mountain images, or mountain sculptures or figurines; "Small Molded Ones"
These figures were molded from amaranth (huauhtli) dough and represented hills and mountains that people saw as the homes of the rain deities, Tlaloque; in these mountains, clouds were brewed and these clouds furnished the rain upon which the crops depended.
The Atlcahualo (ceasing of water, rain), was the name of the first festival of the year. The ceremonies practiced at this time were meant to ensure the rains would come again. They included the sacrifice of small children, preferably children with two cowlicks in their hair, considered like whirlpools, and sometimes called "banderas humanas." The children would be sacrificed atop hills or mountains associated with the tlaloque (Tláloc deities). Other tlaloque are Nappatecuhtli, Opochtli, Tomiyauhtecuhtli (one of the four hundred rabbits that were deities of pulque), and the tepictoton, small legless figures.