Butterfly Totem of 7th Lord of the Day

The staple grain crops in the ancient western world were rice, wheat, barley, etc. In the American hemisphere, the staple grain was a domesticated wild grass called maize, which began to be cultivated some 9,000 years ago in Mesoamerica, roughly around the same era that agriculture arose in the western world. While the western staples were merely practical fuels for civilization, maize did that and more, entering the religious lives of the many civilizations it fed as a deified plant. All its types and growth phases were deified and envisioned as gods and goddesses, a veritable platoon of protectors and nurturers.

This corn-cohort is the subject of my next gallery of Aztec deity images from the codices. Again, I’ve refurbished and repaired most of the deteriorated art for optimum appeal and appreciation of the ancient mythological figures.

Check this gallery out at The Aztec Maize Deities.

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