Tlazolteotl
Tlazolteotl AmericaIn Aztec mythology, the goddess of filth. She was associated with witchcraft and the purification of sin, acting as a go-between for the penitent in respect of the god Tezcatlipoca, ‘the mirror that smokes’. The Aztecs saw Tlazolteotl essentially as the power behind all forms of unclean behaviour: her special terror was sex. In order to preserve the fanaticism of warriors at Tenochtitlan a corps of prostitutes was maintained, recruited from ordinary families in the city. The young girls, devotees of the goddess, were trained and periodically turned loose on the military barracks. After such festivals these black-mouthed instruments of Tlazolteotl were seized upon and ceremonially killed.
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