Tzitzimimeh

Accounts vary, but in Aztec mythic cosmology Tzitzimimeh are star-associated female supernatural beings integrated with networks of female divine figures. Some sources relate them to fertility deities and to figures connected with childbirth and midwifery. In at least one narrative context they are set in opposition to solar forces: a warrior deity (Huitzilopochtli) is described as agreeing to battle the Tzitzimimeh continually to drive back the stars each dawn and restore the light.

They are typically described in the sources as skeletal female figures, often wearing skirts and bearing skull imagery (skull-and-crossbones motifs appear in descriptions). While modern popular retellings sometimes elaborate or fictionalize their form, primary descriptions emphasize a skeletal feminine iconography associated with death imagery.

Sources attribute to the Tzitzimimeh a double, ambivalent role: they are described as protectresses of the feminine and as progenitresses linked to fertility, while also being powerful and dangerous during periods of cosmic instability. They are associated with the stars and nocturnal/celestial forces and are feared during liminal calendar periods (Nemontemi, New Fire), and in mythic narrative can act as antagonists to solar deities.