[Mask] The Nahua-speaking people of Guerrero, Mexico, used masks like this in rain-petitioning ceremonies, records of which date back to 1804.

If rain had not fallen by May 3, twelve boys would dance to a cave, wearing masks to impersonate the Tlaloques, the Aztec rain gods believed to be dwarves living inside the mountains. The mask's blue-green eyes, along with its rippling hair and beard, are ancient symbols for water.

Courtesy of the National Museum of Natural History
Mask, Nahua-speaking peoples, Guerrero, Mexico, A.D. 1915, wood and pigment

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