My wonderful friend and former student Atzin Flores shared this info with me because she knew how much I loved Guadalupe, and that I wanted to know the pre-catholic goddesses of mexico.

Hello dear Teacher, 

This is the 1st part of the Tonanzin story at least the one that I like. 

There are some words that maybe need a background so I put it at the end. 

TONANZIN TALLI COATLICUE 

Tonantzin means= our honorable mother, it comes from

To=our 

Nantli=mother

And when the reverential ending is added Tzin= Honorable, Venerable, respectable

TONANTZIN means= OUR HONORABLE MOTHER.

The word TLALLI means =EARTH, 

then TONANTZIN TLALLI means = OUR HONORABLE MOTHER EARTH.

When we add  COATLICUE it means= ITS SNAKE SKIRTS.

The complete conjugation and the complete name is TONANTZIN TLALLI COATLICUE means OUR HONORABLE MOTHER EARTH OF THE SNAKE SKIRTS.

If we see the mountains, the mountain ranges They are like snakes that intertwine, that's why the snake skirts, is a metaphor for ALL NATURE ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, Deserts, jungles, plains, jungles, forests, animals, plants, rivers, lakes, that is, all NATURE the TEOYELIZTLI= THE SACRED CREATION are her serpent skirts of COATLICUE the mother earth.

Before a temple was built on the top of TEPEYAC hill to venerate the Virgin of Guadalupe, TONANTZIN TLALLI COATLICUE was venerated, possibly before the arrival of the MEXICA it was already a sacred place of offering to mother earth.  

The Mexica, however, emphasized their offerings to mother earth.

TEPEYAC comes from -TEPEYACAC- and has two etymological roots, it comes from:

TEPETL= Hill and YACAC=NOSE, which means IN THE NOSE OF THE HILL, THE TOP OF THE HILL.

In the anthropology museum is this beautiful monolith of approximately 24 tons, this beautiful base, this beautiful sculpture, this beautiful work of art, it is an exquisite expression and depth explanation of our mother earth, where she has flabby breasts like a granny's, symbolizing that she has breastfed millions of generations of living beings since time immemorial, she also has two hands that are at the top that symbolize that she is the giver of life and sustenance, the one who dresses us, the one who fits us, and gives us everything with love, but there are also some hands in the lower part that symbolize the moment in which we have to return to it, we all come from the earth and to it  we have to return, that is why it also has a skull in the middle symbolizing the moment of death when we return to our mother earth in a fetal position, we return to the origin, and in this way our mother earth will devour us like a CIPACTLY=CROCODILLE and will open its jaws and devour our bodies, these bodies will also feed worms and insects and all kinds of living beings, that is, in the worldview of our grandparents, death and life are linked to each other, in a perfect balance, a mystique of the balance of duality in this creation, that is why in this beautiful stone it is expressing to us the moment in which the bodies will be reintegrated into the earth, mother earth gives us everything with love, but at some point death will come and reintegrate us into her, integrate our bodies. The nature will reintegrate us into the celestial mechanics of death and life, which is a natural part of this creation.

Let us then honor TONANTZIN TLALLI COATLICUE on the sacred mountain of TEPEYACAC, the one who gives us sustenance, our honorable mother earth.

At the top of the monolith, we can also see two snakes side face, and at the same time they form a snake emerging from the back like a large COATL= SNAKE looking at us from the front, in a beautiful three-dimensional game where the grandparents MEXICA wonderfully represented the duality, OMEYOTL= DUAL CREATION, where death and life, woman and man, night and day, fire and water, are dual symbolisms and an intrinsic part of ANAHUACA thought, where the OME=TWO form CE=ONE , when we say I and YOU, we are putting a separation before, but there is a very beautiful concept that our grandparents used, which is the concept of TO- US, where everything that happens in creation is interconnected, and we are part of the same origin , part of a whole.

She is also known as TEOINAN, which in the sources is known as THE MOTHER OF THE GODS and is said to be the mother of the gods, such as QUETZALCOATL, XIPETOTEC, TEZCATLIPOCA AND HUITZILOPOCHTLI, however we know that they are not gods, our Grandparents spoke that there was the creative couple OMETECUHTLI=THE DUAL LORD and OMECIHUATL=DUAL WOMEN where there was neither outside nor inside, neither above nor below, at a point where these two energies, feminine and masculine, merge, subsequently creating their four children QUETZALCOATL, XIPETOTEC, TEZCATLIPOCA and HUITZILOPOCHTLI, and from them the entire world, the entire universe, would be created.

