8. Sacrifices to the rain god were usually of children
Tlaloc was the Aztec god of rain and water, critical to agriculture and survival, and was also associated with fertility. The Aztecs feared Tlaloc, who they believed would respond with anger if not properly worshiped, causing crops to fail and striking at the Aztecs with diseases such as typhus and other water-borne illnesses. At Tenochtitlan, Tlaloc was worshiped at the Great Pyramid, and the remains of more than forty children were found at the site surrounding the pyramid, most of them bearing the marks of torture and maiming inflicted prior to their ritual death. These are supported by pictorial codices, which represent the victim’s tears prior to death. The tears of innocent children were believed to be particularly pleasing to Tlaloc by the priests, and they made special efforts to ensure that the child was crying prior to the ceremony, and continued to do so throughout until death.
The children were made to cry through the infliction of pain. Abscesses were deliberately inflicted which caused agony displayed by the children as they were paraded before the celebrants, or bones were broken, cuts inflicted, or hands or feet burned. The tears of the children were considered to be insurance of sufficient rains for the growing season, and children were sacrificed to Tlaloc at specific periods before and during the season, as well as following the harvest, either in thanks for the rains which provided success, or in atonement for sins which impeded it. The absence of sufficient rains before and during the period of planting and growth increased the number of sacrifices to Tlaloc, to assuage the god’s perceived anger and obtain his good graces. The crying children most often met their end by burning at the Great Pyramid, with the smoke of the fire carrying their tears to the god above.