Coyolxauhqui: Aztec Goddess of the Moon

            This week, I will be talking about the moon goddess, Coyolxauhqui.  I know, I know, the name's hard to pronounce, but you get used to it.  Anyway, she is the goddess of the moon, and is the leader of the Centzon Huitznahuas.  The  Centzon Huitznahuas are the gods of the southern stars.  Plus, some scholars believe that she was the goddess of the Milky Way galaxy.
            She is not known in many myths, in fact, she is only known for how she became the goddess of the moon.  In this myth, she had a big fight with her mom, Coatlicue.  Like most mom and daughter fights, it was about pregnancy.  Though, it wasn't Coyoxauhqui's, it was Coatlicue's.  Coatlique became pregnant when a ball of hummingbird feathers fell on her chest while sleeping.  Coyoxauhqui and her other 400 brothers were ashamed of the weird pregancy and planned to kill her.  Huitzilopochtli, god of of the sun and war, sprang out of Coatlique's womb and killed Coyoxauhqui and many of her brothers.  The remaining brothers ran away and are known as the stars we see in the sky.  Huitzilopochtli cut off Cooyoxauhqui's limbs and threw her head into the sky, where it became the moon.

Symbols: bells on her cheeks, severed head
Parents: Coatlicue and Mixcoatl
Sacrifice: cut off heads, cut out hearts, and throw body down the temple of Coyoxauhqui
Name Meaning: woman with copper bells on her cheeks