The Mayan Rain God Chahk Ceramics

One group in particular shows the maya rain god known as chac interacting with a death god and a baby jaguar.

The mayan rain god chahk ceramics. His hair is a permanently knotted tangle of confusion which we find quite endearing. These two structures a platform teetering on the edge of a 60 meter deep pool and a sweatbath compound were part of a ritual pilgrimage circuit traversed by the ancient maya to pay tribute to the rain god chahk during the extended droughts. The best example of this scene is known from a vase in the museum s collection 1978 412 206. Rain gods or rain related deities were worshiped beginning in very ancient times and.

Karl taube 3 points out that the god chahk is already present at the beginning of the classic mayan religion 3 17 and stone and zender consider that its. The 155 ceramic braziers and incense burners found by the experts bear the likeness of tlaloc the rain god of central mexico. A well known myth in which the chaacs or related rain and lightning deities have an. Very important for harvests and growing chac sends rain into the world by weeping from his large benevolent eyes.

And referred to in scholarly texts as god b is the name of the rain god in the maya religion. The young rain god named chahk poses mid stride lifting off his left foot and extending the right leg in front of him gracefully pointing his toes. The rain deity is a patron of agriculture. Chaac spelled variously chac chaak or chaakh.

Chaak the ancient maya rain god wields a large axe marked with the hieroglyphic symbol for shiny objects in his left hand and an animate stone object in the shape of a skull in his right 7th 8th century. During these trying times pilgrims visited both buildings to honor the rain god chahk. A similar scene involves a full grown jaguar and chahk is labeled as the god of the first rain 1980 213. Chac is a reptilian critter with fangs and a rather droopy snout.

Both were built around ad 800 900 when the region was choked by droughts. As with many mesoamerican cultures that based their living on rain dependent agriculture the ancient maya felt a particular devotion for the deities controlling rain. It contains one of the finest extant deity portraits from the classic maya corpus. He s also one of the alphabet gods known as god b.

This cylindrical drinking cup is the magnum opus of the maya vase painter known as the metropolitan master. He s very good like that even teaching the. B is for bursting clouds.