Venerated ancestor, in headdress Cocijo, God of Rain, Lightning, Thunder, maize

This figure depicts the young maize deity. Maize was one of the main sources of nourishment in pre-Spanish Mesoamerica, and was thus considered a sacred plant. The maize deity is shown sitting cross-legged on the floor. His hands lie on his knees. He wears a huge and elaborate head-dress. Note the mask of the Zapotec rain deity Cocijo at its centre. The rain deity makes sure that the earth receives enough water to make the maize grow and is characterised by rings like glasses around his eyes. The split tongue of a serpent protrudes from his mouth. The rain deity also wears a head-dress formed by the glyph C. Glyphs are the pictorial and syllable signs of Zapotec script. The glyph C that you can make out in the rain deity‘s head-dress, depicts both a water vessel and the stylised head of a jaguar. Flanking the mask of the rain deity on either side are corn-cobs. As well as his huge head-dress, the rain deity also wears ear-disks, a pectoral, a cape and a loincloth. Note the feathers arranged like a fan behind his shoulders against which the deity seems to lean. The different parts of the figure were first cast from moulds and then assembled. Ceramic figures like this one are characteristic examples of the classical Zapotec civilisation of Monte Alban in Mexico. For two millennia, Monte Alban, close to the modern city of Oaxaca, was the most important religious and political centre in the south of Mexico.