bearing the mesmerizingly horrific likeness of the earth goddess Tlaltecuhtli (pronounced tlal-TEK-tli)—the symbol of the Aztec life and death cycle, squatting to give birth while drinking her ...

Hygiene and ritual marked every moment of life for pregnant Aztec women ... that nevertheless “saved the mother from death.” The Aztec believed babies who died during labor traveled to ...

ceremonies and everyday life. But in the forests of central Mexico, a single note from an Aztec whistle didn’t always indicate celebration — it meant death. “Death whistles,” or Aztec ...