Transcript The Ancient Aztecs

The Ancient Aztecs
Presentation created by Andrew
Clark, Nikhil Sekher, and Joshua
Reitan
Polytheism
Polytheism - the doctrine of or belief in more
than one god or in many gods.
Aztec Gods
• The Aztecs’ mental image of God’s were
anthropomorphic- meaning that natural
forces they believed in were personified.
• The Aztecs were exteremely open minded
when it came to religion. They took gods
from different regions and different
peoples constonatly.
• As society grows complex, so do the
Gods.
The Manifestation of Aztec Gods
• Pantheon - the gods of a particular
mythology considered collectively.
• As society grew more intelligent, the
Pantheon grew larger and larger.
• It was the priest’s job to keep track of the
ever growing Pantheon- there were so
many Gods that the ordinary man was not
expected to know them all.
The Role of Priests
“All these earth gods were their life. The
complicated religious pattern they left to
the priests, who told them when to weep,
when to get drunk, when to rejoice, when
to die. The people seemed content to
resign themselves to those who spoke of
the unknowable with so great a certainty.
(Von Hagen 160)”
The Role of Priests
• Priests were the most trusted of men.
• Since they were the ones whose job was
to keep track of the Gods and know them,
they were trusted.
• Complicated matters regarding
complicated Gods were left to the priests.
• These complicated matters will be discussed
in further detail later.
Blood - The fluid that circulates in the
principal vascular system of human beings
and other vertebrates, in humans
consisting of plasma in which the red
blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets
are suspended.
Blood – “The drink of the Gods.”
“Huitzilopochtli, the Hummingbird
Wizard, was the Aztecs' own. They were
his children, the "chosen people." He it
was who led them out of the dry misery of
the north into the promised land of MexicoTenochtitlán; he took his place among all
the other gods, from the ancient past and
from other cultures.
He was the sun, the ever-youthful
warrior who fought battles with the other
gods for man's survival. Each day he rose,
fought the night, the stars, the moon, and,
armed with sunbolts, brought on the new
day.
Since he fought these battles for them,
the Aztecs could only repay him by
nourishing him for his eternal wars. The
proffered food could be neither the
watered-down intoxicant pulque, nor
corncakes such as mortal man ate--the
god must be nourished on the stuff of life:
blood.
It was the sacred duty of every Aztec-for all were part of an agrarian militia--to
take prisoners for sacrifice in order to
obtain for Huitzilopochtli the nectar of the
gods--human hearts and blood. (Von
Hagen 160)”
“…for if the beneficent gods were not
nourished they would cease to protect man from
the other gods, and this might lead to the total
destruction of the world. (Von Hagen 161)”
How could so many new hearts and blood be
provided for the gods so that they may be pleased?
War.
Militant Religion
What did peace mean to the Aztecs?
•Peace was dangerous.
•How could new hearts and blood be
provided and sacrificed to the Gods if there
was peace?
•Militant Religion - War and Religion are tied
together.
• War could be considered the Aztec’s “natural
condition.”
Sacrificial Rituals
“When the great temple pyramid to Huitzilopochtli
was dedicated in Mexico in 1486, "king" Ahuitzotl,
after a two years' war campaign in Oaxaca,
amassed more than twenty thousand prisoner
victims. These were lined up in rows waiting to be
spread-eagled over the sacrificial stone. Their
hearts were cut out and held briefly to the sun,
then, still pulsating, deposited in the heart urn of
the recumbent Chac-Mool figure. (Van Hagen
161)”
Rituals
• 2 main calenders:
• Ritualistic (Not astronomical)
• 20 periods of 13 days
• 20 x 13 = 260
•
The origin of this calendar is not known. It is said to even be more than 1,500 years old!
• Solar (Astronomical)
• 18 20-day months
• 18 x 20 = 360 [+ 5 empty days (explained later)]
• 52-year cycles
• 365(days) x 52(years) = 18,980-day period
The Role of Priests
• Know the pantheon of the gods.
