History Thesis Assignment

Artist: Aztec stone sculpture

Title: Maize Deity (Chicomecoatl)

Date: 1500s

Retrieved from

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi46oeVueHrAhUu4YUKHeCkC8QQFjAAegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metmuseum.org%2Fart%2Fcollection%2Fsearch%2F307644&usg=AOvVaw2kY8RjOPBXoAwAx3rG9KQs

Comment: this primary visual source is about native Americans. This image is a Maize (corn) statue, which was the staple food among the Mesoamericans. It represented seven serpents and believed in providing support and nourishment to the people.  It was important for religious beliefs for the different deities such that every aspect of the corn represented a deity; for instance, the fresh and tender corn known as Xilonen among the Aztecs represented a virginal goddess. It served as the house idol for the community.

 During celebrations, the women would impersonate this goddess, and they would wear the headdresses and stand barefoot. This one particular was for the agricultural and fertility of the land. The corn was decorated with several headdresses as costumes for agricultural celebrations among the natives of America. The sculpture also had an economic relevance concerning their belief since women spent most hours in a day grinding the corn on stone boards using their hands.

Maize corn to date is still of great importance both for food and spiritual purposes. Most artwork for native Americans has corn features. Also, the comparison of women with the corn empowered women to the extent of leading and recognition of corn as a source of substance. In the fifteenth and sixteen centuries for the powerful and great people, it is believed that it is the power and favor of this goddess. Among the native Americans the ruling communities, specifically the Aztec, greatly believed in this, and it was hard to do away with the myth. Therefore, it evident that in that era, this sculpture among the Americans had a social and economic role.