Coatiicne (Coatlatona), "She with Dress of Serpents,' was the Aztec goddess of flowers and probably identical with the fabled mother of the god of war of the Aztecs. She was the patroness of gardeners who, in the early spring-time, offered her garlands of flowers.
Elichuah, the "Black-God,' was the patron divinity of merchants and cacao planters is Yucatan.
Gucumatz, the great Maya-Kiche culture deity, the equivalent of Quetzalcoatl, of which the name is a literal translation.
Hneehtani, one of the two Zapoteca crea tion deities, was the creator of all men and fishes; Cozaana was the creator of all beasts. As the story relating to these two creator divin ities is also told in another form by the Mix tecas, and as the eagle and the snake play a prominent part in this latter form of the myth, it is probable these two Zapoteca deities were closely related to the culture gods of other Mexican peoples.
Huehueteotl, "Oldest of the Gods,' the fire deity, was also called Xiutecutli, "Lord of the Year,' while he was generally addressed as "tata' or our father. He was represented with a black face and a red body, typical of fire. He 'wore a headdress of green feathers, a sign of royalty or divinity in pre-Columbian Mexico, and on his back he bore a yellow serpent, symbolical of his own special functions and of his relationship to the gods of the air. His connection with the sun, the father of all heat, was shown by a golden mirror. As Xiutecutli, he was a very much revered household god to whom an offering of drink and bread was made by every Mexican on rising in the morning. It was before his idol that the new fire was kindled every year. It was thought to be nec essary for the existence of a new-born infant that a fire should be kept burning for four days in honor of its arrival and as a sign of grati tude to the Lord of the Year.
Huitzilopochtli (Mexilli), "Humming-birds Feathers on the Left (leg),' the tribal deity of the Aztecs and their great god of war. He was the son of the Sun God and of Coatlictie (Coatlatona), "She with dress of serpent,' the Aztec goddess of flowers and the reputed mother of the gods. He was born with a shield in one hand and a blue spear in the other, fully armed for war; and he proceeded at once to the extermination of his sister and his brothers, a fabled tribe of demi-gods, who had conspired to kill their mother. He pursued
them four times around a mountain, killing many. Others were drowned in a near-by lake, while a few surrendered and made peace Huitzilopochtli usually wore a headdress of humming-bird's feathers; in his left hand he carried a shield and in his right _four darts. On account of his prowess in war and of the prominence of the Aztecs at the front of the Mexican confederacy, he was the religious head of the Mexican priesthood. He had power over all growing things; the feather markings of his shield were in the form of a cross com posed of dots, thus connecting him with the Tlalocs; his face and his limbs were marked with stripes of blue, and he was seated on a pedestal of blue, at each of the four corners of which was a serpent. Across his face and his forehead, from ear to ear, was an azure band, all typical of his dominion over the sky.
where, as a tribal deity, he ruled as the god of lightning, of thunder and of terrifying winds. Huistocihuatl was the protecting goddess of salt and salt-makers throughout the Aztec Em pire, where the gathering of salt from the salt deposits along the low coast-lands was a busi ness of great importance.
Huraltan, "He who hurls below? the Maya Kiche god of the storm, of wind in motion, was accompanied in his work by violent maniL festations of nature by three assistant deities, Cakulha-Hurakin (Lightning), Raxa-Cakuiha (Lightning-track) and Chipi-Cakulha (Light ning-flash). Hurricane, Spanish hnracin, is supposed to be derived from the name of this deity.
Itzamni, "Dew of clouds and heaven, father of gods and men, the tutelar divinity of Yucatan, and more especially of the Itzaes, was credited with possessing most of the powers of Quetzalcoatl, of ruling over more or less the same phase of human life and of per forming more or less the same acts in behalf of humanity, and all evidence tends to showthat he was but an earlier peninsular form of the great American culture myth. He was the universal life-giver and hence the patron divin ity of birth and of growing vegetation. He was also the culture god who was popularly be lieved to have taught the Itzaes the civilization they had acquired. He was the fabled founder of Itzamal; and in his capital, in semi-histori cal times, was a magnificent temple dedicated to his worship.