Chalchiuitlicue

Twenty-two ton sculpture of Chalchiuitlicue unearthed at Teotihuacan

The Pyramid of the Moon was built in Teotihuacán, the largest city in Mesoamerica with over 100,000 residents, to honor Chalchiutlicue the Rain Goddess . (Chal-chee-oot-lee’- qway) Her monolithic statue was found buried beneath the pyramid.  Chalchiuitlicue’s brother (or spouse) was Tlaloc, and  her son was the Moon God. She was associated with serpents, shells, and maize and was petitioned for the all-important agricultural and rain cycles.

In honor of the Rains coming last night a full month early, I honor this Goddess of water, rivers, seas, streams, storms, and childbirth.

From Wikipedia:
Chalchiutlicue was held to be the guardian of the children and new born…After cutting the umbilical cord, the midwife would wash the new baby with customary greeting to the goddess of the sea Chalchiutlicue. Four days after the birth, the child was given a second bath and a name.  After of the rising of the sun the midwife would place a bowl of water in the middle of the patio and hold the naked child with both hands, saying, “My child, take then this water, which will protect you life, in the name of the goddess Chalchiutlicue.” Then with her right hand she would sprinkle water at the head of the child and say, “Behold this element without whose assistance no mortal being can survive.” She also would sprinkle water on the breast of the baby saying, “Receive this celestial water that washes impurity from your heart.” Then she would go again to the head and say, “Receive this divine water, which must be drunk that all may live, that it may wash you and wash away all your misfortunes, this water which  in truth has power to oppose misfortune.” At the end, she would wash the entire body of the little baby, “In which part of you is unhappiness hidden? Or in which part are you hiding? Leave this child, today, she is born again in the healthful waters in which she has been bathed, as mandated, by the will of the god of the sea, Chalchiutlicue.“

Chalchiuitlicue! Your story is an earlier version of our own Lake Chapala Goddess, Teo-Michi-Cihualli, portrayed in the stunning mural by Jesus Lopez Vega in the Ajijic Cultural Center. Goddess of Rain and all Waters, by all your names I honor you! I go this day to the shore of Lake Chapala, and humbly ask to receive the Baptism of your Blessing. Renew me, Rain Goddess, renew our thirsty earth.