she was also married to Centeotl
Centeotl

In Aztec mythology, Centeotl is the masculine deity of maize. According to the Florentine Codex1, Centeotl is the son of the earth goddess, Toci, and god, Tlazolteotl....
 and Ixotecuhtli. By Mixcoatl
Mixcoatl

Mixcoatl or Camaxtli was the god of the hunt and identified with the Milky Way, the stars, and the heavens in several Mesoamerica cultures....
, she was the mother of Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
.

Anthropologist Hugo Nutini identifies her with the Virgin of Ocotlan
Virgin of Ocotlan

The Virgin of Ocotl?n is statue of the Virgin Mary in Ocotl?n, Tlaxcala, Mexico. The Virgin of Ocotl?n is the patron saint of Tlaxcala and the neighbouring state of Puebla....
 in his article on patron saints in Tlaxcala
Tlaxcala

Tlaxcala is one of the 31 mexican states of Mexico, located to the east of Mexico City....
.

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