Aztec religion

The religion of the people who ruled the valley of Mexico (the region around present-day Mexico City) when the Spanish conquered it in the 16th century. According to legend, the Aztecs migrated to the valley of Mexico from the north. Around 1325 C.E. they settled a marshy island in the middle of Lake Texcoco. Their patron god, Huitzilopochtli, had pointed the site out to them. By reclaiming land from the lake, they built a major city named Tenochtitlán (Mexico City, today). Three causeways connected it to land. By the time the Spanish arrived in the 1520s, Tenochtitlán had perhaps half a million inhabitants. By that time, too, the Aztecs had established their dominance over the entire region. The Aztecs had elaborate views of time and space. Good examples of these are the famous Aztec calendar stone and illustrations from ancient pictographic books known as codices. The Aztec views were very similar to those of the Maya (see MAYA RELIGION). The Aztecs resembled the Maya, too, in believing that they were living in the fi fth world or, as they called it, the "fi fth sun." A famous story, the "Legend of the Suns," relates the fate of the previous four worlds and predicts the fate of the fi fth. The Aztecs worshipped several deities. Huitzilopochtli, "the Hummingbird of the Left," was one of two deities worshipped at the great temple in the middle of Tenochtitlán. Construction workers in Mexico City discovered the temple by accident in 1978. The other deity worshipped there was Tlaloc, the god of rain. A third god, Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, had a temple nearby. The Aztecs knew Quetzalcoatl in several forms. One was a priest-king of the ancient city of Tula. This Quetzalcoatl diligently performed rituals. For example, he offered blood from the calves of his legs and he bathed ceremonially. As a result, Tula prospered. At the same time, Quetzalcoatl refused to perform certain rituals, such as human sacrifi ce. According to one text, he sacrifi ced only snakes, birds, and butterfl ies. Because of indiscreet behavior, Quetzalcoatl was forced to abdicate his throne. He traveled to the east and burned himself. His spirit arose to the sky to become the planet Venus. Another legend said that he sailed off into the east. At fi rst the ruler of the Aztecs mistook the Spanish warrior, Hernán Cortés, for Quetzalcoatl returning. Like virtually all ancient peoples, the Aztecs practiced RITUALS in their homes. In these rituals they used small fi gurines and incense burners. They also had a religion associated with ceremonial centers. It consisted of SACRIFICES, often human sacrifi ces. For the Aztecs, the human body contained the sacred forces that made order and life possible. These forces were especially concentrated in the heart and the head. As a result, sacrifi ces paid particular attention to hearts and heads. The Spanish conquerors considered Aztec religion to be the work of devils—literally. They tried to obliterate it. Nevertheless, elements of Aztec religion survived. They combined with the religion of the conquerors to produce a distinct tradition of ROMAN CATHOLICISM.