The Centzonuitznaua appear to be the same as the Tzitzimimê, whom Tezozomoc calls the “gods of the air who bring the rains, floods, thunderclaps, and thunders and lightnings and had to be placed round Uitzilopochtli” in order to complete the construction of the great teocalli of Mexico. These “gods of the signs and planets,” in other words the stars, were regarded as demons of darkness, thinks Seler, “only because during a solar eclipse the stars became visible in the day sky.” I think it much more probable that they were looked upon as demons of darkness because they peopled the darkness every night. “These,” says the interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, “are the sons of Citlalicue.” Now, Citlalicue means “Starry-skirt,” and I think that here we are not very far from Coatlicue, “Serpent-skirt.” We know, too, that Citlalicue, like Coatlicue, was connected with the cipactli, the earth-beast, and with Chicomecoatl (“Seven Serpents”). The later fusion of Citlalicue with her husband Citlaltonac or Tonacatecutli, lord of the heavenly vault, as has been shown in the remarks on these gods, would give her stellar attributes; hence the seeming discrepancy between her and Coatlicue.
Table of Contents
33
639