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God of : Flowers, Dancing, Games, Fertility, Pregnancy | Tonalli : XOCHITL (flower) |
Trecena : CUAUHTLI (1 Eagle - 13 Deer)

The Aztec Goddess of flowers, dancing, games, fertility and pregnant women.

When you look at things in that order it would seem she was the goddess of love... and she was. Her name means 'beautiful like a flower' and she had a retinue of birds and lovey-dovey-ness that followed her around like a sweet scent but it didn't stop virgins being sacrificed to her on a regular basis.

As the patron of crafts she had a rather bizarre ritual dedicated to her too. A woman dressed as Xochiquetzal would be flayed alive and a priest bearing her skin would sit at the foot of her temple pretending to weave. But things got a whole lot stranger as craftsmen dressed as Monkeys and dogs would then dance around like loons frantically waving the tools of their particular trade in the air.

A festival was held in her honour every eight years where her worshippers would wear masks of butterflies and sweet cutesy things, and while i'm not convinced this made them beautiful like flowers too, it doesn't hurt to try i suppose.

Xochipilli was her twin who was a bit lovey-dovey himself and she was married to Centeotl... and Ixotecuhtli... and Tlaloc... the Goddess of love had a lot of love to give. She was married to Tezcatlipoca too, but to be fair he did kidnapp her and force her into it.