Note 36 — Chapter VI · THE GODS OF RAIN AND MOISTURE

The name means “She whose raiment consists of green gems,” or “She of the jewelled robe,” and is allegorical of the brilliant surface of flowing rather than stagnant water. She is, says Seler, “an appropriate representative of the sign ‘Snake.’ For the moving, flowing water has everywhere and at all times been likened to the serpent. In cultural centres which are dedicated to the Water-goddess—the Pilon de Azucar, for instance, which has been explored by Hermann Strebel—the ground swarms as well with images of snakes as of frogs.”36