  These four children of creation also represent the four elements, the four sustainers of the universe, EHCATL=AIR, TLALLI=EARTH, TLETL=FIRE and ATL=WATER, from which all creation emanates, these four guardians, these four generating forces of life but not "GODS", they are also called the four sustainers of the universe, which are outside and inside, in the MACROCOSM and in the MICROCOSM, that is, we are made in the likeness of mother earth, we are earth, we are fire, we are air, we are water, just like mother earth.

TEOINAN comes from TEOTL= ENERGY, SACRED, IMMENSE, CREATION. 

The Possessive I=  HIM OR HER and 

NANTLI=MOTHER

TEOINAN means HER SACRED MOTHER, and they are referring to what is the mother of the four sustainers of the universe, the four elements, because the four elements live in her too, the four guardians, the four life-generating forces , EHECATL- AIR TLALLI-EARTH TLETL-FIRE and ATL-WATER and she is their mother and they are within us, it is also a very profound analogy of our own nature, the nature of the external world, and the nature of the internal world.

 This four elements  also represent the four consciousnesses, INTELLIGENCE for QUETZALCOATL, TRANSFORMATION or RENEWAL for XIPE-TOTEC, CONSCIOUSNESS for TEZCATLIPOCA, and UNBREAKABLE WILLFORCE for HUITZILOPOCHTLI, that is why it is offered to mother earth, TONANTZIN TLALLI COATLICUE, TEOINAN , which is the mother of the elements that are in itself, and which give rise to life, which gives us flowers, which gives us fruits, which gives us water, which gives us sustenance, which gives us  You saw, the one that fits us, that's why places like TEPEYACAC were very important places to offer to our mother earth, our only home.

After the imposition of Western culture on our Anahuaca grandparents, our brothers  The Mexica Dancers  continued to return to that sacred place, to offer to Mother Earth, to this day they continue to do so, and now also in the culture and current of thought MEXICA, we become aware of the importance of that preservation, of that tradition, it is very important to know this story, and why it is that dancing brothers and sisters continue to visit that place, and to know its ancient origin, ancient, of veneration and offering to Mother Earth. 

And remembering a precept of the ANAHUACA grandparents, respect your little mother, respect your little father, respect your little sister, respect your little brother, respect the plants, the animals, and everything that surrounds you, only like this you will find your true face and heart, IN IXTLI IN YOLOTL- FACE AND HEART, so we offer to OUR HONORABLE MOTHER EARTH, ONE OF THE SERPENT SKIRTS- TONANTZIN TLALLI COATLICUE, who flourishes the offering of flowers and songs.

 1. TEPEYAC: It's the place where Virgen of Guadalupe is venerated in Mexico City 

2. ANAHUAC: It is the name of the American continent before the conqueror. 

It means surrounded by water. Other meaning is From Alaska to Nicaragua. 

The other part of the continent it is called Tawantinsuyu or Abya Yala.

And other interesting thing is that our ancestors call the Eagle federation to North America,  Quetzal Federation to central America and Condor Federation to South America.  

3. In ANAHUACA thought they have a lot of metaphors and symbolisms.  They called the "Flowery word" (I don't know if is the correct translation) that means that your words have to be beautiful and in harmony. And most of the traditions and stories have been passed down by word of mouth so they don't have a written document,  but  there are the codices left by the catholic friars, where they wrote down all what the saw at that time. 

4. Aztec are the Mexica ancestors. The story said Aztec people come from Aztlan. Aztlan was a city that was flooded by the rains and the gods promised a new beginning and a new land so they were walking all over the continent looking for the gods sign and they found it in what it's now México City.  

And I would like to share with you 2 interesting facts about Nahuatl language that still alive. 

1. MICHIGAN= This one is because I saw you have a house near the lake here in Michigan 😃.

Michigan means= The place where there are fish. 

Michin= fish 

Ending Can= means place  ( maybe with the arrival of the colonizers the pronunciation changed to "Gan") 

2.  Cocoa= Illness 

So don't say cocoa to your hot chocolate. Well, just if your cocoa is "hershey cocoa" because it is what it is.