Tlaloc, the main water god of all Mesoamerican peoples, is known as Chaac among the Mayans, Cocijo among the Zapotecs, and as Tajin among the Totonacs. He is one of the oldest and most revered deities for being the god who supplied the vital liquid and sent hail, thunder, lightning and storms.
Early on he is represented in sculpture, painting, codices and murals. His image continued to be one of the most emblematic throughout the Classic and Post-Classic times, being taken up again as one of the icons of national identity in the mural works of Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, as well as an iconographic reference in the work of artists who leaned towards abstraction.
The god of water is recognized by the large blinders formed by two rings and by the serpentine shape that he wears as a mustache that frames his mouth, possibly a mask that is usually painted blue. Tlaloc's dwelling place was in Tlalocan, which Bernardino de Sahagun describes as "the earthly paradise, a place where there was always vegetables, green cornfields and all kinds of herbs, flowers and fruits, where it is always summer."
In Mexican mythology, Ehecatl, god of the wind, is one of the main gods of creation, in charge of giving breath to living beings. The myth of the Fifth Sun relates that, after Nanahuatzin and Tecuciztecatl had thrown themselves into the fire to become the Sun and the Moon respectively, as they did not move through the sky, it was necessary for Ehecatl to blow and in this way the Sun began to move first and then the Moon, creating human time.
Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, in his 'General History of the Things of New Spain', relates that “[...] they had him as a god and they said that he swept the path of the water gods and this they guessed because before the rains begin there are great winds and dust, and for this reason they said that [...] the god of the winds swept the roads for the gods of the rains so that they would come to rain." Thus, upon the t forces of the wind –Ehecatl– and the rain –Tlaloc– depended the sowing of the year.
The attributes of the natural forces of the wind are represented on his face, the most prominent feature is the mouth mask, which simulates the beak of a bird. He is usually interpreted as one of the manifestations of Quetzalcoatl, the main deity of the Mexica pantheon that combines the duality of the human condition.
Tlaloc, the main water god of all Mesoamerican peoples, is known as Chaac among the Mayans, Cocijo among the Zapotecs, and as Tajin among the Totonacs. He is one of the oldest and most revered deities for being the god who supplied the vital liquid and sent hail, thunder, lightning and storms.
