Aztec mythology; Indian mythology -- Mexico; Mexico -- Religion
Those of the Tlaloquê, or gods of rain, whose names are known were:
Tlaloc, the father of all, Chalchihuitlicue, his wife and sister,
Nappatecutli, god of the mat-makers, who used aquatic reeds in their
work, Atlaua, “Lord of the Beaches” or lake shores, Uixtociuatl,
goddess of salt, and Opochtli, god of fishers and fowlers, and inventor
of the net.
Concerning the Tlaloquê Sahagun remarks: “The Mexicans take for gods
all those high mountains from which the rain comes in the rainy season,
and for each of these they imagine an idol.... They also believe that
certain maladies proceeding from cold have their origin in the
mountains and that these gods have the power to visit them upon them.
Those who were attacked by such complaints made a vow to this or that
mountain, whichever chanced to be in the neighbourhood, or that for
which they entertained the most devotion. A similar vow was made by
persons on the point of being drowned in the rivers or in the sea. The
maladies for which they made these vows were gout in the hands, feet,
or any other part of the body, impotence in any member, or in the
entire body, rheumatism, the contraction of the members or cramp. Those
who were visited with these maladies made a vow to raise a statue to
the following gods: to the idols of the volcano called Popocatepetl in
the Sierra Nevada, to a mountain named Poyauhtecatl, or any other to
which the feeling of devotion inclined them. When they proposed to
offer up to the mountain or gods, they made an image in human form, a
mass called tzoalli.” [251] These the people did not make themselves,
but called in the offices of those priests skilled in the making of
idols, who moulded them out of the paste and gave them teeth of
calabash pips and eyes of haricot beans. The rest of the process of
manufacture is as described in the account of the festival of the
atemoztli (see Tlaloc). These small figures were known as tepictoton,
and, like the sacrificial victims to the rain-gods, their hair was
dressed in two horns or whorls.
TLALOC = “HE WHO MAKES THINGS SPROUT”
Area of Worship: Plateau of Anahuac.
Minor Names: Chicunaui Ocelotl = “Nine Jaguar” (or ocelot).
Calendar Place: Ruler of the seventh day-count, mazatl (deer), and
of the seventh tonalamatl division, ce quiautl (one rain).
Compass Direction: The four quarters in his several aspects.
Festivals: Atlacahualco, tozoztontli, etzalqualiztli, tepeilhuitl,
atemoztli.
Symbols: His head, with serpentine motif and tusks; the day-sign
nine ocelot.
Relationship: Husband (1) of Xochiquetzal; (2) of Matlalcuêyê or
Chalchiuhtlicue. Father or brother of the Tlaloquê.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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