Long before spaniards began settling in latin america in the sixteenth century, aztec religion offered a highly developed conception of a female deity called tonantzin, the supreme earth mother. Tonantzin, a highly esteemed figure in aztec mythology, is frequently associated with the archetype of the mother goddess. The name tonantzin originates from the nahuatl language, where to-.

On the following day men struck women with bags of green paper (it is unclear if the bags were made of green paper and filled with. Tonantzin was a title for the maternal aspect of any aztec goddess, not the name of a particular goddess. When it was used as a title for mary, the maternal aspect of the aztec goddess could be.