Polychromed ceramic vessel from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan depicting Tlaloc, the rain god. Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico.
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Image courtesy of the Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico.
Tlaloc
Tlaloc was an important deity of rain and fertility in the Aztec mythology. Aztec people were living in Mexico during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Tlaloc was depicted as a man wearing a net of
clouds, a crown of heron feathers, foam sandals and
carrying rattles to make thunder. He ruled a paradise, called Tlalocan, intended for those who have drowned.
Children with special day names were sacrificed to the rain god Tlaloc in the first month of the Aztec year that corresponds to the period between February 12 to March 4. The children were led by the priests to the top of certain mountains that circle the valley of Mexico City and there sacrificed to Tlaloc. The tears of the mothers were said to be a prediction of the coming rain.
Tlaloc brought on great wrath upon the Aztec people. He often used his lightning bolts to make the people sick. It is said that he had four different jugs of water in his possession. When he emptied the first one, it brought life to plants. The second would cause blight, the third brought on frost, and the fourth would bring total destruction.
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