TLALOC = “HE WHO MAKES THINGS SPROUT”
- Area of Worship: Plateau of Anahuac.
- Minor Names: Chicunaui Ocelotl = “Nine Jaguar” (or ocelot). [[236]]
- Calendar Place: Ruler of the seventh day-count, mazatl (deer), and of the seventh tonalamatl division, ce quiautl (one rain).
- Compass Direction: The four quarters in his several aspects.
- Festivals: Atlacahualco, tozoztontli, etzalqualiztli, tepeilhuitl, atemoztli.
- Symbols: His head, with serpentine motif and tusks; the day-sign nine ocelot.
- Relationship: Husband (1) of Xochiquetzal; (2) of Matlalcuêyê or Chalchiuhtlicue. Father or brother of the Tlaloquê.
(From Codex Magliabecchiano, 3 fol., sheet 89.)
(From Codex Magliabecchiano, 3 fol., sheet 34.)
FORMS OF TLALOC.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
The evolution of the familiar and characteristic face of Tlaloc is perhaps best exemplified in a stone statuette included in the Uhde collection in the Royal Ethnological Museum, Berlin. In this striking example of the Mexican sculptor’s art a representation of the face of the god is skilfully contrived by the arrangement of two snakes or serpents, the tails of which form eye-orbits and a species of nose, the reptiles’ heads meeting in the region of the mouth, their fangs thus serving the god for teeth. It is rarely in aboriginal art that a conception so individual and striking is encountered, and great imaginative ability must be conceded the sculptor who conceived it. It is not known whether the later pictures and carvings of Tlaloc were evolved from this effigy, but it is not unreasonable to suppose that either from it or similar representations the later conception of him came into being. We observe in the examples shown in the illustrations that the custom of representing divine beings in profile resulted in his case in the survival of a mere ring about the eye and a spirally convoluted band forming the upper lip and depending from it for some distance. These are painted blue in the MSS. More faithfully preserved are the long tusk-like teeth, which in certain stone effigies, however, degenerate into several straight, downward strokes. This head of the Rain-god is almost invariably reproduced as the symbol for the day-sign atl (water).
Representations of Tlaloc in the codices of the Borgia group occasionally show a development of the lip-band, which rises upwards and includes the nose, thus, perhaps, [[237]]indicating a transition form. In the Vatican B, Fejérváry-Mayer, and Laud Codices the prolongation of the lip-band and its serpentine character are apparent, the snake’s teeth and eye being clearly visible.