Chaac

Chaac (spelled Chahk or Chaahk in classic Maya epigraphy) is the principal Maya deity of rain, atmospheric storms, lightning and the fertility of maize crops, widely attested from the Preclassic period to the contemporary era. Identified in Paul Schellhas’s pioneering classification as “God B,” Chaac is the most frequently recurring supernatural being in the surviving post-Classic hieroglyphic codices, appearing on dozens of pages of the Dresden Codex (about 74 pages) and the Madrid Codex (about 56). Iconographically, he is distinguished by a long, curved nasal appendage shaped like a trunk turned upward or downward, prominent fangs projecting from the corners of the mouth, and circular seashell ornaments over the ears. He often wields a stone axe carved with flames or lightning serpents associated with the god K’awiil, with which he strikes the heavens to release rain. In Maya cosmology, Chaac manifests both as a singular deity and as a quadruple entity associated with the four cardinal directions and their symbolic colors (red in the east, white in the north, black in the west and yellow in the south). In the arid lowlands of northern Yucatán, where surface rivers do not exist, his cult was closely tied to natural cenotes and to the community ceremonies of water petition historically known as Ch’a Cháak.

6 min read · Reviewed on September 28, 2026 · How we research

The axe, the long curved nose, the lightning and the water jars

Primary sources

• Diego de Landa, Relación de las cosas de Yucatán. translation: Alfred M. Tozzer, Landa's Relación de las cosas de Yucatán, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, 1941.
• Anônimo (Maias Pós-Clássicos), Códice de Dresde (Codex Dresdensis). translation: J. Eric S. Thompson, A Commentary on the Dresden Codex, American Philosophical Society, 1972.
• Anônimo (Maias Pós-Clássicos), Códice de Madrid (Codex Tro-Cortesianus). translation: Ferdinand Anders, Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, 1967.

Studies

• Karl Taube, The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan. Dumbarton Oaks, 1992.
• Michael D. Coe, The Maya. Thames & Hudson, 2011.
• J. Eric S. Thompson, Maya History and Religion. University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.
• David Stuart, The Fire Enters His House: Architecture and Ritual in Classic Maya Texts. Dumbarton Oaks, 1998.