Task 2

Aztec God and Goddess: Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue.

Tlaloc was the Aztec rain God. His name really means "he who makes things sprout".
He was pictured as a man wearing a net of clouds, a crown of heron feathers, foam sandals and carrying rattles to make thunder. Tlaloc was greatly feared because he could send out the rain or provoke drought and hunger. He released lighting bolts against the earth and unleashed devastating hurricanes. Illnesses such as dropsy, leprosy, and rheumatism were thought to be created by Tlaloc. Still part of the Teocalli (Great Temple) at Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital was dedicated to Tlaloc.

Chalchiuhtlicue was the Aztec Goddess of rivers, lakes, streams, and other freshwaters. Wife of Tlaloc, in Aztec cosmology she ruled over the fourth of the previous sun, in her reign, maize (corn) was first used. In art, she was illustrated wearing a green shirt and with short black vertical lines on the lower part of her face.


Egyptian God and Goddess: Ra and Nit.

Ra was the greatest of all the Egyptian Gods. He was the Solar God from Heliopolis and a major deity all over Egypt. He stood for the rising sun, life, rebirth, children, health, virility etc. He was nowhere near as popular as was Isis or Osiris. Ra was a very distant God and rarely interceded for the improvement of mankind. Ra's animal form was the falcon, or a man with the head of a falcon.

Nit was the war Goddess from the town of Sais who protected lower Egypt, soldiers, and hunters. She wore the red crown of lower Egypt and her weapons were the bow and the arrows. In the city of Sais she was considered to be the creator of all the gods. Her son was the deity Sobek, who often manifested himself as crocodile. In the time of the new Kingdom, Neit was thought of as the mother of the sun God Ra.


Mesopotamian Gods and Goddess: Enlil and Ereshkigal.

Enlil was the God of air, wind and storms. Enlil is the foremost god of the Mesopotamian Pantheon, and is sometimes referred to as Kur-Gal(Great Mountain). He holds possession of the Tablets of Destiny which gives him power over the entire cosmos and the affairs of man. He is sometimes friendly towards mankind. But he can also be a cruel god who punishes man and send forth disaster, such as a great flood.

Ereshkigal was the Goddess of the underworld. She was dark and violent, befitting her role as Goddess of the underworld. In the Sumerian cosmogony she was carried into the underworld after the separation of heaven and earth. Thought to once be a sky-Goddess.


Inca God and Goddess: Catequil and Mama Pacha.

Catequil produces thunder and lightning by battering the clouds with his club. He is also responsible for twins being born when he turns into a lightning bolt and participates in mortal lovemaking.

Mama Pacha was the Goddess of the earth and overseer of planting and harvesting. Seen as a huge dragon which causes earthquakes at times. She lives inside the earth and is a companion to woman. The mountain peaks are seen as her breasts, the flowing rivers, her life-giving milk, and the tilled fields, her fertile womb.


Japanese God and Goddess: Emma-O and Uzume.

Emma-O was the Japanese Buddhist God of the underworld. He lives in the yellow spring under the earth in a huge castle covered in silver, gold, pearls, and other jewels. He is the judge of the dead and the one who decides the degree of punishment according to Buddha's law. Sometimes he is portrayed less pitiless and returns life to those who appear before him.

Uzume was the Japanese Shinto Goddess of joy and happiness, called Daughter of Heaven and Heaven's forthright female. Her name means "whirling", she is also the Goddess of good health, which people obtain from drinking the blessed water of her stream. She was the one who lured the Sun- Goddess Amaterasu from the cave where she'd hidden with her hilarious dance.


Chinese God and Goddess: Ti-Tsang Wang and Kwan Yin.

Wang was the god of mercy. Wandering in the caverns of hell, a lost soul might encounter a smiling monk whose path is illuminated by a shining pearl and whose staff is decorated with metal rings that ring like bells. This is Wang, who will do all he can to help the soul escape hell and even to put an end to his eternal round of death and reborn. He was once a priest of Brahma, he converted to Buddhism and himself became a Buddha with special authority over the souls of the dead.

Kwan Yin was the Goddess of mercy and compassion. She is shown as a lady dressed in white seated on a lotus and holding an infant. Murdered by her father, she recited the holy books when she arrived in hell, and the ruler of the underworld could not make the dead souls suffer. The disgruntled God sent her back to the land of the living. There she attained great spiritual insight and was rewarded with immorality by the Buddha. She has a temple at the Mount of the Wondrous peak that gets filled with pilgrims shaking rattles and setting off firecrackers to get her attention.