Horoscopes · Systems of many cultures
Aztec (Tonalpohualli) · Aztec day sign 19
Quiahuitl
Rain
Quiahuitl, 'rain', day sign 19 of the Aztec tonalpohualli. Patron: Chantico.
Quiahuitl, the rain, is the gift of the rain gods, both fertile and dangerous. Its patron is Chantico, goddess of the hearth fire, or in some lists Tonatiuh, the sun. The sign was considered changeable.
The patron deities of the day signs differ between the surviving codices; the list used here follows the Codex Borgia tradition as reconstructed by modern scholars. The tonalpohualli was read by trained diviners together with the number of the day and its trecena, so a sign was never interpreted alone.
Personality
changeable · generous · nourishing · emotional · unpredictable · powerful
In the Aztec tonalpohualli, a person whose tonalli, or birth sign, is Quiahuitl is described as changeable, generous and powerful, with the double nature of the rain that can nourish the fields or bring flood and hail. The sign was the gift of the rain gods, and its patron is Chantico, goddess of the hearth fire, or in some lists Tonatiuh, the sun.
Modern readings of the sign credit Quiahuitl people with generosity, emotional depth, fertility of ideas and the ability to renew and refresh those around them; they are said to give freely. Their challenges are said to be unpredictability, emotional storms, a tendency to shift between generosity and withdrawal, and difficulty staying steady. Aztec diviners considered the sign changeable, and colonial accounts link some rain births with misfortune.
In love Quiahuitl people are portrayed as giving and passionate but changeable; in work, as farmers, healers, artists and those who bring renewal. The tonalpouhque read the sign together with the number of the day and its trecena, so a Quiahuitl birth could be favourable or difficult depending on its place in the count.
Sources and further reading
- The Aztec Calendar Stone — Khristaan D. Villela and Mary Ellen Miller (eds.), 2010
- Codex Borgia: A Full-Color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript — Gisele Díaz and Alan Rodgers, 1993
- The Aztecs — Michael E. Smith, 2012