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Re: Aztec goddesses / Virgins
S E Rostas (S.E.Rostas@DURHAM.AC.UK)
Wed, 9 Mar 1994 15:48:05 +0000
On Tue, 8 Mar 1994, WP Anderson wrote:
>
> Dear fellow subscribers,
>
> I've just been reading Ake Hultkranz's "The Goddess in
> North America" in Carl Olson's _The Book of the
> Goddess, past and present_.
>
> The article raises a number of interesting questions,
> particularly concerning the Aztecs (not a people among
> whom one looking for the Goddess would normally start):
>
> 1. Can such diverse Aztec deities as Coatlicue,
> Tonantsi, Chicomecoatl and Xilonen be considered
> manifestations / aspects of one goddess, *the*
> Goddess?
>
> Where can I find out more about Goddess research among
> the Aztecs (and secondarily the Maya)?
>
> References, names of authorities, other Internet lists
> / resources?
>
> 2. Though I've read accounts of the link between
> Tonantsi, the Virgin Mary, and the Virgin of
> Guadalupe before, it occurs to me for the first
> time now that the Virgin of Guadalupe,
> protectoress of the Americas is perhaps most
> interestingly a *fusion of two goddess cults
> suppressed* by antagonistic and rival patriarchal
> cultures: the Christian and the Aztec.
>
> Has anyone done any work in this connection? Could it
> be fairly said that Tonantsi and the other goddesses of
> the Aztec pantheon were actively reduced in status by
> Aztec priests in a way analogous to the suppression of
> Mariolatry by the Catholic Church?
>
> To what (sociological?) forces then is owing the
> incredible worldly success of these two heavenly
> underdogs?
>
> Opinions, sources and wild speculation (especially if
> identified as such) warmly welcomed.
>
> gratefully,
>
> WP Anderson
> isis@sail.cuug.ab.ca
>
>
> --
> andersop@sail.cuug.ab.ca (WP Anderson)
> writer / student / teacher (on a good day): Calgary, Canada.
>
I'm sorry I included all your message in my reply.
Its a month since I checked into e-mail - so I'm a bit behind BUT i can
recommend my article Goddesses in Aztec Mythology
'Divine Androgyny But 'His' Story; the female in Aztecx Mythology
in The Feminist Companion to Mythology, Ed By Carloyne Larrington,
Pandors Press London, 1992
If you have any trouble getting it, get back in touch with me. I'll have
more time in the weeks to come
Susanna Rostas
Dept of Anthropology,
Durham University UK
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