Aztec Calendar > Gods and deities > Mayahuel

Mayahuel

Codex Laud

Mayahuel is the goddess of the maguey plant and of fertility. Protector of mature wombs that turn into life.

From the milky sap of the maguey plant, aguamiel, the alcoholic drink pulque (octli in Nahuatl) was brewn. Mayahuel is often depicted with many breasts to feed her many children, the Centzon Totochin (the 400 Rabbits). The Centzon Totochin were thought to cause drunkenness.

Mayahuel is the wife of Patecatl, who is also a pulque god.
The deity Ome Tochtli (Two Rabbit) represents all pulque gods.

The spines of the maguey were used by ancient priests and nobles for autosacrifice.

According to myth Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl took Mayahuel from her grandmother and the fearsom star daemons, the Tzitzimime. The Tzitzimime caught her and tore her to pieces. Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl buried her remains from which the first maguey grew.

Mayahuel is both the ruler of the eight day, Tochtli (rabbit), and the eight trecena, 1-Malinalli (grass).