In an agricultural world founded on maize, rain was the difference between plenty and hunger. It is no surprise that throughout Mesoamerica the deities of rain and lightning were among the oldest and most revered. The two best-known figures are Tlaloc, the rain god of the Aztecs and of Teotihuacan before them, and Chaac, his counterpart in the Maya world.
Tlaloc: the face of the storm
Tlaloc is recognisable at first glance. In sculptures and codices he has large ringed eyes, like goggles, a kind of curled moustache above the mouth and long fangs. The colour that accompanies him is the blue of water and sky. He often holds a zigzag staff representing lightning.
A storm god with similar features was already worshipped at Teotihuacan, the great city of central Mexico that flourished centuries before the Aztecs. The Mexica inherited this cult and placed it at the centre of their capital.
The twin temple of Tenochtitlan
The Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan was a twin temple: two shrines stood side by side on its summit. One was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, god of the sun and war; the other to Tlaloc. The pair expressed the two foundations of Mexica power: war, which brought tribute, and agriculture, which depended on rain.
Archaeological excavations at the Templo Mayor have yielded hundreds of buried offerings, many linked to water: shells, corals, fish, frogs, vessels bearing Tlaloc's face. Some offerings also contained the remains of children, whom colonial sources describe as sacrificed to Tlaloc in the dry months: for the Aztecs their tears announced the rain. It is a harsh aspect of that religion, which the historian must acknowledge without sensationalism.
The Tlaloque and Tlalocan
Tlaloc did not act alone. He was accompanied by small helpers, the tlaloque, who lived on mountain peaks and guarded great jars of water. When they broke them with their staffs, thunder and rain were born. Mountains were therefore considered containers of water, and on the summit of Mount Tlaloc, east of the Valley of Mexico, there is an ancient shrine where people climbed to make offerings.
Tlalocan was the god's paradise: an eternally green and fertile garden, intended for those who died from water-related causes, such as drowning or lightning.
Chaac: the axe and the lightning
In the Maya world the rain god is Chaac. In images he has a long curved nose, often described as a trunk, and holds an axe, symbol of the lightning with which he splits the clouds to make the water fall. Like the tlaloque, Chaac is often conceived as fourfold: four Chaacs rule the four cardinal directions.
At sites in the Puuc region of Yucatán, the facades of many buildings are covered with stone masks with curled noses attributed to Chaac. The most spectacular example is the palace known as the Codz Poop at Kabah, whose facade is entirely composed of hundreds of these masks. In a region without surface rivers, where water is found only in cenotes and cisterns, the insistence on this god speaks volumes.
The sacred cenote
At Chichen Itza the great Sacred Cenote, a deep natural well, was a destination for pilgrimages and offerings. Dredging carried out from the early twentieth century onwards brought to light objects of jade, gold, copal, textiles and human remains. The cenote was conceived as an opening onto the world of underground waters and the rain deities.
A ceremony still alive
The cult of Chaac did not vanish with the conquest. In many Maya villages of Yucatán the Ch'a Chaak, "taking the rain", is still celebrated, a ceremony to call the water before sowing or in times of drought. It is led by a j-men, the traditional ritual specialist. The elements described by ethnographers include:
- a wooden altar built in the forest or at the edge of the field;
- offerings of food and drinks prepared with maize;
- children tied to the legs of the altar who croak like frogs, heralds of rain;
- prayers in Maya that bring together the Chaacs, Catholic saints and the spirits of the place.
It is a clear example of how Native traditions were able to absorb Christianity without losing their core.
The symbolic meaning
Tlaloc and Chaac remind us that for agricultural cultures the sky was not an abstract space, but a partner with whom a pact of reciprocity had to be maintained. For Studio Esoterico Cornelio, these figures illustrate well the bond between ritual, landscape and the survival of the community.
In short
- Tlaloc, rain god of central Mexico, has ringed eyes and fangs and was already worshipped at Teotihuacan.
- The Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan was shared between Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli.
- The tlaloque guarded water on the mountains; Tlalocan was Tlaloc's green paradise.
- Chaac, the Maya rain god, wields a lightning axe and dominates the facades of the Puuc region.
- The Ch'a Chaak ceremony is still celebrated today in the Maya villages of Yucatán.
