Chaac

Long-nosed rain and lightning god (God B); wields the storm-axe and is invoked in fourfold directional aspects.

Domains

• rain
• lightning and thunder
• agriculture and fertility

Powers

• Strike the clouds to loose thunder, lightning and rain

Epithets

• Chaakob latin · the Four Chaacs · cultThe four directional rain-gods — Chak Xib, Sak Xib, Ek Xib, Kan Xib Chaac (east/north/west/south)Diego de Landa, Relación; the Dresden Codex (primary)

Relations

• interpretatio: CocijoCocijo and Chaac are co-members of the same areal rain-lightning storm-deity pattern, each a culturally distinct manifestation.Miller & Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (1993) (secondary)
• equated with: TlalocReciprocal of aztec_tlaloc.equated-with — Standard scholarly identification of the two rain-lightning gods, with documented iconographic interchange (goggle-eyed Tlaloc imagery at Maya sites). Not cognate names; Tlaloc descends from the Teotihuacan storm god.Karl Taube, The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan (1992), ch. 'Chaak' (secondary); Mary Miller & Karl Taube, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (1993), s.v. 'Chac', 'Tlaloc' (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Dresden Codex; Madrid Codex; Landa (primary)