Aztec people believed that death in war or childbirth led to a glorious afterlife. During childbirth, women became warriors. If they died, their spirits became cihuateteo with other deceased mothers. Cihuateteo lived in a land to the west and guided the sunset.

Cihuateteo were glorified but fearsome. They descended to earth on specific days of the year to haunt the crossroads and to snatch children.

This stone cihuateotl may have been placed in a shrine in Tenochtitlan along with four similar sculptures, now housed in Mexico City. The cihuateotl has a skull face and holds up fearsome claws. Her hair curls wildly. On her back, an artist has inscribed glyphs for “Ce Calli,” “One House,” a day on the Aztec calendar. Every year on this day, the woman haunts earth.

Some scholars speculate that cihuateteo are the basis of the colonial and contemporary mythical figure La Llorona.

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