Mythologies of Central America

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Ab Kin Xoc (Maya)
God of poetry.

Acat (Maya)
God of life.

Acna (Maya/Mexico)
Mother goddess associated with the moon. Patron of childbirth. Also known as Akna.

Acuecucyoticihuati (Aztec/Mexico)
Goddess of the ocean. Closely associated with Chalchiuhtlicue. Aztec women appeal to her as they go into labor. Also: Acuecueyotl.

Ahau Chamahez (Maya)
God of medicine.

Ahau Kin (Maya)
Goddess of the sun.

Ah Chuy Kak (Maya)
God of war.

Ah Cun Can (Maya)
Another god of war.

Ah Kinchil (Maya)
A sun god.

Ahmakiq (Maya)
God of agriculture.

Ahnt Alis Pok' (Mexico)
Goddess, two feet tall, who lives with her mother Ahnt Kai'.

Ahnt Kai' (Mexico)
Goddess of women and children. Daughter of Koo-mah'mm hahs-ay' tahm (First Woman). She flies at night and lives above the peak of Tiburon mountain. She is the teacher of singing and dancing, and tells the women and children when to do the Fish Dance. She heals snake bites. Equivalent to Athena (Greek), Kuan Yin (Far East) and Estsanatlehi (North America)

Ah Puch (Maya)
God of death.

Ah Uaynih (Guatemala)
Goddess of sleep. She causes males to fall asleep.

Ahuic (Aztec/Mexico)
Goddess of the running water in rivers, streams, and waves on the beach. A manifestation of Chalchiuhtlicue.

Ahulane (Maya)
Another war god.

Ah Wink-ir Masa (Guatemala)
Nature goddess. Protector of wild animals, especially deer.

Ajbit (Maya)
One of the 13 gods who created the people; he assisted in the actual creating.

Ajtzak (Maya)
He did the same as Ajbit.

Akhushtal (Maya)
Goddess of childbirth.

Alaghom Naom Tzentel (Maya)
Ancient Maya goddess of thought and intellect. Also known as Alaghom Naum, Ixtat Ix.

Alom (Maya)
God of the sky. One of the 7 gods who assisted in the creation of the world.

Apozanolotl (Aztec/Mexico)
A form of Chalchiuhtlicue, represented by foam, suds, or white-capped waves on the water surface, suggesting the virtue of purity.

Atl (Aztec)
God of the waters.

Atlacamani (Aztec/Mexico)
Goddess of ocean storms.

Atlacoya (Aztec/Mexico)
Goddess of drought.

Atlatonin (Aztec/Mexico)
One of the names for the Aztec mother goddess.

Auilix (Maya)
The god of dawn.

Ayauhteotl (Aztec/Mexico)
Goddess of fog and mist in the early morning or at night. She is associated with fame and vanity.

B

Bacab (Maya)
The gods of the four heavenly direction. They were Chac, Ek, Kan, and Zac.

Backlum Chaam (Maya)
God of male sexuality.

C

Cakulha (Maya)
Subordinate to Yaluk, and ruler of the lesser lightning bolts.

Camaxtli (Aztec)
God of hunting and of fate. Leader of warriors slain in battle whose souls ascend as stars in the sky.

Camozotz (Maya)
The bat god; god of the Underworld.

Centeotl (Aztec)
God of corn.

Chac (Maya)
God of rain, lightning, thunder, and wind.

Chac-Xib-Chac (Maya)
God of dancing and sacrifice.

Chalchihuitlicue (Aztec)
She unleashed the flood (to punish the wicked) that the destroyed the fourth world (according to the Aztecs, we are in the fifth world). She ruled over all the waters of the earth; oceans, rivers, rain, etc. The wife/sister of Tlaloc. The goddess of running water, and of fertility; she was also associated with marriage.

Chantico (Aztec)
Goddess of volcanoes.

Chicomecoatl (Aztec)
A maize goddess. She appeared in multiple forms; a maiden adorned with water flowers, a young woman whose embrace brought death, and a mother carrying the sun as a shield. The goddess of plenty, she was the female aspect of the corn.

Chirakan-Ixmucane (Maya)
The four gods who created the world each split in two, forming four more gods (female). She was one of the new ones.

Cihuacoatl (Nahua)
Goddess of childbirth. When weeping and wailing through the night she was forecasting wars and misery.

Cinteotl (Nahua/Aztec)
He was the male aspect of the corn.

Cipactli (Aztec)
The Earth Monster to whom Tezcatlipoca sacrificed his foot.

Cit Bolon Tum (Maya)
God of medicine.

Cizin (Maya)
God of death.