• Calculate Rituals
• Understand the exact interconnection
between each particular god and time
according to the calender.
• For example, sacrifices had to be made at exact
moments in time in order to please the god they
wanted to appeal to.
Rituals
“All the developed intellect of the Aztec was
turned toward this one thing: how to
propitiate the right god at the right time. So
sacrifice was not mere butchery, it was a
parade of elaborately conceived ritual with
only one object in view: to preserve human
existence. (Van Hagen 165)”
Rituals
• Sacrifice was not meaningless “butchery”.
• To the Aztecs, sacrifice was they key to
preserving human existence.
• The Aztecs understood that if they did not
offer the gods their drink, the gods would not
be pleased; the gods would in turn, cease to
protect the human race, and instead, destroy
the human race.
Nemontemi
• Nemontemi – the “five empty days”
• Occurs at the end of every 52-year cycle.
(After the 360 days).
• These are the “unlucky” days.
• Nemontemi was announced by the priests:
•
•
•
•
•
All fires were extinguished.
Fasting was general.
Sexual intercourse ceased.
Artists were to remain idle.
Businesses were to remain idle.
Nemontemi
• After the priests calculate the end of
Nemontemi, and if the world had not
ended, they would perform the first ritual of
the new cycle:
Sacrifice.
Nemontemi
• First sacrifice of the new cycle:
• A sacrificial victim was chosen.
• His chest was cut open and the heart pulled
out.
• All the fires would than be rekindled in the
temples and throughout the land.
Festivals and Holidays
“THE FESTIVAL was almost continuous
in ancient Mexico. It is not easy to
separate festive and ceremonial, sacred
and secular, since everything was bound
up together. (Von Hagen 97)”
Festivals and Holidays
• There are 18 months in the solar calender.
– Each of these months contained some forms
of celebration to the gods.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ceremonies, parades, sacrifice.
Priests dance in the skin of sacrificial victims.
Fasting, skin dancing, children sacrifices.
Worship of the new corn, god impersonation
ceremonies, altars created in houses with cornstalks,
children sacrifices.
7. Dances of workers.
8. Aztecs feast on corn.
9. Feasts that lasted for days.
10. Prisoners of war held captive by the Aztecs danced
with the Aztecs themselves.
The Afterlife
An Aztec Funeral Chant
Where shall I go?
Where shall I go?
The road of the god of duality.
Is your house perchance in the place of the
fleshless?
Perchance inside heaven?
or here on earth only
is the place of the fleshless?
The Afterlife
• Occupation, rather than conduct or how
one acted in life, was the key to where one
would go in the afterlife.
• Warriors and certain women (who were
considered equal to men in some cases)
went to paradise in the land of Tlaloc, the
god of water and rain.
• This land was filled with flowers.
The Afterlife
• Women who died during childbirth also
went to paradise in another area.
• They also haunted children and other women
on earth.
• Aztecs who were unclassified journeyed to
the land of the Lord of the Dead through
rivers, mountains, and deserts. When they
reached the realm of the Lord of the Dead,
he assigned them to one of nine hells.
Key Gods and Myths
Huitzilopochtli’s Myth
• Huitzilopochtli was the son of the goddess
Coatlicue, she had 400 other sons and
one daughter.
• When no one could figure out who the
father ( he was actually born from a ball of
humming bird feathers) Huitzilopochtli’s
siblings attempted to kill him to prevent
embarrasing the family name
Huitzilopochtli’s Myth (cont.)
