aztec religion
The term, Aztec, is a startlingly imprecise term to describe the culture that dominated the Valley of Mexico in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. [1]
In Aztec religion, the destruction of every era always occurred on the last day of each 52 year cycle (although each era lasted for several of these cycles). [2]
The Aztec believed themselves to be living in the fifth and last era. [3]
Each community had its own deity associated with it and there is no hierarchy particularly apparent in the supernatural universe, unlike the Aztec religion. [4]
In a wider historical meaning, however, Aztec religion covers a period of over nine centuries (from 1064 to the present day), about which historical data concerning the Azteca-Mexica have come to hand, and during which the Aztec religion has undergone considerable changes. [...] The large number of resemblances, however, justifies the fact that nearly a quarter of this short survey of the Aztec and Maya religions will be devoted to them. [5]
The two gods to whom the two most important temples in the Aztec world were dedicated were Huitzlopochtli (the supreme deity of the Aztecs associated with sun and fire) and Tatloc, the rain god, that among other things was associated with fertility. [3]
The Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Aztec religions all had a concept of a vital force that separated living from nonliving matter (Marcus 1994:343). [4]
The Aztecs also considered the god of the travelling merchants, Yacatecuhtli (Lord of the Vanguard), an old god, probably because the ancestors of these merchants belonged to an indigenous population group. [5]
At the age of 15, each male child went to telpuchcalli (”house of youth”), where he learned the history and religion of the Aztecs, the art of war and fighting, the trade or craft specific to his calpulli, and the religious and civic duties of everyday citizenship. [1]
Nearly all literature on A/tec religion is concerned with the immediately pre-Spanish religion of the Azteca-Mexica and other Central American peoples under strong Mexican influence. [5]
Their religion was dominated by three gods: Huitzilopochtli (”hummingbird wizard,” the native and chief god of the Tenochca, Huitzilopochtli was the war and sun god), Tezcatlipoca (”Smoking Mirror,” chief god of the Aztecs in general), and Quetzalcoatl (”Sovereign Plumed Serpent,” widely worshipped throughout Mesoamerica and the god of civilization, the priesthood, and learning). [2]
Their god, Huitzilopochtli, commanded them on a journey to the south and they arrived in the Valley of Mexico in 1248. [1]
The first calendar, the “Xihuitl”, or natural year calendar, was used to measure the agricultural year and provided the basis upon which they performed their ritual to their various gods. [3]
Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology. [6]
Sources:
[1] The Mexica/Aztecs (www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAMRCA/
[2] Welcome to the Aztec website - where did they come from - where did they go (aztec.com/religion.html)
[3] Aztec Religion (philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/
[4] MESOAMERICAN RELIGIONS (www.angelfire.com/ca/humanorigins/
[5] Aztecs And Mayas Religion (meta-religion.com/World_Religions/…
[6] Aztec - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec)