MaizeAmaranthThe first fruitsCopal incenseWaterPulqueFlowers
Invocation Approach
Tone
The grain that feeds
Address
CinteotlCenteotlLord of Maize
Relationship
The maize itself standing up in the field
Warning
He is eaten by the people who keep him
Resonance
Growers cooks those who feed others
Symbols
Maize earMaize foliageFace stripeThe seedThe cob
Mythology Summary
Cinteotl, also Centeotl, Lord of Maize, is the maize deity of the Aztecs, the dried ear still on the cob, the young maize standing in the field. The Florentine Codex makes him the son of Tlazolteotl and Piltzintecuhtli, born on the day sign 1 Flower, and the Codex Borbonicus shows Tlazolteotl giving birth to him; another tradition makes him the son of Xochiquetzal, and many specialists hold that he and Chicomecoatl, the ripe maize, are two faces of one complex. He is the fourth Lord of the Night and the lord of days numbered seven, and the maize is associated with the Pleiades.
Modern Practice
Cinteotl is worked at sowing and harvest, in the kitchen, and wherever food is the whole of the question. The entry keeps the agricultural round primary and treats the maize as a person who is fed and who is eaten, not as a symbol.