Tlaltecuhtli, was one of the most important gods of the Mexica pantheon. When the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca first tried to create a world, at the beginning of time, the monster Tlaltecuhtli ruined their creation. Understandably, they were unhappy with this, and so they transformed themselves into snakes, wrapped themself around her, and ripped her body apart.
They took one half of her back to heaven, and this half became the sky. Other gods descended down from heaven, to comfort Tlaltecuhtli. Using the remaining pieces of her body they created the earth: Her hair was used to make the trees and flowers and grasses, and her eyes to make the wells and fountains and little caverns. Her nose became valleys and mountains, and her shoulders became mountains, too.
So the body of Tlaltecuhtli became the ground upon which humans live, and where they could sow and reap their food. But Tlaltecuhtli was sad (remember, she had been ripped apart) and couldn’t stop crying. She craved the hearts of humans. And in order to bear fruit, she demanded that the ground be sprinkled with human blood.
In addition to this demand for sacrifice, Tlaltecuhtli ate the sun every night, only to give it back every morning. This also made the humans nervous, especially when that eating seemed to be out of sequence (during a solar eclipse, for instance) and so they sacrificed more humans to her. It was a whole thing, with her.
Not necessarily created for humans to see, the image of Tlaltecuhtli is often carved at the bottom of other objects (sculptures, for instance). This way it makes contact with earth, which is meaningful, because she is the earth.
Sources:
- Miller, Mary E, and Karl Taube. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993.