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Both are grain deities whose blessing ensures agricultural abundance
Mesoamerican Pantheon
tradition
Greek Pantheon
maize, agriculture, sustenance, fertility
domains
agriculture, harvest, fertility, sacred law
maize ears, young maize plant, jade
symbols
wheat, torch, cornucopia, poppies
Centéotl, Maize Lord
also called
Ceres
Both are gods of agriculture, fertility.
Centeotl alone
maize, sustenance
Demeter alone
harvest, sacred law
Centeotl
Cult sites: Maize as the body of the god.
Festivals: Huey Tozoztli and related maize months.
The corn lord. The cult is the cob, the planting, and the hungry months. Flaying and maize sit too close in Mexica religion to separate politely.
Demeter
Cult sites: Telesterion at Eleusis, Thesmophorion sanctuaries in many cities.
Festivals: Eleusinian Mysteries, Thesmophoria, Haloa.
Grain and the mother's grief. Eleusis promised a better lot after death to initiates who could keep silence. The Thesmophoria was a women's festival of piglets and decayed offerings. Sicily claimed her as strongly as Attica.
Mesoamerican Pantheon
The Aztec god of maize and sustenance. Centeotl represents the sacred maize plant that sustained Mesoamerican civilization.
When Centeotl was born, the gods placed him in the earth. From his divine body grew all the plants that sustain humanity.
Centeotl ('Maize Deity') was among the most important Aztec gods, as maize was the foundation of all life. Without his blessing, the people would starve.
Read the full Centeotl entryGreek Pantheon
Goddess of agriculture, harvest, and fertility. Mother of Persephone, whose abduction by Hades explains the seasons.
Demeter acts as the provider of food and the protector of marriage. She presides over the cycle of life and death through the harvest.
Read the full Demeter entry