Coatlicue (Aztec)

• THE MYTH OF COATLICUE (Earth Monster):
  In the darkness and chaos before the Creation, the female Earth Monster swam in the waters of the earth devouring all that she saw. When the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca decided to impose form upon the Earth, they changed themselves into serpents and struggled with the Earth Monster until they broke her in two. Coatlicue's lower part then rose to form the heavens and her upper part descended to form the earth. Coatlicue has an endless, ravenous appetite for human hearts and will not bear fruit unless given human blood. One day while performing penance and sweeping at Coatepec, the chaste and pious Coatlicue discovers a ball of feathers. Wanting to save the precious feathers, Coatlicue places them in her waistband. However, when she later looks for the ball of feathers, it is gone. Unknown to her at the time, the feathers had impregnated her with the seed of Huitzilopochtli. Gradually Coatlicue grows in size until her sons, the Centzon Huitznahua, notice that she is with child . Enraged and shamed, they furiously demand to know the father. Their elder sister, Coyolxauhqui, decides that they must slay their mother. The news of her children's intentions terrifies the pregnant goddess, but the child within her womb consoles Coatlicue, assuring her that he is already aware and ready. Dressed in the raiment of warriors, the Centzon Huitznahua follow Coyolxauhqui to Coatepec. When her raging children reach the crest of the mountain, Coatlicue gives birth to Huitzilopochtli fully armed. Wielding his burning weapon, known as the Xiuhcoatl or Turquoise Serpent, he slays Coyolxauhqui and, cut to pieces, her body tumbles to the base of Coatepec.

• Another MYTH of COATLICUE:
  (Mother of Gods: Earth goddess)
  Coatlicue conceived Quetzalcoatl, God of creation, after keeping in her bosom a ball of hummingbird feathers (the soul of a fallen warrior) that dropped from the sky. Quetzalcoatl, with Tezcatlipoca, pulled her down from the heavens, and in the form of great serpents, ripped her into two pieces to form the earth and sky. Coatlicue was known as "The Mother of Gods", "The Devourer of Filth", "Our Grandmother". She wears a skirt made of braided serpents secured by another serpent and a necklace of human hands and hearts with a human skull. Her feet and hands are adorned with claws. Coatlicue was seen as an insatiable deity feasting on the corpses of men. Her breasts are depicted as hanging flaccid from nursing. Also known as Teteoinan, (Teteo Inan), "The Mother of Gods", gave birth to the moon, stars, and Huitzilopochtli (the Sun god). She was also known as Toci, "Our Grandmother", and known as Cihuacoatl, patron of women who die in childbirth. Cihuacoatl was transformed into modern Mexican culture as La Llorona, "The Weeping Woman", said to carry the body of a dead child and weep at night in city streets.

Cocijo (Zapotec)
The rain god.

Copil (Aztec)
Son of Malinalxochi.

Coyolxauhqui (Aztec)
Goddess of the moon. One of the four hundred of Coatlique's children killed by Huitzilopochtli, who when he saw his mother's grief at this particular death (she did not mourn the others), cut off Coyolxauhqui's head and threw it high into the sky where it became the moon, so that his mother might take comfort nightly from the sight of her daughter in the sky.

Coyopa (Maya)
Brother of Cakulha, and ruler of the sound of thunder.

Cumhau (Maya)
God of the Underworld.

D

E

Ehecatl (Aztec)
God of the wind. He brought love to the human race when he aroused desire in the maiden Mayahuel. Their love was made manifest by a beautiful tree which grew upon the spot where they landed on earth.

Ekahau (Aztec)
God of merchants and travelers.

Ek Chua (Maya)
God of commerce.

Eueucoyotl (Aztec)
God of sex, pleasure, and spontaneity.

F

G

Great Seahouse (Maya)
See Jaguar Night.

Gucumatz (Quiche)
A creator god.

H

Hacauitz (Maya)
The god of the mountains.

Huehueteotl (Aztec)
The god of fire. He was the oldest god in the Aztec pantheon.

Huitzilopochtli (Aztec)
The god of war and the protector of the city, was the blazing midday sun. He was depicted with hummingbird feathers on his head and left leg, his face black, and brandishing a serpent made of turquoise. The story goes that Coatlicue, the mother of Coyolxauhqui (night) and of four hundred stellar divinities was praying when a bunch of feathers fell from heaven. She placed them in her bodice and, shortly afterwards, discovered she was pregnant. Her children reproached her for this belated pregnancy and discussed killing her. But Huitzilopochtli emerged fully armed from her womb, wearing blue armor and carrying a blue lance and the "turquoise serpent", and massacred his brothers and sisters.

Hummingbird (Maya)
See Jaguar Night.

Hunab Ku (Maya)
A creator-deity of Yucatan. Also called Itzamna

Hunahpu (Maya)
One of the two heroes (with Xbalanque) who contested against the gods in a game of pokatok, the Mayan equivalent of basketball combined with soccer. (In the regular games, the losing team was sacrificed to the gods!)

