Editing Tláloc (section)

==Historical cosmology==
{{See also|Aztec mythology}}
[[File:Codex_Borgia_page_25.jpg|thumb|Depiction of Patterns of War, Tláloc (bottom right)]]
In Aztec [[cosmology]], the four corners of the universe are marked by "the four Tlálocs" ({{langx|nci|Tlālōquê}} {{IPA|nci|tɬaːˈloːkeʔ|}}) which both hold up the sky and function as the frame for the passing of time. Tláloc was the patron of the [[Aztec calendar|Calendar day]] ''Mazātl.'' In Aztec mythology, Tláloc was the lord of the [[Five suns|third sun]] which was destroyed by fire.

On page 28 of the [[Codex Borgia]], the Five [[Tlaloque]] are pictured watering maize fields. Each Tláloc is pictured watering the maize with differing types of rains, of which only one was beneficial. The rain that was beneficial to the land was burnished with jade crystals and likely represented the type of rain that would make a bountiful harvest. The other forms of rain were depicted as destroyers of crops, “fiery rain, fungus rain, wind rain, and flint blade rain”. This depiction shows the power that Tláloc had over the Central American crop supply. Also, the high ratio of damaging rains to beneficial rains likely symbolizes the ratio of the likelihood that crops are destroyed to them being nourished. This would explain why so much effort and resources were put forth by the Central Americans in order to appease the Gods.<ref>{{cite book |last= Miller |first= Mary |date= 1993 |title= The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya |url= https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill |url-access= registration |publisher= Thames and Hudson Inc.|pages= [https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill/page/166 166]–167, 142–143|isbn= 9780500050682 }}</ref>

Additionally, Tláloc is thought to be one of the patron deities of the [[trecena]] of 1 Quiahuitl (along with Chicomecoatl). Trecenas are the thirteen-day periods into which the 260-day calendar is divided. The first day of each trecena dictates the augury, or omen, and the patron deity or deities associated with the trecena.<ref name="auto1">{{cite book |author=Miller, Mary |author-link=Mary Ellen Miller |author2=Karl Taube |author2-link=Karl Taube |year=1993 |title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |location=London |isbn=978-0-500-05068-2 |oclc=27667317 |url=https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill }}</ref>

In Aztec mythic cosmography, Tláloc ruled the fourth layer of the upper world, or heavens, which is called Tlálocan ("place of Tláloc") in several Aztec codices, such as the Vaticanus A and Florentine codices. Described as a place of unending springtime and a paradise of green plants, Tlálocan was the destination in the afterlife for those who died violently from phenomena associated with water, such as by lightning, drowning, and water-borne diseases.<ref name="auto1" /> These violent deaths also included leprosy, venereal disease, sores, dropsy, scabies, gout, and child sacrifices.<ref name="auto2" />

The Nahua believed that Huitzilopochtli could provide them with fair weather for their crops and they placed an image of Tláloc, who was the rain-god, near him so that if necessary, the war god could compel the rain maker to exert his powers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Spence |first=Lewis|title=The Myths of Mexico and Peru|year=1994|publisher=Dover Publishing|location=New York|isbn=978-0486283326 |page=74 |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/mmp/}}</ref>