• Huitzilopochtli was born battle ready and
defeated all of his brothers using a shield and
his weapon called the turquoise snake staff. He
cut out his sister’s heart and kicked her body off
a cliff because she convinced Huitzilopochtli’s
brothers to fight him in the first place
• From then on sacrifices were conducted by
cutting out a victims heart and tossing the body
off a cliff
Huitzilopochtli’s role in Aztec
Religion
• He was God of War, the Sun, lord of the South,
and also known as the hummingbird, and I
represented by the color blue
• He is a warrior in armor covered by hummingbird
feathers, and he is usually represented by
hummingbirds and sometimes eagles
• Huitzilopochtli is one of the main gods of the
Aztecs, at the top of the pantheon of Gods as
God of the sun
Myth of Quetzalcoatl
• Known as the feathered serpent, god of life,
breath, and the wind
• He fell to land of the dead Mictlantecuhtli
• where he gathered bones and returned to the
world of the living where he sprinkled blood on
them and created humans
• He was king and god of the sun at one point and
afterward sailed East. It was believed that he
would return one day for his kingdom
Quetzalcoatl’s symbols
• He was white in his human form and said to
glow as well
• He represented priesthood, knowledge and the
arts and crafts
• He was represented by snakes and butterflies
which symbolized perfection
• He has the most compassion for humans and
asks for only and one sacrifice
• He was a main god of the Aztecs, but not as
important as Huitzilopochtli
Tlaloc
• He was one of the 3 Major Gods of the Aztecs
• God of rain, thunder, lightning, floods, droughts,
and fertility
• He has jaguar fangs, a cloud cape, foam
sandals, a rattle to make thunder, and a crown of
heron feathers
• He was known for being both kind and wrathful
• In a myth similar to the greek myth of winter
Tlaloc married the goddess of flowers
Xochiquetzal, but she was kiddnapped by the
god of night Tezcatlipoca
Tlaloc ( cont.)
• He asked for children as sacrifices
• Tlaloc is represented by the
alligator,lightning bolts, storms and
disaster
• He carried rain in jars and poured them on
the world one caused life, the second
blight, the third brought frost, and the
fourth complete destruction
• With Huitzilopochtli he was a god honored
in the temple Teotihuacan
Aztec Sacrifice
• Every Aztec god asked for sacrifice though
some less than others. The ritual follows a
similar pattern that was established by
Huitzilopochtli.
Aztec Sacrifice (cont.)
• Priests took the hearts of war prisoners or
the hearts of brave warriors. Their heart
was cut out while still beating and offered
to the sun. Their body would then be
thrown off a cliff or carried if it was a
respected warrior. Aztecs offered the heart
and blood of their enemies because they
believed that the gods needed blood to
survive
Quetzalcoatl and Cortes
• Quetzalcoatl was a god believe to have
fled his kingdom and went East because
he lost his place as the second sun and
ruler of the world.
• When Cortes the Conquistador arrived in
the New World the Aztecs believed he was
Quetzalcoatl because like Quetzalcoatl he
had light skin. Unfortunately they learned
the truth too late
The Creation Story
• The father of the gods Ometeotl gave birth
to four gods Tezcatlipoca (Quetzalcoatl’s
archrival), Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, and
Chalchiuhtlicue ( she would be Tlaloc’s
wife after Tezcatlipoca kiddnapped his first
wife)
Creation Story (cont.)
• Tezcatlipoca, the jaguar, became the sun
and claimed to be ruler of the world
• Quetzalcoatl did not like that and hit
Tezcatlipoca into the ocean and turned
himself into the sun
• Tezcatlipoca feeling angrier now knocked
Quetzalcoatl out of the sky, this created a
powerful gale killed almost all of the
humans on the planet only a few survived
but became monkeys
Creation Story ( cont. 2)
• Tlaloc took the opportunity while
Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca were
fighting and became the third sun and
repopulated the planet. Quetzalcoatl then
rained fire on humans killing them all again
this time a few escaped but became birds
• Chalchiuhtlicue then established herself as
the fourth sun while her brothers were
squabbling and repopulated the earth
once more
Creation Story (cont. 3)
• It is unsurprising what happened next but
Tezcatlipoca then caused floods to
eradicate mankind once more and the only
ones to survive became fish
• The entire world was engulfed by flooding
and there was no more land
Creation Story (cont. 4)
• Tezcatlopoca and Quetzalcoatl stopped fighting
to lift the world out of the ocean, and
Quetzalcoatl created Aztecs by traveling to the
underworld gathering their bones and giving
drops of his blood
• Quetzalcoatl was from then respected as the
one who gave the Aztecs life. Also, none of the
four gods became god of the sun, Huitzilopochtli
became the fifth sun and remained so however
many mayan and Aztecs refer the end of the
world with the coming of the 6th sun…
Fun With Aztecs
1) There will be 4 groups. Each round each team will send up a
representative to answer the question.
