Which Aztec goddess is known as 'Our Lady of the Serpent Skirt'?

Which Aztec goddess is known as “Our Lady of the Serpent Skirt”? Coatlicue is the answer.

Her Nahuatl name is usually translated as “She of the Serpent Skirt,” referring to the snakes that form her skirt. Coatlicue was a major earth and mother goddess, associated with fertility, childbirth, life, death, and the generative as well as destructive powers of the earth.

In a famous myth, Coatlicue became pregnant after a ball of feathers fell onto her and was mysteriously absorbed. Her children, including Coyolxauhqui and the Centzon Huitznahua, were outraged by the pregnancy. Huitzilopochtli then emerged fully armed and defeated them, a story linked to the sacred landscape and rituals of the Templo Mayor.

The monumental Coatlicue statue discovered in Mexico City is one of the best-known works of Mexica sculpture. Its composite imagery—serpents, claws, skulls, and pendulous breasts—can seem frightening, but it expresses the goddess’s role as both nurturing mother and powerful earth deity. Tonantzin is a related maternal title, not the specific name asked for here.