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{{Short description|Aztec deity}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Aztec
| name         = Tlahzolteōtl
| image        = Tlazoteotl 7.jpg
| alt          =
| caption      = Tlahzolteōtl as depicted in the [[Codex Borgia]]
| god_of       = Goddess of Sex, Sexuality, Lust, and Purification
| other_names  = Tlahēlcuāni, Tlahzōlmiquiztli, Īxcuinān
| member_of    = the [[Nauhtzonteteo]]
| abode        = Tlalticpac
| symbol       = 
| parents      = [[Omecihuatl]] (Emerged by Tecpatl)
| siblings     = the [[Nauhtzonteteo]] (1,600 gods)
| consort      = 
| children     = With [[Piltzintecuhtli]]: [[Cinteotl]] (Codex Florentine)
| gender       = [[Female]]
| region       = [[Mesoamerica]]
| ethnic_group = [[Aztec]] (Nahua)
| festivals    =
}}
[[File:Codex Borbonicus (p. 13).jpg|thumb|From the [[Codex Borbonicus]], this shows the 13th [[trecena]] of the Aztec sacred calendar (''[[tonalpohualli]]'').  The deity Tlazolteotl is wearing a flayed human skin and giving birth to [[Cinteotl]]. The 13 day-signs of this trecena, starting with 1 Earthquake, begin at the bottom left and wrap around.<ref>{{harvp|Townsend|2000| p=115}}</ref>]]
In [[Aztec mythology]], '''Tlahzolteōtl''' (or {{langx|nci|Tlâçolteotl}}, {{IPA|nah|t͡ɬaʔs̻oɬˈteoːt͡ɬ|pron}}) is a deity of sex, sexuality, lust, carnality, sin, vice, impurity, temptation, fertility, purification, absolution, steam baths, and a patroness of [[adulterer]]s. She is known by three names, {{lang|nci|Tlahēlcuāni}} ("she who eats {{lang|nci|tlahēlli}} or filthy excrescence [sin]") and {{lang|nci|Tlazolmiquiztli}} ("the death caused by lust"), and {{lang|nci|Ixcuina}} or {{lang|nci|Ixcuinan}} ({{langx|hus|Ix Cuinim}}, Deity of Cotton), the latter of which refers to a quadripartite association of four sister deities.<ref>{{harvp|Soustelle|1961|pp= 104, 199}}</ref><ref name="Sahagunp23">{{harvp|de Sahagun|1982|loc=book 1, p. 23}}</ref><ref name="Sullivan12">{{harvp|Sullivan|1982|p=12}}</ref>

{{lang|nci|Tlazolteōtl|italic=no}} is the deity for the 13th {{lang|es|[[trecena]]}} of the sacred 260-day calendar [[Tōnalpōhualli]], the one beginning with the day {{lang|nci|Ce Ōllin}}, or First Movement. She is associated with the day sign of the [[jaguar]].<ref>{{harvp|Sullivan|1982}}{{pages needed |date=November 2022}}</ref>

Tlazolteōtl played an important role in the confession of wrongdoing through her priests.<ref>{{harvp|de Sahagun|1982|pp= 8-9}}</ref>

==Aztec religion==
There was a [[Huastec people|Huastec]] mother goddess<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=MacGregor |first=Neil |title=A History of the World in 100 Objects |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-670-02270-0 |edition=First American |location=New York |page=445 |author-link=Neil MacGregor}}</ref> from the Gulf Coast<ref name="Miller & Taube, p. 1682">{{harvp|Miller|Taube|1997|p=168}}</ref> who was assimilated into Aztec views of Tlazōlteōtl.<ref name=":0" />

==Quadripartite deities==
Under the name of {{lang|nci|Ixcuinan}} she was thought to be [[wiktionary:quadrupartite|quadrupartite]], composed of four sisters of different ages known by the names {{lang|nci|Tiyacapan|italic=no}} (the [[first born]]), {{lang|nci|Tēicuih|italic=no}} (the younger sister, also {{lang|nci|Tēiuc}}), {{lang|nci|Tlahco|italic=no}} (the middle sister, also {{lang|nci|Tlahcoyēhua}}) and {{lang|nci|Xōcotzin|italic=no}} (the youngest sister). When conceived of as four individual deities, they were called {{lang|nci|ixcuinammeh}} or {{lang|nci|tlazōltēteoh}};<ref name="Sahagunp23"/><ref name="Sullivan12"/> individually, they were deities of luxury.<ref>{{harvp|de Sahagun|1982|p=8}}</ref>

==Sin==

===Forgiveness of sin===
According to Aztec belief, it was Tlazolteōtl who inspired vicious desires and who likewise forgave and cleaned away sin.<ref name="Soustelle199"/> She was also thought to cause disease, especially [[sexually transmitted disease|STDs]]. It was said that Tlazolteōtl and her companions would afflict people with disease if they indulged themselves in forbidden love.<ref name="Soustelle193"/> The uncleanliness was considered both on a physical and moral level and could be cured by steam bath, a rite of purification, or calling upon the Tlazoltēteoh, the deities of love and desires.<ref name="Soustelle193">{{harvp|Soustelle|1961|p=193}}</ref>

===Purification===
For the Aztecs, there were two main deities thought to preside over purification: [[Tezcatlipoca]], because he was thought to be invisible and omnipresent, therefore seeing everything; and Tlazolteōtl, the deity of lechery and unlawful love.<ref name="Soustelle199">{{harvp|Soustelle|1961|p= 199}}</ref> It is said that when a man confessed before Tlazolteōtl everything was revealed. Purification with Tlazolteōtl would be done through a priest. One could only receive the "mercy" once in their life, which is why the practice was most common among the elderly.<ref>{{harvp|de Sahagun|1982|p=11}}</ref>

