The Fall of the Deer-Tlaloque: A Hypothesis about the Transgression of Tamoanchan in the Festivals of the Mexica Veintenas

Abstract

In a previous article, in order to contribute to the debate on the meaning of the Mexica festivals of the Veintenas and their position in the tropical year, I relied on the myth of the creation of the Sun and the Moon to propose that fire was the engine of the Sun’s ascent, but also of its descent; that the difference between one movement and the other is explained by the opposition incinerate/scorch; and that the results of considering this opposition in the interpretation of those festivals seem to contradict the position Michel Graulich attributed to them in the tropical year. In this article, a continuation of that one, I will delve into the transgressions committed by the male gods who were worshiped in the period of the annual ritual cycle associated with Tamoanchan. I propose that all of them shared their ‘cold’ quality, and that it is the loss or decrease of heat that made the Sun, Venus and corn descend in the form of deer-Tlaloque.