Tonacatecuhtli
Aztec/Mexica · deity · cosmogonic · deity
Tonacatecuhtli is half of a couple whose name means flesh and food at once — tonacayotl covers both, which tells you what the Mexica thought a body was made of. He and his wife live in Omeyocan, the thirteenth and highest heaven, and the souls of children come down from there, which is why an infant who died went back up rather than on to Mictlan. He has almost no cult and no mythology of his own: the primordial pair in this system are not gods you deal with, they are the condition that makes dealing possible.
Domains
- creation
- sustenance
Relations
- spouse: Tonacacihuatl
- counterpart of: Ometeotl
Sources
- Reference treatments of Ometeotl, Tonacatecuhtli, Tonacacihuatl and Omeyocan.