RAIN GOD
The Aztec god of rain, fertility, and water is Tlaloc. He was greatly feared among the Indians, who threw children into cenotes to appease him. They offered drowned children to Tlaloc because he was responsible for both floods and droughts. He is usually shown as a goggle-eyed blue being with fangs. Although, the Indians have had several ways of picturing this god, he was often pictured as a man wearing a net of clouds, a crown of heron feathers, foam sandals and carrying rattles to make thunder.
Tlaloc used lightning bolts to make the people sick. Aztec myth says he had four different jugs of water in his possession. When he emptied the first one, it brought life to plants, to Earth. The second would cause blight, the third brought on frost, and the fourth would bring total destruction.
Human sacrifices were often made in his honor, usually children. Before the victims were sacrificed, their tears were collected in a ceremonial bowl, to serve as an offering. Priests sometimes made children cry before the ritual sacrifice by tearing off their nails.
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