Editing Chalchiuhtlicue (section)

==Rites and rituals==
Five of the 20 big celebrations in the [[Aztec calendar]] were dedicated to Chalchiutlicue and her husband (or brother) Tlaloc. During these celebrations, priests dove into a lake and imitated the movements and the croaking of frogs, hoping to bring rain.

Chalchiutlicue presides over the day ''5 Serpent'' and the [[trecena]] of ''1 Reed''. Her feast is celebrated in the ventena of ''Etzalqualiztli''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Florentine Codex|last=Sahagun|first=Bernardino de|publisher=University of Utah Press|year=1970|isbn=0874800005|pages=6|quote=And sometimes she sank men in the water; she drowned them. The water was restless: the waves roared; they dashed and resounded.  The water was wild.}}</ref> She is associated with the fertility of both people and land, and the Aztecs asked Chalchiutlicue for a good harvest of crops.

A series of ritualistic ceremonies were performed and dedicated to Chalchiuhtlicue and other childbirth/water deities called Atlcahualo. These ceremonies would last the entire month of February.<ref name="Schwartz, David A." />

===Childbirth===
Chalchiutlicue was the guardian of the children and newborns. When children fell ill, healers called on the goddess as they practiced [[hydromancy]] in order to find the ''[[tonalli]]'' (spirits) of sick children.<ref>Olivier, Guilhem, and Susan Romanosky. "Chalchiuhtlicue." In [[David Carrasco|Davíd Carrasco]] (ed). [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195108156.001.0001/acref-9780195108156 ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures''.] Vol 1. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|9780195188431|}}</ref> She also played a central role in the process of childbirth. Mothers and babies often died in the process of childbirth; the role of the midwife was also of utmost importance in the process.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hernández |first1=Francisco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TKE_J2M6P-8C&dq=Chalchiutlicue+rites&pg=PA68 |title=The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández |last2=Varey |first2=Simon |last3=Chabrán |first3=Rafael |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-3963-4 |language=en}}</ref> During labor, the midwife spoke to the newborn and ask the gods that the baby's birth ensure a prime place among them. After cutting the umbilical cord, the midwife washed the new baby with customary greetings to Chalchiutlicue.<ref name=":3" /> Four days after the birth, the child was given a second bath and a name.

As reported by Sahagún's informants, the midwife said, "The gods [[Ometecutli]] and Omecioatl who realm in the ninth and tenth heavens, have begotten you in this light and brought you into this world full of calamity and pain take then this water, which will protect you life, in the name of the goddess Chalchiutlicue."<ref name=":3" /> She then sprinkled water at the head of the child and said, "Behold this element without whose assistance no mortal being can survive." She also sprinkled water on the breast of the baby while saying, "Receive this celestial water that washes impurity from your heart."  She then went to the head and said, "Son, receive this divine water, which must be drank that all may live that it may wash you and wash away all your misfortunes, part of the life since the beginning of the world: this water in truth has a unique power to oppose misfortune." Finally, the midwife washed the entire body of the baby and said, "In which part of you is unhappiness hidden? Or in which part are you hiding? Leave this child, today, he is born again in the healthful waters in which he has been bathed, as mandated by the will of the god of the sea Chalchiutlicue."<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Florentine Codex: general history of the things of New Spain, Book 6: Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy|last=Sahagún|first=Bernardino de|publisher=School of American Research|year=1970|pages=175}}</ref>