Cultures & Traditions

The Maize God is one of the most important deities in Mesoamerica, especially among the Classic period Maya. Possible representations of maize are known from the Formative period, most commonly dwarves that bear maize signs on their bodies, which may refer to maize but also might represent lightning or rain. The earliest representations of the maize god appear among the Early Classic Maya, usually depicted as a young male with stylized maize on the top of the head. During the Late Classic p

Maya* civilization encompassed 200,000 square miles of foothills, rain forests, and plains in the national territories of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. It endured for nearly 2,000 years, from about 400 BCE, when the first kings raised temple-mountains in royal cities such as El Mirador and Cerros, until 1697, when the Spaniards defeated King Kan-Ek of the Itzá at Tayasal in the Petén region of Guatemala.

Tlaloc generally refers to the Mesoamerican god of rain, storms, and lightning. The name Tlaloc derives from the Aztec language Nahuatl and can be translated as “that which lies upon the surface of the earth,” a reference to the clouds that form around the tops of mountains during the rainy season.[1] While Tlaloc is known primarily by the Aztec name, the rain god is one of the oldest deities in ancient Mesoamerica and is known by many different names.

Mesoamerica, or Middle America, is a vast culture area that encompasses most of what is today central and southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western areas of Honduras and El Salvador. Mesoamerica's first highly developed civilization, which archaeologists have named the Olmec, emerged about 1500 BCE in two distant areas of Mexico--the central highland valleys (particularly in Morelos and Guerrero) and the lowland forests of south and east (particularly Veracruz and Tabasco).

Settling as early as 2000 BCE, the Tlatilco people flourished in the Valley of Mexico between 1250 BCE and 800 BCE during the Early Formative period. The major archaeological sites of the area include Tlatilco, Tlapacoya, and Coapexco. They were so named for the Nahuatl word, meaning “place of hidden things,” though we do not know what they actually called themselves.