Hun Nal (Maya)
God of maize.

Hurakan (Maya)
God of thunderstorms and hurricanes.

I

Ilyap'a (Inca)
The weather god. Pictured as a man in the sky with a sling. He made rain fall by breaking with his slingshot a pitcher of water held by his sister. The crack of his sling was thunder, the shot was the lightning bolt.

Inti (Inca)
According to some accounts, the sun god and father of Viracocha.

Ipalnemohuani (Aztec)
The supreme deity. Also called Tloque Nahuaque.

Itzamna (Maya)
God of The sky. The most important deity in the Maya pantheon, Itzamna was the son of the creator god Hunab, and was lord of the heavens, and also lord of day and night. He was represented as a kindly old man, toothless with sunken cheeks and a pronounced nose. A cultural hero, he invented writing and books, established religious cermonies, and divided the land. He was entirely benevolent, never responsible for any destruction or disaster.

Itzcoliuhqui (Aztec)
God of darkness and destruction.

Itzpapalotl (Aztec)
Goddess of healing.

Ixchel (Maya)
A water goddess. Also the goddess of childbirth and weaving.

Ix Ch'up (Maya)
Goddess of the moon.

Ixtab (Maya)
Goddess of suicide and death by hanging.

Ixtlilton (Aztec)
God of feasts and games.

Ixzaluoh (Maya)
Goddess of weaving.

Iztacmixcohuatl (Aztec)
The mythical founder of the Aztec peoples.

J

Jaguar Night (Maya)
One of the first four men created by the gods from maize (ground to a fine powder) mixed with water. The others were Jaguar Quitze, True Jaguar and Mahucutah. The first four women who were created at the same time were Great Seahouse, Shrimp House, Macaw Woman and Hummingbird.

Jaguar Quitze (Maya)
See Jaguar Night.

K

Kilya (Inca)
The moon, a female deity and wife of the sun.

Kinich Ahau (Maya)
The sun god.

Kinich Kakmo (Maya)
Another name for the sun god.

Kisin (Maya)
God of earthquakes.

Kuat (Brazil)
God of the sun.

Kukulcan (Maya)
God of creation, closely related to the Aztec and Toltec Quetzalcoatl.

L

M

Macaw Woman (Maya)
See Jaguar Night.

Macuilxochitl (Mixtec)
God of dancing, gambling, and music.

Mahucutah (Maya)
See Jaguar Night.

Malinalxochi (Aztec)
A sister of Huitzilopochtli, and a sorceress with special powers over scorpions, snakes and other stinging, biting insects of the desert.

Masaya (Nicaragua)
Goddess of earthquakes and volcanoes.

Mayahuel (Maya)
Goddess discoverer of pulque (forerunner of tequila), a fermented drink.

Metztli (Aztec)
A moon god.

Mexitl (Mextli)
The principal god of the ancient Mexicans to whom hundreds of human sacrifices were made annually. Sometimes called Huitzilopochtli (Humming-bird of the South), he was the god of war and storms and was born fully armed with weapons.

Mictecacihuatl (Aztec)
Mictlantecuhtli's wife who helped govern the nine layers of the underworld and its nine rivers.

Mictlantecuhtli (Aztec)
Also spelled Mictlantecihuatl. Creator and ruler of the underworld (Mictlan), she wore a skirt of snakes and had clawed feet for digging her way beneath the earth.

Mixcoatl (Aztec)
God of the underworld, and father, with Coatlicue, of four hundred children.

N

Nacon (Maya)
A god of war.

Nakawe (Huichol)
The earth goddess.

Nanautzin (Aztec)
God of disease, who sacrificed himself so that there would be a sun for the fifth world (our world).

O

Ometecuhtli (Aztec)
The first creator, a god who was both male and female.

P

Pacha Mama (Aztec)
Fertility goddess.

Patecatl (Aztec)
God of medicine and surgery.

Q

Quetzalcoatl (Aztec)
Means "plumed serpent". One legend says he was the god of creation, who with Tezcatlipoca, pulled the earth goddess, Coatlicue, down from the heavens, and in the form of great serpents, ripped her into two pieces to form the earth and sky. Another that he was the son of the sun god and of Coatlicue, one of the five goddesses of the moon. He was the god of vegetation, earth and water. He was also worshipped as Ehecatl, a god of the wind. Originally he was a Toltec god.

R

S

Shrimp House (Maya)
See Jaguar Night.

T

Tecciztecatl (Aztec)
A moon god.

Teoyaomqui (Aztec)
God of dead warriors.

Tepeyollotl (Aztec)
Lord of uncertainty.

Tepoztecatl (Aztec)
God of drunkenness.

