Jaguar Nights Mayan Aztec Calendar book series
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THE AZTEC MOON STONE

In 1978, electrical workers in Mexico City uncovered a sculpture depicting a dismembered woman wound about with snakes. The 8-ton disk, carved from volcanic rock, was 1-foot thick, and 7.5 by 6.6 feet across, and located at the base of the Templo Mayor pyramid, near where archaeologists later determined sacrificed people were dismembered.

The carving is a representation of the moon, specifically the moon goddess Coyolxauhqui, although the story of how she got there is about the birth of the war god Huitzilopochtli.

The earth goddess Coatlicue, wife of Mixcoatl (Hunter god) became pregnant when some hummingbird feathers fell upon her in a temple. Her 400 children were embarrassed by their mother’s odd pregnancy, especially since the child wasn’t their father’s, and they attacked her. The baby, war god Huitzilopochtli, emerged in full armor and slew all his mother's other children, including the oldest, daughter Coyolxauhqui ("Face Painted with Bells"), who had led the rebellion. Huitzilopochtli dismembered his disloyal sister and threw her into the sky, where she became the moon, and their mother could see her every night.

The original stone is at the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City, and a full-sized replica is in Chankanaab Park on Cozumel island.