"[6] She was also known as Chalchiuhtlatonac (chalchihu[itl]-tla-tona-c) "She who shines like jade" and Matlalcueye "Possessor of the Blue Skirt" by the Tlaxcalans, an indigenous group who inhabited the republic of Tlaxcala.

[12] She built a bridge linking heaven and earth and those who were in Chalchiuhtlicue's good graces were allowed to traverse it, while others were turned into fish.

[8] Chalchiuhtlicue was often depicted as "a river, out of which grew a prickly pear cactus laden with fruit, which symbolized the human heart."

She was believed to be the personification of youth, beauty, and zeal, although she should not be confused with Tlazolteotl (also known as Ixucuina or Tlaelquani), who was the Aztec goddess of midwives, steam baths, purification, sin, and was the patroness of adulterers.

In the mid-19th century, archaeologists unearthed a 20-ton monolithic sculpture depicting a water goddess that is believed to be Chalchiuhtlicue from underneath The Pyramid of the Moon.

The sculpture was relocated by Leopoldo Batres to Mexico City in 1889, where it is presently in the collection of the Museo Nacional de Antropología.

[14] Chalchihuitlicue wears a distinctive headdress, which consists of several broad, likely cotton bands trimmed with amaranth seeds.

[16] In the Codex Borgia (page 65), Chalchihuitlicue sits on a red throne and a river flows outwards from behind her body.

During these celebrations, priests dove into a lake and imitated the movements and the croaking of frogs, hoping to bring rain.

[13] She is associated with the fertility of both people and land, and the Aztecs asked Chalchiutlicue for a good harvest of crops.

[19] During labor, the midwife spoke to the newborn and ask the gods that the baby's birth ensure a prime place among them.

As reported by Sahagún's informants, the midwife said, "The gods Ometecutli and Omecioatl who realm in the ninth and tenth heavens, have begotten you in this light and brought you into this world full of calamity and pain take then this water, which will protect you life, in the name of the goddess Chalchiutlicue.

Leave this child, today, he is born again in the healthful waters in which he has been bathed, as mandated by the will of the god of the sea Chalchiutlicue.