Aztec Religion

Reily & Taylor

Creation Story:

The Aztec religion has many variations to the way their world came about. The basic components of the story has evolved over centuries. • The Aztec story of creation is actually a story of birth, death, and rebirth.

When the world is destroyed, it's born again through the sacrifice of one of the gods.

• The creator of the world was the god Ometeotl, who was both male and female and gave birth to the four Tezcatlipocas of the East, North, South and West. These gods eventually created the world and all the other deities.

• After the world was created, the Gods gave light to the humans and in order to do this the first God sacrificed himself to fire. His name was Tezcatlipoca. This First world was then inhabited by giants and came to an end when the giants were devoured by jaguars.

Turquoise mask representing the god Tezcatlipoca

• The Second world, or sun, was governed by Quetzalcoatl, and the earth was populated by humans. This world came to an end through hurricanes and floods. The survivors fled to the top of the trees and were transformed into monkeys.

• The Third Sun was dominated by water and its ruling deity was Tlaloc. People ate aquatic seeds. This world came to an end when the god Quetzalcoatl made it rain fire and ashes. The humans who didn’t die became birds and the others were replaced by other animals.

• The Fourth Sun was governed by the goddess Chalchiuthlicue, sister and wife of Tlaloc. A great flood marked the end of this world and all the people were transformed into fish.

Quetzalcoatl

• The Fifth Sun was the world in which the Aztecs lived. Tonatiuh the sun god was the ruling deity. The Aztecs considered themselves “the People of the Sun”. Their duty was to nourish the Sun god through blood offerings and sacrifices.

Art & Symbolism Symbolism was a part of every day life for the people who followed the Aztec beliefs. Symbols were used in writing, in keeping time and dates, in names and titles, on buildings and in artwork. It identified and explained the gods, showed social level, and foretold good and bad fortune.

• In keeping with the culture of the Aztecs, much symbolism was focused around religion and war. The gods were portrayed, as were warriors and battles.

• Animals represented certain important words:• The frog represented joy. • Butterflies symbolized transformation.• The monkey represented dance and celebration.

The Aztec’s used several different methods to express ideas in writing. One method was rich in symbols - ideograms. They basically used symbols that everyone understood to express ideas. For example, a warrior brandishing a weapon standing over a kneeling unarmed warrior would be a symbol of conquest

Aztec Writing

A speaking tree would represent the city of Cuauhnahuac. A snake may represent a ruler.

. Only the priests knew how to read and write. They would write on long sheets made of animal skins or plant fibers. An Aztec book is called a codex..

Aztec Art Ancient Aztec art was primarily a form of religious expression and a means for paying tribute to their gods. In addition, various forms of Aztec art were used to assist in communication.

Aztecs showed their deep religion through a variety of sculptures made of stones. They spent days carving freestanding idols. In general, the stone sculptures were created to represent their gods or the sacrificial victims

The calendar stone is the most famous sculpture in Aztec art history. This sculpture weighs 22 tons and is 12 feet in diameter. The face of the sun god can be found carved in the center of the stone. Circular bands symbolizing the heavens and the days are located around the face.

Aztec Beliefs Aztec sacrifices were an important aspect of the Aztec religion. At the root of these Aztec rituals was the belief that the gods needed to be nourished by human beings. This was accomplished through human blood. The Aztec’s were to intentionally harm and draw blood from the body. Those who were higher in status within the Aztec religion were expected to give the most blood during these Aztec rituals. Aztec Religious RitualsEach level of society in the Aztec’s civilization had its own god and rituals. An example was the feast of Huey Tozoztli, this feast was held in respect of this god of rain which favored the farmers and was of course of great importance for crops.

After LifeSince human sacrifice and obtaining candidates

for human sacrifice dominated much of Aztec life, warriors and those who were sacrificed received great glory and honor for what they did. The Aztecs believed that how a person died determined what that person’s afterlife was like.

• Warriors who died in battle or by sacrifice either went to a paradise in the east and joined the sun’s rising in the morning, or joined the war god Huitzilopochtli in battle.

• Women who died in childbirth were considered just as courageous, and went to a paradise in the west and joined the sun’s descent in the evening.

• People who died from lightning, drowning, certain diseases, or particularly violent deaths went to Tlalocan, a paradise located within the Aztec’s thirteen heavens.

• Those who died of most illnesses or old age went to Mictlan, the Aztec underworld

HuitzilopochtliTlalocan

Mictlantecuhtli: God of Death

Huitzilopochtli Myth According to a myth, he is the one who guided the Aztecs to Mexico. His mother gave birth to him after finding a ball of feathers and tucking them in her bosom for safekeeping. Later, when looking for the ball, she couldn’t find it, but discovered herself pregnant.

Her other children, the moon and stars, became jealous and embarrassed, because a goddess was only supposed to give birth to the original pantheon. Coyolxauhqui, the moon, incited a rebellion with her siblings against their mother.

Huitzilopochtli sprung from the womb fully dressed in battle gear and defeated his siblings. He beheaded his sister, and threw her head into the sky to remain there as the moon. When the moon is at is fullest is when her anger is the strongest.

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"Symbolism & Art." Aztec Studies. Aztec-Indians COP, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 1 Sept. 2014. <http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-religion.html>.