The Aztecs Moment of Prayer AztecaMexica Azteca genuine

The Aztecs Moment of Prayer

Azteca-Mexica • Azteca: “genuine” Aztecs; originally one of the twenty Toltec tribes, located in present day Guanajuato • Mexitin (later Mexica): Chichimec tribe, united with the Aztecas during the 11 th Century • Aztlan: Aztec territory

Evolution of the Universe • Aztecs believed in a certain order existing throughout the universe • The Universe and Time are divided into 5 “Suns” with each sun connecting with a direction, color, and god (1 st Sun-East-Red, Yellow, Green; 2 nd and 3 rd Sun- North-Black; 4 th Sun-West-White; 5 th Sun. South-Blue) • Each Sun works in sequence/simultaneously with the others; each Sun evolves into the next Sun by a period of “catastrophic revolutions or by natural catastrophes”

Each Human has a Counterpart • For the Aztecs, each human has a “counterpart in disguise” • Some people bare believed to have more than one “counterparts” • The counterparts are mostly animals, whose fates are linked to that of the human being in a manner conditioned by cosmic forces

“Waging War is my Duty” • Aztec religious and political policy was characterized by warfare for the purpose of gaining power for the unification of all peoples into one social, religious, and administrative organization to guarantee the harmonious preservation of the human race • Aztecs allowed other gods to be added to their pantheon, and also allowed the worship of foreign gods and the intermarriage of other neighboring tribal members with the Aztec group

Urge To Conquer • The Tribal god Huitzilopochtili was also the god of the south, the god of war, and the Protector of the 5 th Sun; thus Aztecs see themselves as the protectors of earthly harmony during the 5 th Sun • War of Flowers: encounters between local armies with a fixed number of warriors, operating within the Aztec world, and fighting ritual battles at fixed times on predetermined battlefields, in an attempt to gain honor and prestige

Concepts of Divinity • Polytheistic; rooted in religious principles that had developed in the older Olmec, Toltec, and Chichimec cultures • Tezcatlepoca: “It Causes the Black Mirror to Shine, the god of the nocturnal sky, ” identified with the supreme god, seems to be of Chichimec origin • Queztalcoatl: Savior, god of wind and science • Yacatecuhtli: god of the merchants, probably one of the forms of Queztalcoatl • Tlaloc: “Wine of the Earth, ” rain-god

Gods for Each Group • “teotl”: used for the Aztec gods and goddesses; means stony in a literal sense and permanent/powerful in a figurative sense • Each area had a specific god/goddess connected with the area, if the person were a merchant then they’d worship Yacatecuhtli, if the person were a slave then they’d worship Tezcatlepoca • Similar to the Local gods concept found in Egyptian and Greek religious traditions

Aztec Classes • Nobility: consisted of military officials and priests, owned private property • Macehualitn: “free citizens; ” mostly farmers, fishermen, and craftsmen; owned land as part of common property • Tecpanpouhque: “servants of the palace; ” often ethnically different from the Aztecs and were in the permanent service of the government, high social status which at times rivaled and surpassed that of the Macehaulitn • Mayeque: farm workers who possessed no land • Tlacotin: “the sold ones; ” people who had become slaves through unpaid debts

The Central Importance of Sacrifice • Sacrifices were conducted to ask for blessings from gods and goddesses and to appease the gods in times of hardship; human sacrifice was very important in Aztec culture • Everyone from time to time sacrificed a little of their own blood to one or more of the gods, usually piercing their tongue or earlobes with a reed to increase suffering • Those who occupied high positions sacrificed valuable objects such as art, rubber balls, all kinds of animal sacrifices, etc. • Rich merchants offered slaves as sacrifice; military conquerors offered their war captives

Ideological Elements of Aztec Religion • The souls of warriors killed in battle and the souls of victims of human sacrificial offerings rose to the eastern solar heaven • Women who died in childbirth rose to the western solar heaven, they’re seen as heroines because they died giving birth to another Aztec