Tonantzin

In Aztec mythology, Tonantzin is a considered Mother Earth.

Among the titles and honorifics bestowed upon Tonantzin are "Goddess of Sustenance", "Honored Grandmother", "Snake", "Bringer of Maize" and "Mother of the Corn". Other indigenous names for her include "Chicomexochitl" ("Seven Flowers") and "Chalchiuhcihuatl" ("Woman of Precious Stone"). Tonantzin is honored during the movable feast of "Xochilhuitl".

The goddess Tonantzin shares characteristics with similar Mesoamerican divinities Cihuacoatl and Coatlicue, all of whom may have been drawn from common origins.

Some anthropologists believe that Our Lady of Guadalupe (an indigenous manifestation of Christ's mother Mary and patroness of Roman Catholic Mexico) is a syncretic and "Christianized" Tonantzin. Mexico City's 17th-century Basilica of Guadalupe--built in honor of the virgin and perhaps Mexico's most important religious building--was constructed at the base of the hill of Tepeyac, believed to be a site used for pre-Columbian worship of Tonantzin.

According to one theory, the creation of the Virgin of Guadalupe as a "Christianized" Tonantzin was used by clergymen to convert the Aztecs to their religion. In support of this viewpoint, Jacques Lafaye wrote in "Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe" that "...as the Christians built their first churches with the rubble and the columns of the ancient pagan temples, so they often borrowed pagan customs for their own cult purposes."Lafaye, Jacques. "Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe. The Formation of Mexican National Consciousness." Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1976]

An alternate view is that the Guadalupe-Tonantzin synthesis gave the native Americans a hidden method to continue worshipping their own goddess in a Christianized form while under the rule of colonial oppressors; similar patterns of syncretic worship can be seen throughout the Catholic Americas (e.g. in Vodou, and Santería). Guadalupan religious syncretism is both lauded and disparaged, depending upon the viewpoint of the author [Scheifler, Michael. "The Aztec Goddess Tonantzin and the Feast of Guadalupe." Bible Light Homepage. [http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/aztec.htm] , accessed 3 December 2006]

In literature, Tonantzin, the tragic Central American heroine of "Palomar" by Gilbert Hernandez, makes her living selling deep fried "babosas" (giant slugs) in her village; in the novel she is described as having been named after the goddess.

Tonantzin is a popular name for girls. Tona is the nickname.

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