Tlaloc () is the god of rain in Aztec religion. He was also a deity of earthly fertility and water, worshipped as a giver of life and sustenance. He was feared for his power over hail, thunder, lightning. He is also associated with caves, springs, and mountains, most specifically the sacred mountain where he was believed to reside. His cult was one of the oldest and most universal in ancient Mexico. Representations of Tlaloc include a variety of symbols, like jaguars, serpents, and butterflies. The Mexican marigold, Tagetes lucida, known to the Aztecs as , was another important symbol of the god, and was burned as a ritual incense in native religious ceremonies. Although the name Tlaloc is specifically Aztec, worship of a storm god, associated with mountaintop shrines and with life-giving rain, is as at least as old as Teotihuacan. It was likely adopted from the Maya god Chaac, perhaps ultimately derived from an earlier Olmec precursor. An underground Tlaloc shrine has been found at Teotihuacan. Representations In Aztec iconography, Tlaloc is usually depicted with goggle eyes and fangs. He is most often coupled with lightning, maize, and water in visual representations and artwork. Other forms of Tlaloc include a variety of symbols, including jaguar, serpent, owl, quetzal, butterfly, water lily, shell, spider, cross. Offerings dedicated to Tlaloc in Tenochtitlan were known to include several jaguar skulls and even a complete jaguar skeleton. Jaguars were considered the ultimate sacrificial animal due to their value. Tlaloc's impersonators often wore the distinctive mask and heron-feather headdress, usually carrying a cornstalk or a symbolic lightning bolt wand; another symbol was a ritual water jar. Along with this, Tlaloc is manifested in the form of boulders at shrine-sites, and in the Valley of Mexico the primary shrine of this deity was located atop Mount Tlaloc. In Coatlinchan, a colossal statue weighing 168 tons was found that was thought to represent Tlaloc. However, one scholar believes that the statue may not have been Tlaloc at all but his sister or some other female deity. This statue was relocated to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City in 1964. While pre-Hispanic cultures are thought to have become extinct once the Spanish had completed the colonization of Mexico, aspects of pre-Hispanic cultures continue to influence Mexican culture. Accordingly, Tlaloc has continued to be represented in Mexican culture even after the Spanish were thought to have