Religion of the AZTECA

The Aztec culture is one of the most important in history, being key to Mexican society and forming as a consequence end of centuries of Mesoamerican myths and beliefs, being the main dominator of the area until the arrival of the Europeans. To understand one of the most important factors of this civilization in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we offer you a brief summary of the religion of the Aztecs.

Before entering to talk about the religion of the Aztecs we must talk about who they were, better understand the reasons for its relevance, its culture, and understand why its religion.

The aztecs, also known as mexicas, were the greatest empire of the history of the cultural region of Mesoamerica, located in the zone of Central America and Mexico; Together with the region of the Incas, they were possibly the most important cultural zone in all of America.

Although the Aztecs existed for centuries, their relevance was not always equally important. It was born as a small town with little relevance, but it evolved over the years and its most important stage was that located between the so-called post-classical stage. This was a stage marked by the dominance of the

toltecs and Aztecs and ended with the arrival of the European colonizers.

Although the domain of the Aztecs was very broad with numerous subject regions, its most important area was the Valley of Mexico, coming to dominate this entire region between 1300 and 1521. It was after taking this region that the influence of the Aztecs became so great and reached so many areas.

Aztec or Mexica religion is the set of beliefs, legends and myths of the Aztecs, being in general a set of works of previous cultures that the Mexican thinkers made evolve. The conquering courage of the Aztecs and their assimilating value means that there are many gods and legends from other peoples, so it could be said that to a large extent there are not many Aztec gods themselves, but come from others and in many cases only receive a change of Name.

To understand the Aztec religion we must talk about its main features, this being essential to know in depth the thought of this civilization and the particularity of its mythology. The characteristics of the religion of the Aztecs are the following:

• The Sun was a key value for the Aztecs, being a very important symbol in religion and there are many acts, rituals and deities associated with the Sun for them.
• Like many such religions, death was very important for the Aztecs, with many legends about death and life behind it and making sacrifices to the gods.
• It was one polytheistic religion, so there was a huge variety of gods, with almost one god for each moment.
• There are many legends about the creation of the world, but the best known is the one that says that the Mexican gods had to make up to 5 attempts before creating the world.
• They considered that the world was cyclical, being divided into 4 parts and ending and starting over every 52 years in a world without end.
• The diseases were of divine origin, being a kind of punishment from the gods for the bad behavior of humans.
• Duality was a key element for the Mexica, being very common the existence of gods with counterparts or a male and female version of each deity.

To finish with this summary of the religion of the Aztecs, we must talk about the main gods of the Mexica, since knowing the great religious figures of such a relevant civilization is always very interesting.

Coatlicue

Goddess of misfortune, fertility, life and death, of the Renaissance and considered like the mother of all the Gods. It was said that being the one who was on the path between life and death, she was one of the deities that received the most sacrifices, the most spectacular being the goddess of death.

Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl

God and goddess of duality and creators of the world, are considered to be the main gods of Mexica mythology, and show one of the most important of the Mexica beliefs to be a clear representation of a total duality to be at the same time man and woman.

Huitzilopochtli

The god of the great city of Tenochtitlan, god of war, fire and the Sun, all of them being very important elements for a society as warlike as the Aztec. It is said that at the arrival of the Spanish colonizers he was the most worshiped deity in the entire region, due to how important he became for the Mexica.

Quetzalcoatl

One of the best known gods of all Mesoamerican culture, having relevance in almost all cultures and called as the Feathered Serpent. God of government, commerce and priests, it is said that he was possibly the most important god in all of Mesoamerica.

Tlaloc

God of water en general, so he was the one who the Mexica considered him to be capable of calling rain and storms. The relevance of him for the ability to make rain and improve crops made him one of the gods who received the most rituals and sacrifices.

Xipe Totec

God of life, death and resurrection, being considered as the god who let go of all those who were no longer useful. He was a relevant deity in other cultures, although in many of them he did not have the same attributes as in the Aztec civilization.