Tlaloc

Tlaloc was the Aztec name for an ancient god of rain, earth, and weather phenomena who provided for the AzTECS’ agricultural prosperity.

Tlaloc, although one of the most prominent members of the Aztec pantheon, was a deity who appeared in nearly

All the major belief systems of Mesoamerica. He was worshipped, often under different names, by the OLMECS, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Maya, and at Teotihuacan, where the number of depictions of this god indicate that he may have been that city’s principal deity. The Aztecs dedicated one of the twin temples atop the great pyramid in Tenochtitlan to him as well as a special mountain temple just outside the city. Religious continuity or commonality should not, however, imply that beliefs were identical. Aztecs as well as other peoples in the region often altered the nature of foreign gods to suit their own purposes. For example, in Teotihuacan, Tlaloc seems to have been a militaristic state god, akin to the Aztec HuiTZiLOPOCHTLi. By contrast, in the Aztec pantheon he became a peaceful, if capricious, god of rain who could, if he wished, provide for his worshipers’ agricultural prosperity, while his older functions as a martial deity were taken over by Huitzilopochtli and his political aspects by TEZCATLIPOCA.

For the Aztecs Tlaloc was the god of rain and lightning, whose main purpose was to send enough moisture to nourish the maize crop. Aztecs knew him as “the provider,” but he could be generous or miserly. Together with his consort, Chalchiuhtlicue, he ruled over the tlaloque, the various spirits of mountains and weather phenomena.

Further reading: Cecelia F. Klein, “Who Was Tlaloc?’ Journal of Latin American Lore 6 (1980), 155-204; Mary Miller and Karl Taube, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion (London: Thames & Hudson, 1993); Michael E. Smith, The Aztecs (Oxford, U. K.: Blackwell, 1996).

—Marie A. Kelleher