# Aktzin

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'''Aktzin''' ([Totonacan](/source/Totonac_languages): Ā'ktzini'','' "He who makes Thunder")<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=González Torres |first=Yólotl |title=Diccionario de mitología y religión de Mesoamérica |date=2005 |publisher=Larousse |isbn=978-970-607-802-5 |edition=1. Aufl., 11. reimpr |location=Madrid |pages=188}}</ref> was the god of rain, thunder and lightning for the [Totonac](/source/Totonac) people of [Mexico](/source/Mexico).  Aktzin corresponds with [Tláloc](/source/Tl%C3%A1loc) to the [Aztecs](/source/Aztecs) and [Chaac](/source/Chaac) or [Cabrakán](/source/Cabrakan) to the [Mayas](/source/Mayas),<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Gomes |editor1-first=Chandima |title=Lightning: Science, Engineering, and Economic Implications for Developing Countries |date=2021 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-981-16-3439-0 |page=278 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G1w9EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA278 |access-date=February 12, 2024}}</ref> and is most commonly syncretised with [Saint John the Baptist](/source/John_the_Baptist).<ref name=":0" /> However, he also has strong ties with the [Archangel Michael.](/source/Michael_(archangel))<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Pérez |first=Macín |title=La relación hombre, ritual, naturaleza en una comunidad totonaca de la sierra norte de Puebla: la fiesta del Arcángel San Miguel en Tepango de Rodríguez |url=https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/repositorio/islandora/object/tesis%3A1129 |access-date=2025-08-01 |website=Mediateca - Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia |language=es}}</ref>

He existed before the Sun and was owner of all the waters, except the rainwater ironically enough. He lived in the "great water" at the end of the sea and skies to the east, where he acted as the eastern pillar holding the world, his abode has also been described as underground where he creates wooden animals to act as his servants. In accordance to [mesoamerican duality](/source/Mesoamerican_cosmovision); Aktzin was both life giving and life taking, keen to drown the world as those who died by drowning ([Totonacan](/source/Totonac_languages): Mū'xtu'nîn<ref name=":1" />) became his servants; the men forced to dig the [river beds](/source/Stream_bed), and women forced marry him.<ref name=":0" /> The drowned servants live in wells, rivers and springs; where they seek out and drown the living to create more servants.<ref name=":1" /> Aktzin is seen as a hunter, drinker and very noisy. It is he who is heard bellowing like a jaguar when rain comes. Stories credit him as the inventor of [tuber](/source/tuber)s and friend of animals.<ref name=":0" />

A story of him as Saint John tells how he slayed a giant python called "seventeen heads", who lived in [Chicontepec](/source/Chicontepec_de_Tejeda) and devastated the population. John tricked the snake and made him fall head first into the sea, where he was chained with the hair of the [Virgin](/source/Mary%2C_mother_of_Jesus), where he remains, only able to move his head and scream.<ref name=":0" /> However in other stories, it is Aktzin who is the terrible monster, tricked and chained forever in the sea by the Archangel Michael.<ref name=":1" />

In [Tepango](/source/Tepango_de_Rodr%C3%ADguez), as well as other towns of [Totonacapan](/source/Totonacapan), he is described as being as large as a mountain, with a golden horn and missing hands.<ref name=":1" />

The [Spanish](/source/Spain) conquerors led by [Hernán Cortés](/source/Hern%C3%A1n_Cort%C3%A9s) encountered the Totonac civilization in 1519,<ref>{{cite web |title=Totonac Indians |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14794a.htm |website=Catholic Encyclopedia |access-date=February 12, 2024}}</ref> after their initial contact with the Mayas of the [Yucatán Peninsula](/source/Yucat%C3%A1n_Peninsula).  The Totonac territories were located near the Gulf coast in what is today the state of [Veracruz](/source/Veracruz). The city of [El Tajín](/source/El_Taj%C3%ADn) (City of the Thunder God), is an archaeological zone with the remains of the Totonac capital city dating back over 1,000 years.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

Category:Mesoamerican mythology and religion
Category:Mesoamerican deities
Category:Sky and weather gods
Category:Thunder gods
Category:Rain deities
Category:Totonac

{{Mesoamerica-myth-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Aktzin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktzin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktzin?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.