Tezcatlipoca (Aztec)
God of war. He was represented in human form with a stripe of black paint across his face and an obsidian mirror replacing one of his feet. He was supposedly mutilated by the crocodile on which the earth rests. He was also called Yoalli Ehecatl (night wind), Yaotl (warrior), and Telpochtli (young man). As a creator god he ruled over the first of the four worlds which were destroyed prior to the creation of this one. In animal form he was a jaguar.

Tlaloc (Aztec)
Originally an Olmec god, worshipped as a jaguar deity. God of rain, springs, and mountains. He had control over fertility. He was represented as a man painted black with huge, round eyes circled by long-fanged snakes. He had two companions; Uixtocijuatl (goddess of sea water) and Chalchiutlicue (goddess of fresh water).

Tlauixcalpantecuhtli (Aztec/Mexico)
Lord of the planet Venus (God of dawn).

Tlazolteotl (Aztec)
Goddess of lust, sexual guilt, love, sex, pleasure, and witchcraft. Was also known as Tlaelquarni, "cleansing" goddess and Tlacolteutl (she had four aspects; four sisters: Tiacapan, Teicu, Tlaco and Xocutzin).

Tohil (Maya)
The god of fire.

Tonantzin (Aztec)
The goddess of motherhood.

Tonatiuh (Nahuatl)
The god of the sun; also known as Pilzintecutli.

Tozi (Aztec)
Goddess of sweat-baths.

True Jaguar (Maya)
See Jaguar Night.

U

Uitzilopochtli (Aztec)
God of the sun.

V

Viracocha (Inca)
The supreme god. He created mankind, was disappointed with their actions and destroyed them. He re-created them, but this time created the sun and moon also so that they could live in the light. He then created mountains, rivers, animals so that all could have the means to exist.

W

X

Xibalba (Maya)
The Mayan underworld, ruled by fourteen dreaded lords: One Death and Seven Death, the leaders, and Bleeder, Pus Master, Jaundice Master, Blood Gatherer, Body Sweller, Sudden Death, Vomit Master, Bone Breaker, Skull Smasher, Stab Master, Starvation and Trash Master.

Xilonen (Aztec)
Goddess of young corn.

Xipe Totec (Aztec)
The god of springtime renewal and nocturnal rain. God of flowers. God of vegetation. His ceremonies were marked by human sacrifices. The victims were pierced with arrows so that their blood flooded the ground like a fertilizing rain. Then their hearts were torn out and, finally, they were flayed. People who had certain skin diseases wore the skin of the tortured for 20 days in order to be cured. Perhaps because of the yellow skins worn by the penitents, Xipe Totec was the god of goldsmiths.

Xiuhtecuhtli (Aztec)
Also known as Otontecuhtli or Huehueteotl. God of fire. Depicted as an old bearded man who carried a brazier on his head in which burned incense. He was the god of the hearth. As the god of fire he was also the god of the sun and of volcanoes. Xiuhtecuhtli was associated with peppers, symbols of the life force. The pine, from which torches are made, was his tree.

Xmucane (Maya)
The goddess of childbirth. Wife of Xpiyacoc and mother of One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu.

Xochipili (Aztec)
The brother and consort of Xochiquetzal, associated with Xipe Totec and Cinteotl. God of flowers, sport, dance, games, beauty, of love, and of youth.

Xochiquetzal (Aztec)
The goddess of weavers who was also responsible for fertility, childbirth, flowers, singing and dancing. She was (like the Roman Flora) a deity of sexual license as well. Marigolds were her favorite flower, but she loved every plant and every creature. Much loved by Aztec women, she was honored with little pottery figurines that showed her with feathers in her hair; these are still frequently unearthed in Mexico. In some legends, this goddess was the only female survivor of the great flood that destroyed the world preceding this one. With a man, she escaped the torrent in a small boat. Faced with the prospect of repopulating the world, they set to work as soon as the flood receded. But all of their children were born mute. Finally a pigeon magically endowed them with language, but every child received a different tongue so that each was unable to communicate with the others.

Xolotl (Aztec)
Brother (twin) of Quetzalcoatl. God of monsters, magicians, of twins, and of double ears of maize.

Xpiyacoc (Maya)
The god of marriage, husband to Xmucane and father of One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu, mighty warriors who were experts in pokatok and never lost a game.

Xpuch and Xtah (Maya)
According to legend, the world's first prostitutes.

Y

Yacatecuhtli (Aztec)
God of commerce.

Yaluk (Maya)
Chief of the lightning gods.

Yaotl (Aztec)
God of darkness.

Yiacatecuhtli (Mexico)
God of merchants.

Yum Cimih (Maya)
God of death.

Yum Kaax (Maya)
Maize god, counterpart of Cinteotl.

Z

Zipaltonal (Nicaragua)
She was the goddess who made everything on earth. She lived in the east, where souls of the chosen went after death; souls of evildoers were confined to beneath her surface.

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