Cihuacoatl
The Kind Mother, The Giver
Cihuacoatl is a Teotl of the Calmaxtec peoples who is widely worshipped and revered. She is known as the Kind Mother, and the Giver. She is the spirit of birth, growth, plenty and nurturing. Calmaxtec peasants, mostly in the south among the Chol'ul and Tzetzal peoples, make offerings and prayers to her for good harvests and to protect them and grant them good fortune in the mines. She is represented usually as long haired, strong armed Calmaxtec woman in a long traditional Calmaxtec skirt and an open blouse. In her upraised hands she holds in the left a bundle of corn and in the right a reaping knife.
These imageries and characteristics are very similar to the Eshtem deva Shalyam and in the large cities of Kalmasan syncretic worship of Cihuacoatl and Shalyam is not uncommon among commoners, especially those of mixed heritage, the @tlanelolli, though this practice is equally frowned upon by priests of Cihuacoatl and Shalyam.
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