Which Aztec god was associated with rain and agriculture? Tlaloc was the Aztec god of rain, water, thunder, and earthly fertility.
Rain was central to farming in central Mexico, so Tlaloc was regarded as both a life-giver and a potentially destructive force. Beneficial rain nourished maize and other crops, but storms, drought, hail, and damaging forms of rain could ruin harvests. This dual role helps explain why ceremonies dedicated to Tlaloc were especially important to agricultural communities.
Tlaloc was connected with the Tlaloque, rain-making beings represented in some Aztec imagery as watering maize fields. His sacred landscape included Mount Tlaloc, a 4,100-metre mountain east of the Valley of Mexico. The Great Temple at Tenochtitlan also had a northern shrine dedicated to him, alongside the temple of Huitzilopochtli.
Tlaloc is sometimes confused with Chalchiuhtlicue, a goddess associated with lakes, rivers, and other forms of water. Their domains overlapped, but Tlaloc’s defining role was control of rain and storm powers. In Aztec belief, people who died by lightning, drowning, or certain water-related causes could go to the paradise called Tlalocan.