Tlālōcān

Tlalocan is the fourth level of the "upper worlds", or 'heavens', according to the mythic cosmographies of the Nahuatl-speaking peoples of pre-Columbian central Mexico, noted particularly in Conquest-era accounts of Aztec mythology. To the Aztec there were thirteen levels of the Upper Worlds, and nine of the Underworld; in the conception of the Afterlife the manner of a person's death determined which of these layers would be their destination after dying.

The name Tlalocan comes from Nahuatl, meaning "place of Tlaloc", for it is associated in particular with that major Mesoamerican deity of rain and lightning.

Tlalocan is described in several Aztec codices as a paradise, ruled over by Tlaloc and his consort Chalchiuhtlicue. In the Florentine Codex, a set of sixteenth-century volumes which form one of the prime sources of information about the beliefs and history of Postclassic central Mexico, Tlalocan is depicted as a realm of unending Springtime, with an abundance of green foliage and edible plants of the region.^[1]

As a destination in the Afterlife, the levels of heaven were reserved mostly for those who had died violent deaths,^[2] and Tlalocan was reserved for those who had drowned or had otherwise been killed by manifestations of water, such as by flood, by diseases associated with water, or in storms by strikes of lightning. It was also the destination after death for others considered to be in Tlaloc's charge, most notably the physically deformed.^[3]

In areas of contemporary Mexico, such as in the Sierra Norte de Puebla region, some communities continue to incorporate the concept of Tlalocán as a netherworld and shamanic destination in their modern religious practices.^[4]

Notes

^ As described in Miller and Taube (1993, p.167)
^ Those dying of "natural causes", i.e. the majority, would instead endure a perilous journey through the layers of the Underworld to finally reach Mictlan, the lowest layer. See Miller and Taube (1993:178).
^ See for example the Vaticanus A Codex, per Miller and Taube (op. cit.)
^ See for example the investigations into religous practices of the area conducted by Timothy Knab, anthropologist at the Fundación Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, as recounted in Knab (2004).

References

Template:Ref indent

Knab, Timothy J. (2004). The Dialogue of Earth and Sky: Dreams, Souls, Curing and the Modern Aztec Underworld. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 0-8165-2413-0. OCLC 54844089. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Miller, Mary (1993). The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05068-6. OCLC 27667317. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |coauthors= at position 5 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Template:Ref indent-end

This article relating to a myth or legend from Mesoamerica is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] As described in Miller and Taube (1993, p.167)

[2] Those dying of "natural causes", i.e. the majority, would instead endure a perilous journey through the layers of the Underworld to finally reach Mictlan, the lowest layer. See Miller and Taube (1993:178).

[3] See for example the Vaticanus A Codex, per Miller and Taube (op. cit.)

[4] See for example the investigations into religous practices of the area conducted by Timothy Knab, anthropologist at the Fundación Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, as recounted in Knab (2004).

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]