Mexico, Teotihuacan culture
Mural fragment depicting rain priest 
c. 300­600 A.D.
Lime plaster with burnished mineral pigment
62 x 95 x 6 cm
Primitive Art Purchase Fund, 1962.702

Priests were very important in ancient American cultures. This wall painting is from the ruins of Teotihuacan, an ancient metropolis near present-day Mexico City. For this ceremony to ask for rain, the priest is wearing an elaborate costume that includes sprays of feathers from the quetzal bird, associated with water because of its blue-green color. The shells in his speech scroll—similar to a cartoon balloon—indicate that he is praying for rain.