In Aztec mythology, Mictecacihuatl is a goddess of death and the wife of Mictlantecutli, the god of the dead and lord of Mictlan. The Nahuatl term “Miktekasiwatl” is the source of the name Mictecacihuatl. It is translated as “lady of the dead” (from “mikki,” meaning “dead,” “tekatl,” meaning “person of,” and “siwatl,” meaning “lady”). Mictecacihuatl is an important person in Aztec tradition since she is in charge of funeral ceremonies. Her participation in these rituals represents the Aztecs’ reverence for the dead, their faith in the afterlife, and their desire to commemorate the gone. She ruled with her husband in the ninth underworld of Mictlan. In Christian Mexico, her cult changed to the veneration of Santa Muerte (“Our Lady of Holy Death”, August 15) on the Day of the Dead (November 1st–2nd).
Her Appearance
Mictecacihuatl was responsible for guarding the skeletal remains of the deceased and presiding over funeral celebrations in ancient times. She often has her skin peeled back, revealing a skeleton jaw. She was apparently born and then sacrificed when she was an infant. Aztec depictions of this underworld deity tend to be salient. Her paintings are full of symbolism that reflects the ancient people’s views about death and the hereafter:
- Skeletal Figure: Mictecacihuatl is often shown as a skeleton or somewhat defleshed figure. Her skull face represents her close connection to the afterlife and the dark realm.
- Jaw Wide Open: Her jaw is commonly represented as open, as a defining attribute. This represents her power to absorb the night sky and render the stars invisible during the day.
- Skirt Made of Serpents: Mictecacihuatl is shown in art wearing a serpent-skin skirt. Since serpents live down to the ground and are often linked to regenerative qualities, they stand in for the soil and fertility. They also stand for both the upper and lower worlds.
- Sagging Breasts: The “Lady of the Dead” is commonly shown with drooping breasts. This might be a metaphor for her years and experience, or it could be a nod to motherhood and the natural order of things. There are sandals on the feet.
-> See also: Baal Hammon: The Carthaginian God of Child Sacrifice
Mictecacihuatl in History
Mictecacihuatl is meant to keep vigil over the remains of the dead. The Aztecs celebrated festivities in her honor and she was given the name “Lady of Death,” since it was thought that she had passed very shortly after birth. She is seen both cooperating and competing with her spouse Mictlantecutli at various points in the narrative.
Although indigenous people continued to worship their own gods after the Spanish conquest, Mictecacihuatl’s saturnine look with a scythe became linked with death as a result. Although there is debate and divergence of view, it is possible that the pre-Hispanic religion of the lady of death survived and maybe thrived until the modern day.
Some Oaxacan traditions depict Mictecacihuatl as Macihuatli, a stunning white-clad woman who is said to be the hunter (from Nahuatl: cihuatl (“woman”) and matlatl (“net”). Others call her Matlasiwatl, meaning “she who entangles” or “the huntress.”
Her veneration has survived to some extent in the modern world in the form of the veneration of death on the Mexican Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos). In Aztec times, a similar festival dedicated to the dead took place in the months of Miccailhuitontli (November 1st, “Feast of the Little Dead Ones”) and Miccailhuitl (November 2nd, “Feast of the Adult Dead”).
The Role of Mictecacihuatl in Mythology
She is thought to punish drunks and womenizers who roam late at night by enticing them and guiding them into dirt and thorns, leading to self-inflicted harm. This is similar to the story of El Silbon, the legend of the South American whistler. Some of them commit themselves near the edge of a cliff where a prickly cactus grows, while others escape with amnesia.
The ancient Latin Americans believed that Mictecacihuatl was responsible for gathering the souls of the dead and transporting them to the underworld of her husband Mictlantecutli. She is also said to be the tormented spirit of a lady who committed murder and now travels the earth as a kind of retribution (see also Sluagh: The Spirits of the Restless Dead in Celtic Folklore). It is stated that this ghost comes to men—often alcoholics, partygoers, womenizers, or those who desert their families—in order to punish them for their faults.
The victim is lured by Mictecacihuatl’s appearance of a beautiful woman of mixed race, who leads them to a ravine, where she reveals her horse face—or human skull, according to other versions, although most of the time she is never seen face—causing the man to fall into the ravine, committing suicide by jumping into the thorns and dying.
Other accounts detail how Mictecacihuatl uses the rivers of Oaxaca as a place to relax and comb her hair, and how anybody who invades her personal space or steals her comb pays a heavy price. This is similar to the story of Banshee in mythology. In other tellings, such as those from Guatemala and Nicaragua, Mictecacihuatl is described as a group of women who work together to terrify their victims, exchange messages via whistles, and leave the males in shock.
Mictecacihuatl and Mictlantecutli were revered as having authority over the afterlives of individuals who had died ordinary, heroic, and dishonorable deaths. Mictecacihuatl and her husband, in one version of the tale, gathered the bones of the dead and brought them back to the realm of the living so that new races might be born. Races differ because their bones were mixed together. The couple was appeased with offerings of goods buried with the dead to assure their well-being in the afterlife.
She also had other names, such as Mictlánquihuatl (Lady of Mictlánú) and Chalmecaquihuatl (Lady of the Rope).
Mictecacihuatl and the Day of the Dead Festival
The Day of the Dead, also known as “el Dia de los Muertos,” is a Mexican festival commemorating the return of the spirits of ancestors who have passed away. From October 31 to November 2, this holiday is observed annually. Celebrations commemorating the deceased have their origins in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, where they have been practiced for at least three centuries. After fusing with Spanish customs, these old rituals gave rise to today’s Day of the Dead.
When Indigenous groups continued to worship their own gods after the Spanish invasion, the goddess Mictecacihuatl became associated with death. It is claimed that Mictecacihuatl watches over the graves and controls the Day of the Dead celebrations honoring the deceased. She is often linked to the afterlife and rebirth.
Mictecacihuatl and her husband gather skeletons so that the gods can bring the dead back to life, according to Aztec legends. According to this, Mictecacihuatl makes it possible for deceased loved ones to visit them on Earth. It is believed that the musky scent of Mexican marigolds guides departed spirits back to their homes.
The Aztecs and other Nahua people who formerly inhabited what is now central Mexico believed in a cyclical world and saw death as a natural part of the loop. Upon death, a person was thought to move to Chicunamictlán, the Land of the Dead. It took the soul many years and nine more difficult levels to reach Mictlán, the last resting place and the underworld of Aztec mythology. Northern Mexico did not begin celebrating the Day of the Dead until the 20th century. It is now extensively celebrated in Mexico and beyond.
