Malinalxochitl

Malinalxochitl was the daughter of the goddess Coatlicue and Cozcaquauh, the king of Cohuatlicán. Sister of the demigod Mexi.

Malinalxochitl was considered a divinity related to poisonous vermin, snakes and other creatures of the desert

His scorpions, snakes, ravens and spiders were considered his messengers.

Malinalco today.

The snake represents Malinalxóchitl and the eagle to Mexi, both perched on the inert body of Copil on which a cactus has grown. Symbol of Huitzilopochtli's victory over evil.

Malinalxochitl, is within the Nahua mythology an evil sorceress daughter of Coatlicue and Cozcaquauh.

Etymology

The name of Malinalxochitl, is made up of the Nahuatl terms of malinalli (vine, liana, coal sap) and xóchitl (flower). So its meaning is "Flower of the coal sapote".

Mythology

Birth

Also known as 'Matlalatl.' Malinalxochitl was next to Mexi, one of the two sons who gave birth to the goddess Coatlicue with Cozcaquauh, king of Cohuatlicán. From small showed great gifts for black magic and especially an excellent control over the vermin of the desert and the poisonous beings.

Pilgrimage

As adults, his brother 'Mexi' would incite the Mexica people from the Aztlán kingdom to seek, as other Nahua peoples had done previously, a land and their own homeland, since in this they felt oppressed. His older sister Malinalxóchitl would go with them along with his entourage of virgins.

On the way the leader Mexi would receive the constant complaints and reproaches of the Mexica people for the attacks and torments committed by his sister, so his brother would take the decision to leave while sleeping, and by dawn and saw the joke that had made , determined to stay and found a new town, Malinalco.

It is said that here the local king Chimalcuauhtli would embarrass him and later give birth to Copil. She would later settle with her group in Texcaltepec. Orozco y Berra sees in this abandonment the separation of women from the exercise of the cult, previously received, and whose custom counted on supporters in the tribe.

Revenge of Malinalxochitl

Once grown up, 'Copil' pretended to avenge his mother for the shame and shame his uncle had caused him Mexi So he went to every nearby town with false rumors about those people who came from Aztlán and with this relationship many allies were outraged against the Mexicas, for which they determined to attack them, so the Texcaltepecas and the Malinalcas said, I quote:

"At night we will kill the Mexica, because they are very hard-working people!"

One night having already established Copil his attempt climbing to a peñol that is next to the lake of Texcoco, where hot springs are, Tepetzinco, being there Copil watching the event of his revenge and pretension, Mexi, very angry about it, called to his priests and said that they all went to that penitentiary, where they would find the traitor of Copil, placed as sentinel of his destruction, and that they would kill him and bring his heart, so that warrior Cuauhletquetzqui, "the loader of the god" , the one who leads the Aztec pilgrimage, put it to work and finding him careless he killed him and took out his heart, and presenting him thus until his Lord Mexi, who immediately sent the giant Tenoch, "the fire-giving one", to enter to the lagoon, and sowed it among the tulares, among the cane fields that were there.

It is unknown what happened with Malinalxóchitl after the death of his son Copil. But due to the later symbolism it is possible that he committed suicide or died in an unknown way, although it is most likely that his death has been of pity for the death of his offspring.