Tlalocan
Tlalocan ( Tlālōcān ; [t͡ɬaːˈloːkaːn̥] ; Nahuatl : place of earth and nectar or place of Tlaloc ) is the name of a paradise on the other side filled with abundance and joy among the Nahua peoples.
In the myths of the highland inhabitants of Mesoamerica , Tlalocan can be traced back at least to the time of Tēotīhuacān , whose decline began in the 7th century . Bernardino de Sahagún provided a description from the time shortly after the Conquista in the Codex Florentinus . In pre-Christian times, Tlalocan was regarded as the home, kingdom or dominion of the rain god Tlaloc and his wife Chalchiuhtlicue .
People who died or drowned in the water as a result of weather events such as lightning and rain came to Tlalocan, according to the idea, as did those who succumbed to certain diseases such as syphilis . In Tlalocan itself it was eternal spring or summer, lush vegetative green dominated the landscape, and there was never a lack of corn , pumpkins and other fruits. There was general prosperity and great satisfaction. Along with Mictlan , the Beyond the Naturally Dead, or the House of the Sun , where fallen warriors and women in childbirth went , Tlalocan was just one of several possible whereabouts of the deceased.
However, Tlalocan is not only a mythical place of the Mexica until the Christianization, but has to this day its permanent place in the ideas and the religious practice of the Nahua. In this way it is also possible for the living to come to Tlalocan on a spiritual journey. The anthropologist Timothy James Knab, for example, has recently done intensive research on this.
See also
literature
- Ann Bingham: South and Meso-American Mythology A to Z , 2010, p. 144
- Dorle Dracklé (ed.): Images of death: cultural-scientific perspectives , Münster 2001, p. 122f
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eduard Seler : Some chapters from the historical work of Fray Bernardino de Sahagun. Stuttgart 1927, p. 300f
- ↑ Timothy James Knab: The Dialogue of Earth and Sky: Dreams, Souls, Curing and the Modern Aztec Underworld. Tucson 2004