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'Tlaloc' is the Aztec the god of rain and fertility. He was greatly feared among the Aztecs, who drowned children to appease him. They believed that Tlaloc was responsible for both floods and droughts, and that he had been created by the other gods. He is commonly depicted as a goggle-eyed blue being with fangs.
Human sacrifices were often made in his honor, usually children. Before the victims were sacrificed, their tears were collected in a ceremonial bowl, to serve as an offering. Priests sometimes made children cry before the ritual sacrifice by tearing off their nails.^[1]

Contents

Mythology

Related gods

See also

References

External links

Mythology

Tlaloc was first married to Xochiquetzal, a goddess of flowers, but then Tezcatlipoca kidnapped her. He later married the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue, "She of the Jade Skirt". In Aztec mythic cosmography, Tlaloc ruled the fourth layer of the 'Upper World", or heavens, which is called ''Tlalocan'' ("place of Tlaloc") in several Aztec codices, such as the Vaticanus A and Florentine codices. Described as a place of unending Springtime and a paradise of green plants, Tlalocan was the destination in the afterlife for those who died violently from phenomena associated with water, such as by lightning, drowning and water-borne diseases (Miller and Taube, 1993).

With Chalchiuhtlicue, he was the father of Tecciztecatl. He had an older sister named Huixtocihuatl. He ruled over the third of the five worlds in Aztec belief.
In Salvadoran mythology, he was also the father of Cipitio.

Related gods

Other Mesoamerican people had similar rain gods with slightly different attributes, such as the Maya god Chaac and the Zapotec deity Cocijo. Images of a god looking like the Aztec Tlaloc was in widespread use by the Teotihuacan and Toltec civilizations.

See also

★ piñata

References

1. La flor letal, , Christian, Duverger, Fondo de cultura económica, ,


★ The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, , Mary, Miller, Thames and Hudson, 1993, ISBN 0-500-05068-6

External links

★ Tlaloc image at the Federation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies