Pitao Huichaana

Zapotec ⟨Pitào Huichàana⟩, also Nohuichana. The foremost Zapotec goddess and the female half of the creator-couple — lady of the waters, of generation and childbirth — paired with Cozaana and mother (with him) of the Sun-god Copijcha. Distinct from the death-goddess Xonaxi Quecuya.

Domains

• water and rivers
• childbirth and generation
• fish and fishing
• women and children

Powers

• creates and multiplies men and fish
• governs conception, childbirth and the human life-cycle, aiding women in labour
• commands the waters of the rivers, lagoons and rains and the fish within them

Epithets

• Nohuichana Zapotec · Nohuichana · cultLady Water - the water-and-childbirth goddess (variant of Pitao Huichaana)Cordova, Vocabulario en lengua zapoteca (1578); Whitecotton, The Zapotecs (1977) (secondary)

Relations

• spouse: Pitao CozaanaThe primal creator-couple of the Zapotec world; reciprocal of zapotec_pitao_cozaana.spouse.Münch Galindo, La Teogonía Zapoteca (1983): Huichana estaba casada con Cozana y con él engendró al Sol y a los demás dioses. (secondary)
• mother of: Pitao CopijchaMother of the sun-and-war god Copijcha, begotten with Cozaana.Münch Galindo, La Teogonía Zapoteca (1983): Copijcha, hijo de Cozana y Huichana. (secondary)
• emanation of: Coqui XeeProceeds, with Cozaana, from the infinite uncreated Coqui Xee (Pije-Tao).Whitecotton, The Zapotecs (1977); Münch Galindo, La Teogonía Zapoteca (1983): Coqui Xee, the uncreated source, precedes Cozaana and Huichaana. (secondary)

Sources

• Pitao Huichaana (Nohuichana) is the Zapotec goddess of water, rivers and fish, of fertility, generation, conception and childbirth, patroness of midwives, women and children and of the human life-cycle; Córdova names her 'la diosa de los niños o de la generación', she is called 'la Engendradora' and 'Madre de todas las criaturas', and she is paired with Cozaana as the female half of the creator couple.: Córdova, Fray Juan de. Vocabulario en lengua çapoteca. 1578 (Huichaana, diosa de la generación a quien las parturientas ofrecían sacrificios). (primary); Lind, Michael. Ancient Zapotec Religion. University Press of Colorado, 2015 (Pitao Huichaana, goddess of procreation and children, creator of men and fish, associated with water). (secondary); Münch Galindo, Guido. La Teogonía Zapoteca y sus vestigios en Tehuantepec. UNAM, 1983 (Huichana, diosa del agua, los ríos, los peces, el parto y la generación; esposa de Cozana). (secondary)
• As a great goddess Huichaana is linked to the moon and to dominion over the rivers, fishing and the whole vital cycle; in the colonial period her cult was assimilated to that of the Virgin Mary.: Whitecotton, Joseph W. The Zapotecs: Princes, Priests, and Peasants. University of Oklahoma Press, 1977. (secondary)