Mazacoatl

Richard Haly rhaly at ix.netcom.com
Mon Nov 15 17:40:39 UTC 1999


>> Among speakers of the Zacapoaxtla dialect of general Aztec, a mazacoat
> was a non venomous snake (a constrictor) that grew to be quite large.

Also, down the road from Xochitlan c. Cuetzalan the mazacoat is as Jim says
a large constrictor considered a good thing to have in one's milpa (as it
eats pests) to the degree that if one is generally fortunate in a harvest
one says to indicate this "quipia mazacoatl" [he/she has a mazacoat]
indicating that the harvest was good. This sort of thing ties it into ideas
about tonalli which also are animals and weather phenomena and have equally
to do with the quality of one's harvest.

In Sierra Norte de Puebla (and elsewhere!!!) cosmology has two snakes
crossing over the sky. One bearing Venus, the other the sun. They are called
Nezalcoat (probably Quetzalcoatl) and Mazacoat.

As far as its oubourotic viagratic erotic powers, I've no clue.

Richard Haly



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