Who is tlaloc

The teeth, often those of a jaguar, look somewhat like flowing streams of water. The physical characteristics of serpents were related to rain in Mesoamerican cultures. Their long, twisting anatomies are similar in shape to lightning, which was believed to split the clouds to release rain. Tlaloc, also worshipped for his association with rain and fertility, is often presented surrounded by four frogs, who mark the cardinal directions.

Sometimes he was thought of as a cloud over a mountain. He owned four great water jugs: one poured forth glorious life-giving rain, while the others produced disease, frosts and drought onto the world. Together they supervised the spirits of Tlaloque, who was in charge of the weather and the mountains.

When it was time to deliver rain to the earth, the spirits of Tlaloque poured it on the earth at the right time in the right place, and when it was necessary to make thunder they clashed their water jugs together.

When the Spanish defeated the Aztec Empire, they immediately began to impose Christianity on the locals. Practicing the Aztec religion was banned and the Inquisition was quickly set up to monitor and curtail any illicit worship. Tlaloc worship proved to be one of the more difficult aspects of Aztec religion to stop; the natives quickly turned back to him when a drought struck in In the town of San Miguel Coatlinchan sometimes just called Coatlinchan a massive statute of Tlaloc was discovered in the late s.

The monolith was identified as Tlaloc in , and locals soon began venerating it as a symbol of the deity. The locals referred to this monolith as Piedra de los Tecomates, named after its gourd-like crevices. The statue was regarded as having prophetic powers: water accumulating in the tecomates indicated forthcoming rain.

Additionally, the accumulated water itself was regarded as having curative powers. In , the ton statue was relocated to Mexico City during the dry season. Incessant rain poured from the sky for days in what some claimed could only be a supernatural event. The temple atop Tlalocan was destroyed, likely by the Spanish Inquisition or their supporters, during the early s. That changed in the 20th century, however, when a research group discovered that a small temple had been rebuilt sometime between and The artist Jesse Hernandez has released several pieces dedicated to Tlaloc.

In he designed a limited edition Dunny a type of collectible vinyl art toy that resembled Tlaloc. A Shrine in Tenochtitlan. A Place in the Aztec Heaven. Ceremonies and Rituals. Mountain Shrines. Tlaloc Images. Nicoletta Maestri. Archaeology Expert. Nicoletta Maestri holds a Ph. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Maestri, Nicoletta. Tlaloc the Aztec God of Rain and Fertility. The Founding of Tenochtitlan and the Origin of the Aztecs. Timeline of Hernan Cortes' Conquest of the Aztecs.

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