The priest (''tlapouhqui'') would be consulted by the penitent and would consult the 260-day ritual calendar ([[tōnalpōhualli]]) to determine the best day and time for the purification to take place. On that day, he would listen to the sins confessed and then render judgment and penance, ranging from fasts to presentation of offerings and ritual song and dance, depending on the nature and the severity of the sin.<ref>{{harvp|de Sahagun|1982|pp=10-11}}</ref>

===Dirt eating===
{{lang|nci|Tlazolteōtl|italic=no}} was called "Deity of Dirt" ({{lang|nci|Tlazolteōtl}}) and "Eater of Ordure" ({{lang|nci|Tlahēlcuāni}}, 'she who eats dirt [sin]') with her dual nature of deity of dirt and also of [[ritual purification|purification]]. Sins were symbolized by dirt. Her [[coprophagia|dirt-eating]] symbolized the ingestion of the sin and in doing so purified it.<ref name="Sullivan1982p15">{{harvp|Sullivan|1982|p=15 }}</ref><ref name="Patrisia2012p98"/> She was depicted with [[ochre]]-colored symbols of divine excrement around her mouth and nose.<ref name="Patrisia2012p98"/> In the [[Classical Nahuatl|Aztec language]] the word for sacred, {{wikt-lang|nci|tzin}}, comes from {{lang|nci|tzīntli}}, the buttocks, and religious rituals include offerings of "liquid gold" (urine) and [[gold]] (Nahuatl teocuitlatl "divine excrement", which Klein jocularly translated to English as "holy shit").<ref name="Patrisia2012p98"/><ref name="Klein1993p20">{{cite journal |last=Klein |first=Cecelia F. |year=1993 |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-14538980/teocuitlatl-divine-excrement-significance.html |title=Teocuitlatl, 'Divine Excrement': The Significance of 'Holy Shit' in Ancient Mexico |journal=[[Art Journal (College Art Association journal)|Art Journal]] |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=20–27 }}</ref> Through this process, she helped create harmony in communities.<ref name="Patrisia2012p98">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ikLJLdhpYKoC&pg=PA98 |title=Red Medicine: Traditional Indigenous Rites of Birthing and Healing |last=Gonzales |first=Patrisia |year=2012 |pages=98–99|isbn=9780816599714 |quote=Klein reinterprets the ochre color symbols found around the mouth and nose of some Tlazolteōtl depictions, as well as painted to represent matter emanating from the buttocks — from connoting 'dirt' to 'divine excrement.' She notes that {{lang|nci|tlazolli}} — interpreted by many academics as Tlazolteōtl's root word — is not only excrement or something old or used. Similarly the suffix for 'venerable' is {{lang|nci|tzīn}}, which comes from {{lang|nci|tzīntli}}, the buttocks. Urine as 'liquid gold' and offerings of excrement are examples of 'divine excrement' or, as Klein writes playfully, 'Holy Shit'. }}</ref>

==Festival==
{{lang|nci|Tlazōlteōtl|italic=no}} was one of the primary Aztec deities celebrated in the festival of {{lang|nci|[[Ochpaniztli]]}} (meaning "sweeping") that was held September 2–21 to recognize the harvest season. The ceremonies conducted during this timeframe included ritual cleaning, sweeping, and repairing, as well as the casting of corn seed, dances, and military ceremonies.<ref>{{harvp|Townsend|2000|p= 221}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
In the film ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'', the fictitious artifact, the [[Golden Idol]] is based on the actual Aztec [[Dumbarton Oaks birthing figure]]. The artifact is presumed to depict Tlazōlteōtl.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tlazolteotl (photo of Dumbarton Oaks idol)|url=https://www.theguardian.com/arts/pictures/image/0,8543,-10404540027,00.html|year=2009|work=[[The Guardian]]|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=20 July 2009}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:TlazolteotlBorbonicus.jpg|The moons represent the cyclical nature of sin and purification, and the animal motifs serve to ground the deity in the earth and indicate fertility.<ref>{{harvp|Townsend|2000|p=115}}</ref>
File:Tlazotéotl 5.jpg|Another drawing from the [[Codex Borgia]]
File:British Museum Huaxtec 1-2.jpg|Huaxtec statue of Tlazōlteōtl from Mexico, 900-1450 CE ([[British Museum]], id:{{British-Museum-db|Am,+.7001|E_Am-7001}})
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Xōchiquetzal]]
* [[Toilet god]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last=Soustelle |first=J. |year=1961 |title=The Daily life of the Aztecs |location=London |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson}}
* {{cite book |title=An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya |first1=Mary |last1=Miller |first2=Karl |last2=Taube |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=1997}}
* {{cite book|first=Bernardino  |last=de Sahagun |year=1982 |title=Florentine Codex: History of the Things of New Spain |translator-first1=Arthur J.O. |translator-last1=Anderson |translator-first2=Charles |translator-last2=Dibble |series=Monographs of the school of American research |location=Salt Lake City |publisher=University of Utah Press |orig-year=1545}}
* {{cite book |last=Townsend |first=R.F. |year=2000 |title=The Aztecs |edition=Revised |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Sullivan |first=T. |title=Tlazolteotl-Ixcuina: The Great Spinner and Weaver |encyclopedia=The Art and Iconography of late post-Classic Mexico: a conference at Dumbarton Oaks, October 22nd and 23rd, 1977 |editor-first=Elizabeth Hill |editor-last=Boone |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |location=Washington DC. |year=1982 |pages=7–37 |isbn=9780884021100}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Aztec mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Aztec goddesses]]
[[Category:Love and lust goddesses]]
[[Category:Earth goddesses]]