Note 30 — Chapter VI · THE GODS OF RAIN AND MOISTURE
Reading edition
His chief significance for the ancient Mexicans was as the great god of the rain-cult, the rain itself, and the thunderstorm which brings the rain. In his serpentine form we may, perhaps, see a reminiscence of the mythical beast of dragon or serpentine form known to many mythologies as the “water-provider,” which must be slain by the sun-hero ere the rain-flood is released to assist the growth of the crops. None of the myths relating to him serve to assist such a hypothesis; but certain paintings in the codices appear to relate to some such myth, and page 74 of the Maya Dresden Codex, which relates to the deluge caused by the water-sun, shows a great serpent vomiting water upon the earth, showing that in Central America the rain was supposed to emanate from a monster of this description.30