View source for Mayahuel

{{Short description|Aztec goddess of the maguey plant}}
{{Infobox deity
| type         = Aztec
| name         = Mayahuel
| image        = Mayahuel.svg
| alt          =
| caption      = Mayahuel as depicted in the Codex Rios
| god_of       = Goddess of [[Agave|maguey]]
| member_of    = the [[Nauhtzonteteo]]
| other_names  = 
| cult_center  =  
| planet       = 
| gender       = [[Female]]
| abode        = the volcano [[Popocatépetl]]<ref name="meza">{{cite book|author=Otilia Meza|title=El Mundo Mágico de los Dioses del Anáhuac|date=1981|publisher=Editorial Universo|isbn=968-35-0093-5|lang=spanish|page=105}}</ref>
| symbol       = 
| consort      = [[Patecatl]]<ref name="meza"/>
| parents      = [[Omecihuatl]] (Emerged by Tecpatl)
| siblings     = the [[Nauhtzonteteo]] (1,600 gods)
| children     = [[Centzon Tōtōchtin]] (400 rabbits)
| region       = [[Mesoamerica]]
| ethnic_group = [[Aztec]] (Nahoa)
| festivals    = 
}}
'''Mayahuel''' ({{IPA|nah|maˈjawel}}) is the female deity associated with the [[Agave americana|maguey]] plant among cultures of central Mexico in the Postclassic era of [[pre-Columbian]] [[Mesoamerican chronology]], and in particular of the [[Aztec civilization|Aztec]] cultures. As the personification of the maguey plant, Mayahuel is also part of a complex of interrelated maternal and fertility goddesses in [[Aztec religion]] and is also connected with notions of fecundity and nourishment.<ref>Miller & Taube (1993, p.111); see also ''n.'' 87 to folio 265r of ''[[Primeros memoriales]]'' (Sahagún 1997, p.110).</ref>

==Description==

=== Origins from the maguey plant ===
[[File:Aguamiel00.jpg|thumb|The making of pulque, as illustrated in the [[Florentine Codex]] (Book 1 Appendix, fo.40)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wdl.org/en/item/10096/view/1/115/|title=General History of the Things of New Spain by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún: The Florentine Codex — Viewer — World Digital Library|website=www.wdl.org|language=en|access-date=2018-10-07}}</ref>]]
Maguey is a flowering plant of the genus ''[[Agave]]'', native to parts of southwestern modern United States and Mexico. The depictions of Mayahuel in the [[Codex Borgia]] and the [[Codex Borbonicus]] show the deity perched upon a maguey plant. The deity's positioning in both illustrations, as well as the same blue pigment used to depict her body and the body of the maguey plant on Page 8 of the Codex Borbonicus, give the sense that she and the plant are one. Furthermore, the Codex Borbonicus displays Mayahuel as holding what looks like rope, presumably spun from the maguey plant fibers. Rope was only one of the many products extracted from the maguey plant. Products extracted from the maguey plant were used extensively across highlands and southeastern [[Mesoamerica]], with the thorns used in ritual bloodletting ceremonies and fibers extracted from the leaves worked into ropes, netting, bags, and cloth.<ref>Miller & Taube (1993, p.108)</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Aztecs: Ancient Peoples and Places|last=Townsend|first=Richard F.|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2009|isbn=9780500287910|edition=3rd|location=London|pages=120, 178|oclc = 286447216}}</ref> Yet, perhaps the maguey product most well-known and celebrated by the Aztecs is the alcoholic beverage ''octli'', or later named [[pulque]],<ref>In {{langx|nah|octli}}. Pulque is derived from a fermentation of the sweet liquid [[Plant sap|sap]] extracted from the plant (in {{langx|es|[[aguamiel]]}}, "honey-water"). See Miller & Taube (1993, p.108) and Townsend (2009, p.178).</ref> produced from the fermented sap of the maguey plant and used prominently in many public ceremonies and on other ritual occasions. By extension, Mayahuel is also often shown in contexts associated with pulque. Although some secondary sources describe her as a "pulque goddess," she remains most strongly associated with the plant as the source, rather than pulque as the end product.<ref>Miller & Taube (1993, pp.108,138)</ref>

==Gallery of depictions in primary sources==
<gallery>
File:Mayáhuel 1.jpg|Mayahuel as depicted in the [[Codex Borgia]].
File:Mayahuel 1.jpg|Mayahuel as depicted in the [[Codex Ríos]].
File:Codex Borbonicus (p. 8).jpg|Mayahuel as depicted in the [[Codex Borbonicus]] (on the upper left side of Page 8).
File:Codex Magliabechiano (folio 58r).jpg|Mayahuel as depicted in the [[Codex Magliabechiano]] (on page 58 recto).
File:Codex Magliabechiano (folio 57v).jpg|The accompanying description of Mayahuel in the [[Codex Magliabechiano]] (on page 57 verso). Translation: "The next demon was called Mayahuel, which means maguey, because the juice that comes from it was an intoxicant. And they dance."<ref name="Boone1983"/>
File:MayahuelTemploMayor.JPG|Carving of Mayahuel displayed at the [[Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan]], now displayed at the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City.
</gallery>

==Notes==
<references>
<ref name="Boone1983">{{cite book |title=The Codex Magliabechiano and the lost prototype of the Magliabechiano group |author=Elizabeth Hill Boone |date=1983 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0520045203 |location=Berkeley |oclc=8113016 |url=https://archive.org/details/codexmagliabechi0000boon }}</ref>
</references>

==References==
{{refbegin||indent=yes}}
* {{cite book|author=Boone, Elizabeth Hill|author-link=Elizabeth Hill Boone|year=2007|title=Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate|series=Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture|location=Austin|publisher=[[University of Texas Press]]|isbn=978-0-292-71263-8|oclc=71632174}}
* {{cite book|author=Carrasco, David|year=1982|title=Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire: Myths and Prophecies in the Aztec Tradition|location=Chicago, IL|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=0-226-09487-1|oclc=0226094871}}
* {{cite book|author=Miller, Mary|author-link=Mary Miller (art historian)|author2=Karl Taube|author2-link=Karl Taube|year=1993|title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion|publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]]|location=London|isbn=0-500-05068-6|oclc=27667317|url=https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill}}
* {{cite book|author=Sahagún, Bernardino de|author-link=Bernardino de Sahagún|year=1997|orig-year=ca.1558–61|title=Primeros Memoriales|others=[[Thelma D. Sullivan]] (English trans. and paleography of Nahuatl text), with [[H.B. Nicholson]], [[Arthur J.O. Anderson]], [[Charles E. Dibble]], [[Eloise Quiñones Keber]], and Wayne Ruwet (completion, revisions, and ed.)|title-link=Primeros Memoriales|series=Civilization of the American Indian series, vol. 200, part 2|location=Norman|publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]]|isbn=978-0-8061-2909-9|oclc=35848992}}
*{{Cite book|title=The Aztecs: Ancient Peoples and Places (3rd ed)|last=Townsend|first=Richard F.|publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-500-28791-0|location=London}}<!-- END biblio format style -->
{{refend}}

{{Aztec mythology}}

[[Category:Aztec goddesses]]
[[Category:Mesoamerican deities]]
[[Category:Fertility goddesses]]
[[Category:Agricultural goddesses]]
[[Category:Deities of wine and beer]]