Tlaloc

Tlaloc (also known as Nuhualpilli ) is in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs and Totonac the name of one of the oldest and most important deities of the pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Its equivalent in the Maya area was Chaac; the territory of the Zapotec ( Monte Alban ) he was called Cocijo.

Representation

Representations of Tlaloc mask in the form are found especially on the outer walls of temple pyramids and codices. Ceramics with his face are rare. He is easily recognized by his angular face shape and by his eyes, which are framed by a kind of square glasses. His mouth is open and often shows a series of elongated teeth (often distinct canines ); sometimes its tongue hanging out. Also in Guatemala (El Baul ) are views similar to find, which may be attributed to the immigrant from the north Pipilen or Aztec influences.

Tlaloc in pre-Aztec cultures

The traces of Tlaloc can possibly be traced back to the Olmecs - whether the voraztekische name Tlaloc was also, however, is unknown. Worship was a deity with a very similar appearance in Teotihuacán, whether they have the same spectrum of activity covering as Tlaloc at the 800- bis 1000 years later Aztec, is unclear.

Tlaloc in Aztec religion

Tlaloc was one of the most important gods of the Aztec gods circle. He is often referred to as a rain deity, was used by the Aztecs but generally associated with all weather phenomena: rain, hail, ice, snow, storms ( hurricanes ), clouds, floods, drought, thunder and lightning. He is also considered the originator of diseases, puerperal fever and the sudden infant death syndrome. People who died by him returned into his own paradise, the Tlalocan was called. Because of this abundance of power, he was both revered and feared. He could bless the fields with rain or punish the people with drought, he could promote campaigns by good weather or storms cause great destruction. Maybe it was the " weather sensitivity " of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan - the situation in a lagoon of Lake Texcoco, and due to the dependence of the metropolis of agriculture on the surrounding chinampas - there special devotion given by equal his temple next that of the main Aztec god Huitzilopochtli on the great temple pyramid, the Templo Mayor, built.

Victim

Like most Aztec deities also called Tlaloc human sacrifice, which one was offering him, in various forms, usually either clouded mountain tops or by drowning in water. As a victim children were offered preferred. Cried this at sacrifice, this was considered a good omen, as the tears symbolized the rain. In spring, the Aztecs held two large sacrificial feasts ( Atlcahualo and Tozoztontli ) in honor of Tlaloc, in which she implored sufficient rain.

Family

Among the Aztecs, Tlaloc had an older sister named Huixtocihuatl. He was married in first marriage with Xochiquetzal ( ' spring flowers '), which, however, was abducted by Tezcatlipoca. Later Chalchiuhtlicue Tlaloc 's wife, the goddess of water; with her he had a son named Tecciztecatl.

Tlalocan

Tlaloc was the ruler of the 4th Heaven. The Aztecs described it as a paradise of eternal spring, abundance and joy. You imagined that warriors drowned or sacrificed in his honor awaited an eternal life here. A wonderful mural of the ' Paradise of Tlaloc ' found in Teotihuacán; a copy can be seen in the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City.

Pictures

Tlaloc - Collection of E. Eugène Goupil (17th century)