Tlāloc

How to recognise Tlāloc

1. Goggle eyesLook for two thick, ringed eyes, his most reliable sign; on the Templo Mayor vessel the eyes and nose are formed of snakes, and codices sometimes add a starry eye inside the ring.
2. Fangs and curled lipLong curved fangs, with a forked tongue and an upper lip that curls like a moustache and ends in volutes.
3. Blue colourHis face and body are usually blue, a colour of preciousness, water and vegetation, though a few Codex Borgia and Telleriano-Remensis images show a dark or black face.
4. Heron-feather headdressA mask-like face crowned with white heron feathers, as worn by those who impersonated him.
5. Water jar, maize and lightningHe usually holds a ritual water jar, a maize stalk, or a lightning wand or serpent, standing for rain, harvest and storm; a figure with none of these is not clearly him.
6. Face vesselsBlue jars bearing his face were offered at the Templo Mayor to hold water and stand for fertility; myth gives him four jars, one of life-giving rain and the others of drought, disease and frost.
7. Tlāloque and ChalchiuhtlicueSmaller companions may appear: the Tlāloque, miniature versions of him, and his consort Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of rivers and lakes, with two black cheek stripes and water streaming from her skirt.

Names and titles

• He Who Makes Things SproutThe usual reading of his Nahuatl name; the rain that feeds the maize
• Keeper of the Water JarsMyth gives him jars of rain and other weather; thunder was the sound of the Tlāloque breaking them
• Lord of the Mountain AbodeHe lived in mountains and caves, and his shrine on the Templo Mayor was called the mountain abode
• Lord of TlālōcanRuler of the lush paradise where those who died by water or lightning went

Feast days

• Atlcahualo12 February, every year

  First of the eighteen twenty-day months of the Mexica year, given to the Tlāloque, the attendants of the rain god Tlāloc. Its name is usually rendered 'ceasing of water', and its rites sought the return of the rains.

  How it's celebrated. Known from sixteenth-century chronicles, not from a continuous living rite. They record tall poles hung with paper banners spotted with liquid rubber, four days of fasting, maize cakes and dances. They also record offerings of children at seven sacred places around the Valley of Mexico, mostly mountain shrines, which participants understood as gifts to the rain gods. Details differ between sources.

  Sources: Nahuatl Dictionary / Wired Humanities: Tlaloque · Trace: La fiesta de Atlcahualo y el paisaje ritual de la cuenca de México · Graulich's summary of the veintenas (Las fiestas de las veintenas)

• Tozoztontli24 March, every year

  Third Mexica twenty-day month, the 'little vigil', marking the turn from the dry season toward the rains. Sources link it to Tlāloc and the Tlāloque, the maize deities and Earth.

  How it's celebrated. Contemporary Nahua-revival calendars describe preparing the fields and raising small stone piles hung with paper flags. They describe offerings of flowers, food, copal smoke and conch-shell sound, with prayers to Tlāloc and the Tlāloque, who are said to be waking. Cooked snakes are offered to Coatlicue, the Earth. Historical sources place the great pilgrimage to Mount Tlāloc in the next veintena, Huey Tozoztli.

  Sources: Wikipedia: Tozoztontli · Calendario Mexica: Tozoztontli · MAVCOR Journal: The Ritual Ascent at Mount Tlaloc, Mexico

• Etzalcualiztli9 June, every year

  Sixth Mexica twenty-day month, honouring Tlāloc, Chalchiuhtlicue and the Tlāloque. Its name means 'eating of etzalli', a stew of maize and beans, and the rites thanked the rain gods and asked for their help in the months ahead.

  How it's celebrated. Chroniclers record dancing with ears of maize and pots of etzalli, and fasting and penance by Tlāloc's priests. By some accounts, two impersonators of Tlāloc and Chalchiuhtlicue lived together for twenty days before being offered at midnight. Young men danced with poles topped with birds, though the meaning is uncertain. This is historical record, not a continuing rite.

  Sources: Arqueología Mexicana: Etzalcualiztli · Graulich's summary of the veintenas (Las fiestas de las veintenas)

• Atemoztli9 December, every year

  Sixteenth Mexica month. Its name means 'descent of water' or 'coming down', and sources read it as a reference to rainfall. It belonged to the Tlāloque and the mountains, with rites asking for the rains to return.

  How it's celebrated. Records describe fasting, paper offerings to the Tlāloque, and images of mountains shaped from amaranth dough. The images were adorned with paper flags and ritually 'killed' with a weaving batten. When thunder sounded, Tlāloc's priests offered copal. Modern revival communities describe making amaranth mountains again and eating them. This is not one continuous tradition, and practice varies.

  Sources: Graulich: Aztec Festivals of the Rain Gods (excerpt) · Mexicanewyear: Atemoztli · Calendario Mexica: Atemoztli

• Rain-petition ascent of Acatlán, Chilapa2 May, every year

  The Nahua rain-petition ritual (Atsajtsilistli) of Acatlán, Chilapa, asking for rain, harvests and living springs. Devotees join Holy Cross devotion with older Tlāloc-linked traditions. It runs alongside, and is closely related to, Zitlala's ritual.

  How it's celebrated. The ritual opens on St Mark's day, when authorities, prayer-leaders and women bless the seeds. Roughly five hundred crosses are dressed with flowers and candles. In early May devotees go to hilltop and spring shrines, such as Cerro Viejo and Comulian in one 2021 report, with prayers, dances and tecuani (jaguar) fights. Participants address both the Holy Cross and Tláloc.

  Sources: Proceso: En lo recóndito de la montaña de Guerrero Tláloc aún escucha plegarias · El Sur Acapulco: rituales de petición de lluvia en lugares sagrados de Acatlán · El Sur Acapulco: Concluyen el ritual de petición de lluvias en Acatlán

• Zitlala rain petition and tekuani fights5 May, every year

  Atsatsilistli, 'petition for rain' or 'cry to the water', in Zitlala, Guerrero. Its centre is the fights between men dressed as jaguars, who offer their blood so that rain will fall. It is closely related to Acatlán's ritual nearby.

  How it's celebrated. Men of Zitlala's three barrios (San Francisco, San Mateo and La Cabecera) gather at their captains' houses, dance to wind bands and walk to the central plaza. There, masked 'tigres' fight in pairs with lashes inside a fenced ring. Participants say a drop of blood stands for a drop of rain. Earlier days bring a meeting of crosses and an ascent to the Cruzco hill.

  Sources: INAH: Atsatsilistli, la petición de lluvias entre los nahuas de Zitlala · Quadratín Guerrero: Retumba el estallido de los chicotes en Zitlala · Gráfico de Guerrero: Pelea de Tigres 2025 en Zitlala