2) The person that hits the “buzzer” first will have 15 seconds to
ask their group for an answer. When the 15 seconds is up, there
can be no more communication between the group and the
Rep., then the question must me answered.
3) If the answer is not right, the question will move on to the next
group
4) Picture questions are worth 2 points, one for the question and
one for the pronunciation of the Aztec God's name.
5) NO HITTING. You will be ejected from the game.
The roles of the priests involved
all these EXCEPT:
A) Observe, calculate, and keep track of the
days of the ritual and solar calendars.
B) Keep track and study all the gods of the
pantheon.
C) Oversee sacrificial rituals.
D) Accompany the undead through their
journey to the underworld.
Tlaloc
A) God of Birth and Babies
B) God of Rain
C) Goddess of Love
D) Goddess of Hate
What is a Pantheon?
A) A type of obelisk.
B) The gods of a particular mythology
considered collectively.
C) A certain Aztec statue created and
dedicated to the gods.
D) The house of the priests.
http://library.thinkquest.org/27981/god.html
Xipe Totec
A) God of Spring and New Life
B) God of Destruction
C) Goddess of Food and Water
D) This isn't Aztec, it's just a drawing.
What is the drink of the gods?
A) Water
B) Specific river water
C) Blood
D) Orange juice
All the following are reasons for
sacrificial rituals EXCEPT:
A) The gods must be given blood in order to
be pleased and provide protection to the
Aztecs.
B) The gods will not destroy the human race
if given blood.
C) The amount of blood given to the gods by
the Aztecs equals to the amount of Aztecs
that are allowed in heaven.
Huitzilopochtli
A) God of Vegetation
B) God of the Sun
C) God of Serpents
D) Goddess of Fire
How many days were in the
Ritualistic calender?
A) 260
B) 360
C) 180
D) 5
When did Nemontemi occur?
A) When natural disasters began to occur
frequently.
B) After every 52-year cycle.
C) When there was an eclipse.
D) Whenever the Aztecs lost a battle.
What does the term militant
religion mean?
A) It describes a society that only goes to
war in order to preserve peace and non
violence throughout the land.
B) It describes a society that attempts to
create the largest army in the world.
C) It describes a society that rules its people
with military force and unbalanced power.
D) It describes a society in which war and
religion are tied together.
Mictlantecuhtl
A) God of Hats and Robes
B) God of the Dead
C) God of the Living
D) God of Difficult names
This is what determined where
people went in the afterlife.
A) Integrity
B) Faithfulness
C) Intelligence
D) Occupation
Quetzalcoatl
A) God of Music
B) God of Warfare
C) God of Knowledge
and Creation
D) Goddess of Animals
Works Cited
• http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00875/text/AztecC.htm
• http://library.thinkquest.org/27981/god.html
• http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-gods.html
• http://www.crystalinks.com/aztecgods.html
Vaillant, George C. Aztecs of Mexico Origin, Rise, and
Fall of the Aztec Nation. Garden City, NY: Doubleday,
1962. Questia. Web. 20 Sept. 2011.
Von Hagen, Victor Wolfgang. The Ancient Sun Kingdoms
of the Americas. Cleveland, OH: World, 1961. Questia.
Web. 20 Sept. 2011.