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Meso -American Religion. The Aztecs. The Aztecs were influenced by the Toltecs to build their own civilization Were a great civilization with a population of about fifteen million Were urban (not villagers)- living in the city of Tenochtitlan (like the Yoruba in Ife) Now Mexico City
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Meso-American Religion The Aztecs
The Aztecs were influenced by the Toltecs to build their own civilization Were a great civilization with a population of about fifteen million Were urban (not villagers)- living in the city of Tenochtitlan (like the Yoruba in Ife) Now Mexico City Their religion predates Catholicism Came to Mesoamerica with the Spaniards in the 16th century Mesoamerica included most of present-day Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica
Aztec God: Quetzalcoatl Aka feathered serpent Worshiped in the city of Teotihuacan Creator & order-maker of universe
Aztec goddess: Tonantzin Mother goddess Worshipped at a mountain outside Tenochtitlan
Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl The god’s earthly devotee Ruled as priest-king Disappeared but will return one day
Important cities Tenochtitlan Aztec Capital Contained Great Temple of Feathered Serpent Axis Mundi for Aztecs Now known as Mexico City Teotihuacan Today known for its monumental pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon Located 30 miles northeast of the capital city Place of origins The gods gathered here to create the world
4 directions & the Axis Mundi Center of the universe= axis mundi Has four quadrants extending outward from the center connecting the earthly realm to the heavenly realm above and the underworld below A cave was built in Teotihuacan representing the axis mundi At the point where the four directions met stood the Great Temple Known as Serpent Mountain A mountain usually represents the axis mundi for primal traditions
The Sun The sun was created at Teotihuacan The sun has its own age Four suns and their ages had already been destroyed The 5th sun, present sun, faces a similar fate The last that would ever shine The only way of delaying the end of the age was to nourish the sun continually through human sacrifice
Human nature Two divine forces nurtured the human being with basic needs One concentrated in the head Another in the heart These two divine forces make each human being a sort of axis mundi- connecting the earthly realm to the divine The human head and heart were regarded as potent nourishment for the sun and the cosmos itself
Rituals: human sacrifice A warrior – wishing to offer himself as the sacrifice for the fragile cosmos He will enter the highest heaven upon death the priest leads the ritual The warrior has to lay on the sacrificial stone The priest cuts open his breast, seized his heart, and raised it as an offering to the sun The heart was offered as nourishment to the sun It possessed divine force The head was offered to the sky The body – was not rolled, was lowered by four men This ritual was performed every 20 days Victims – captive warriors Some victims were slaves- rarely women and children
Language In addition to human sacrifice, the Aztec culture provided its people with other means for fulfilling religious needs, such as language The Aztecs spoke Nahuatl Specialists called knowers of things communicated with the gods through language providing an alternative to sacrifice
Wit the Aztecs also favored wit Employing riddles in their ordinary speaking Knowing the answer to riddles meant that one came from a good family Example: “What is that which we enter in three places [and] leave by only one?
The Fall The fall of Tenochtitlan was due to one of the Aztec myths The belief that Topiltzin was going to return around 1519 Hernan Cortes arrived in Mesoamerica in 1519 wearing a feathered helmet The Aztec king- known as Moctezuma II confused Hernan Cortes with Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl Welcomed him with gifts Hernan Cortes destroyed Tenochtitlan
The popular veneration of the Virgin of Guadalupe began in 1531 when a dark-skinned apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared to an Aztec convert to Catholicism named Juan Diego. The hill on which she appeared was considered the sacred place of the Aztec mother goddess Tonantzin Mexican Indians today continue to refer to the Virgin Mary as Tonantzin
Dia de los Muertos The popular Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, shows the survival of Aztec religious culture. This celebration joins the living and the dead through rituals that are both festive and spiritually meaningful
