A MESOAMERICAN RELIGION:

THE AZTECS AND THEIR LEGACY

By: Binta Traore, Eram Waseem, and Suman Qaisar

INTRODUCTION

The Aztec tradition defies the common description of primal religious tradition

The Aztecs had a great population (about 15 million)

Many Aztecs were urban

Aztec religion emphasized the interrelationship between myth and ritual

Aztec religion was essential because it came before Catholicism

Aztec influence can still be seen today in some modern Mexican religious practices

THE AZTECS AND MESOAMERICAN CULTURE Mesoamerica included most of present-day Mexico and extended downward to present-day Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica

Native Americans arrived there about 20 000 years ago

This area has been home to Mesoamerican culture, which included civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya, the Toltec, and the Aztec

THE TOLTEC TRADITION: THE FOUNDATION OF AZTEC RELIGION

The Aztecs migrated to the region from the northwest, and were latecomers to Mesoamerica

There were already great cultural achievements by the time they arrived, which offered the foundations for them to build their own civilization

The strongest influence was from the Toltecs

The Aztecs based their authority figures off of the Toltec god, Quetzalcoatl’s, earthly devotee, Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl

Aztec children were taught to recite, “Truly with him it began, truly from him it flowed out, from Quetzalcoatl–all art and knowledge” (quotes in Carrasco, Religions of Mesoamerica, page 44)

TEOTIHUACAN: PLACE OF ORIGINS Quetzalcoatl was worshipped in the city of Teotihuacan long before the rise of the Toltecs

Today Teotihuacan is mainly known for its monumental Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon

Teotihuacan is the most visited archaeological site in the Americas

Teotihuacan is located 30 miles northeast of Tenochtitlan (the capital city of the Aztecs)

Aztec myth identified Teotihuacan as the origin of the entire cosmos, including space and time

TEOTIHUACAN: PLACE OF ORIGINS The myth goes as follows:

It is told that when yet [all] was in darkness, when yet no sun had shone and no dawn had broken-it is said- the gods gathered themselves . . . There at Teotihuacan. They spoke . . . :

“ . . . Who will take it upon himself to be sun, to bring the dawn?” (Sahagun, Florentine Codex, book 7, part 8, page 4)

COSMOLOGY: TIME AND SPACE The Aztec’s cosmology was thoroughly interrelated with their pessimistic view of time, their perspective on the human condition, and their ritual of human sacrifice

AGE OF THE FIFTH SUN

The Aztecs believed the sun was created at Teotihuacan

They also believed that the present sun is the fifth sun. Four previous suns and their ages had already been destroyed. The only way of delaying the end of the age was to nourish the sun through human sacrifices.

This pessimism was enhanced by the belief that the fifth sun was the last that would ever shine

Each of the five suns occupied its own cosmic location: the center, the west, the north, the south, and the east (the fifth sun)

The Aztecs believed the universe was built around this structure of the center plus four cardinal directions

FOUR DIRECTIONS AND THE AXIS MUNDI The Aztecs understood the spatial world as having four quadrants extending outward from the center of the universe

These quadrants connected the earthly realm to the many-layered heavenly realm above and the many-layered underworld below

Teotihuacan had been arranged that way, apparently with a cave as the original axis mundi

The Aztecs designed Teotihuacan to be the center of their world. At the point where the four directions met stood the Great Temple, known by the Aztecs as Serpent Mountain

Worship at Serpent Mountain was devoted to a god of fertility and rain and to a god of war and sacrifice

patia

THE HUMAN ROLE IN SUSTAINING THE COSMOS

Aztecs see nature as connected to the super-natural

Earth: living

2 divine forces:

1. Head

2. Heart

They are nurtured by human beings with basic needs

Humans: seen as axis mundi (center of the world)

One reason for human sacrifice: Human body was nourishment for the sun and the cosmos

THE HUMAN ROLE IN SUSTAINING THE COSMOSDifferent ways humans sustained the Cosmos

1. Sacred topography

2. Cosmology, divination and calendar

3. A pantheon (gods) of life-sustaining forces and divine beings

4. The preservation of nature through ritual and sacrifice

5. Earth's vegetation, plants and flowers

New fire is drilled on a victim's chest with a fire drill (Cordex Borgia)

Ometecullis and Omeciuatu place the human soul into a lifeless skull (Codex fejerwary-Mayer)

Tlazolteotl (with flayed skin) gives birth to Cinteotl (Codex Borbonicus)

THE RITUAL OF HUMAN SACRIFICE

Aztecs believed they owed everything every thing to the gods

Sacrifices were made to increase food supplies or provide good weather through divine means

As well as humans, animals were also sacrificed

Sacrifices: some Aztecs would cut themselves or execute other Aztecs or prisoners from war

Ritual: The prisoner was pressurized into walking up the stairs of the temple. When they got to the top, priests fell on them, put them on sacrificial stone and cut open their stomach from the throat to the stomach. Then they would rip out their heart to offer it to the gods. Then the bodies were either pushed down the stairs or the body was lowered and four men carried it. When the body reached the bottom, the body would be pulled apart or moved away depending on the ritual. The head was hung on the skull rack.

THE RITUAL OF HUMAN SACRIFICE Heart: gave a lot of divine force which was offered as food to the sun

Head: given to the sky

The warrior's willingness to be sacrificed: he has accepted his role in carrying the delicate Cosmo and this role allows him to enter the highest heaven upon death

Sacrifices similar to this happened once every twenty days

Victims: became slaves (sometimes included women and children)

Human sacrifice was a means to please the gods and it helped the Aztecs avoid disaster

A picture taken from the Codex Mendoza,created by native scribes for the Spanish in 1541-1542, showing a ritual Aztec sacrifice.

THE MASTERY OF LANGUAGE Being rich gave the Aztecs ways of carrying out religious needs

Spiritual forces were communicated through the comprehension of speech

"Knowers of things" could communicate with the gods and make contributions through language which is another way of sacrificing

They can also make donations to the gods instead of sacrifice

The Aztecs spoke Nahuatl (nay'wah-tuhl) which is a language that is naturally expressive

THE MASTERY OF LANGUAGE It is capable of huge achievements in poetry and other types of speechThe Aztecs liked intelligence and jokes

They used riddles frequently while speaking

If you knew how to answer the riddle then they assume that you came from a good family

Riddles:○ What is it that is a small gourd bowl filled with popcorn?○ What is that which we enter in three places and leave only by one?

Ancient literature of the Mesoamerican religion

JAZAKALLAH FOR LISTENING