Editing Tlaltecuhtli (section)

== Creation narrative ==
According to Alfonso Caso,<ref name="Caso, Alfonso 1978">Caso, Alfonso (fifth printing 1978) The Aztecs: People of the Sun Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|0-8061-0414-7}} pp. 52-56 OCLC 58-11603</ref> there were four earth gods — Tlaltecuhtli, [[Cōātlīcue|Coatlicue]], [[Cihuacoatl]] and [[Tlazolteotl]].

In the Mexica creation story, Tlaltecuhtli is described as a sea monster (sometimes called [[Cipactli]]) who dwelled in the ocean after the fourth [[Deluge (mythology)|Great Flood]]. She was an embodiment of the chaos that raged before creation.<ref name=":0" /> One day, the gods [[Quetzalcoatl]] and [[Tezcatlipoca]] descended from the heavens in the form of serpents and found the monstrous Tlaltecuhtli ([[Cipactli]]) sitting on top of the ocean with giant fangs, crocodile skin, and gnashing teeth calling for flesh to feast on. The two gods decided that the fifth cosmos could not prosper with such a horrible creature roaming the world, and so they set out to destroy her. To attract her, Tezcatlipoca used his foot as bait, and Tlaltecuhtli ate it. In the fight that followed, Tezcatlipoca lost his foot and Tlaltecuhtli lost her lower jaw, taking away her ability to sink below the surface of the water. After a long struggle, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl managed to rip her body in two — from the upper half came the sky, and from the lower came the earth.<ref name=":2" /> She remained alive, however, and demanded human blood as repayment for her sacrifice.

The other gods were angered to hear of Tlaltecuhtli's treatment and decreed that the various parts of her dismembered body would become the features of the new world. Her skin became grasses and small flowers, her hair the trees and herbs, her eyes the springs and wells, her nose the hills and valleys, her shoulders the mountains, and her mouth the caves and rivers.<ref name=":2" />

According to a source, all the deities of the earth are female, except the advocation of Tezcatlipoca, which is [[Tepeyollotl]], 'heart of the hill', and Tlaltecuthli, 'lord earth', which the latter is formed by the center of the body of [[Cipactli]], which is It owes its other name, Tlalticpaque, 'lord of the world'. Tlaltecuhtli meets [[Coatlicue]] as a consort as the devourer, and Coatlicue as the one who gives continuous birth to new beings, men and animals.<ref>{{cite book|author=Adela Fernández|title=Los Dioses Prehispánicos de México|date=1992|publisher=Editorial Panorama|isbn=968-38-0306-7|lang=spanish|page=114}}</ref>