Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Within my paper this semester, I hope to analyze a number of Aztec birth images within the codices and other sculptural sources. I would like to analyze the different goddesses relating to childbirth, fertility, midwives, and sex for their associations with pre-birth and after-birth ritual in Aztec culture. Taking information directly from the Florentine Codex and supplementing it with a number of scholarly sources, I will visually analyze the depictions of these goddesses and their associations with birth culture, as well as the childbearing process and its connected ceremonies. The questions I would most like to answer are who were these goddesses and how do they fit in the process of Aztec pregnancy and birth? What was the Aztec birth like? What rituals were endowed within the birthing process of Aztec women? Within this paper, I hope to make a case considering the woman’s body and the state of pregnancy as a sacred space-as a shamans hallucination is a sacred space, the action of pregnancy is a sacred space that only a woman can occupy. Through a visual analysis of birth depictions in the Aztec Empire and a thorough literature review, the importance of Cihuateotl and other deities will be analyzed in tandem with their lasting impact on Indigenous nations in Mexico.
Recommended Citation
Klug, Riley
(2023)
"Understanding the Importance of Birth Rituals in the Aztec and Surrounding Empires,"
Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review: Vol. 8, Article 9.
Available at:
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/murr/vol8/iss1/9