Mayauel

Mayauel is in Aztec mythology, the goddess of pulque, the intoxicating drink made from the fermented sap of the agave, and hallucinogens. She is not to be confused with Mayahuel, the wife of Ehecatl. Mayauel was the wife of a farmer. One day she chased a mouse away from the maguey (agave) plantation. She found that the mouse had eaten the heart from one of the plants and had drunk its juice. As a result the mouse swayed unsteadily and was in fact drunk. Mayauel and her husband put some of the juice from the plant in a gourd and left it while they went to work in the fields. When they returned, they took a drink. They soon swayed unsteadily and became drunk. The gods, not wanting to miss out on such a discovery, took the spirit of Mayauel and made her into a goddess. In some accounts the pulque god is called Ometochtli (two rabbits). He was killed by Texcatlipoca, the Aztec creator-trickster god.

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Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow– Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante

Mayauel is the Nahua/Aztec goddess of intoxicants and of childbirth. In one story, Mayauel was a mortal woman who saw a mouse dancing with joy and abandon. It appeared as if the mouse was not the least bit afraid of her. Mayauel noticed that the mouse had been gnawing on a maguey plant and decided to collect some of the plant’s sap to take home. When she made the sap into a beverage, Mayauel found that it had an intoxicating effect on her, as it had on the mouse.

The gods were so pleased at Mayauel’s discovery that they made her a goddess. Another myth tells how love and the maguey plant were brought to humankind. The young girl Mayahuel was guarded in the land of the gods by Tzitzimitl, an old woman goddess. The wind god Ehecatl, an aspect of the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, fell in love with Mayauel, and the two escaped to Earth while Tzitzimitl slept. So great was their love that they became one and grew into the Precious Tree, each with its own strong branch.

Angered that she had been tricked, Tzitzimitl came to Earth and broke Mayauel’s branch from the tree. Tzitzimitl’s followers, the Tzitzimime, ate the pieces of the branch. When they left, Ehecatl reappeared as the wind god, and as he grieved, he buried what was left of Mayauel. Those pieces immediately grew into the maguey plant.

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SOURCE:

South and Meso-American Mythology A to Z – by Ann Bingham (Author) and Jeremy Roberts (Author)

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