Rain and the Aztecs

Hey my community, at the beginning of my new post I would like to welcome you all and hope you have a great start to the new weekend! In this post, I would like to talk a little about mythology and hope you are able to expand your knowledge.

Here are some pictures of leaves on which raindrops have accumulated and with this plant this effect is also called lotus effect and describes a kind of self-cleaning mechanism of nature and I would like to use these pictures to go into the meaning of rain in the Aztecs. The Aztecs are one of the cultures in which rain gods had a particularly strong importance and as a messenger of fertility, the god Tlaloc in particular appears in this context, around whom a great cult has emerged. Tlaloc was generally one of the most important gods of the Aztecs and the population had great respect for him and there was often severe drought in some areas and during other seasons the rain took over and there were extreme rainfalls that even sometimes became a danger to agriculture and the Aztecs considered this a sign of his anger. In his honor, sacrifices were often made and when there were rains during the dry periods, people thought that it would be the tears of the sacrificed and as a sign of honor, different places of worship were built for Tlaloc. He was also associated with other weather disasters and also had the ability to cause diseases and especially in the spring at the beginning of the growth season, festivals were celebrated and sacrifices were made in his honor. According to traditions, the people who were sacrificed for him came to the paradise Tlalocan which was named after him and he was typically portrayed as an angry deity and from the representation he was usually presented with an abstract mask and with the Maya he is also equated with the god Chaac.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about mythology! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.