This polytheistic religion has many gods and goddesses; the Aztecs would often incorporate deities that were borrowed from other geographic regions and peoples into their own religious practices. (Giovanirvp / CC BY-SA 3.0 ) He was also considered to be the god of the arts and knowledge. "Aztec" is a term coined in the 19th c. to describe a number of ethnic groups from Central Mexico who spoke the language of Nahuatl and who believed in a common origin in a mythical place called Aztlan. Aztec (Nahuatl) Name Generator is free online tool for generating Aztec Names randomly. Thus the pyramid-temples of important deities constantly grew in size. Other important temples were located in the four divisions of the town. Then, by an act of self-sacrifice, one of the gods, Nanahuatzin (“the pimpled one”), caused a fifth and final sun to rise where the first humans, made out of maize dough, could live thanks to his sacrifice. As with the impersonation of gods, Aztec ritual was often a reenactment of a mythical event which at once served to remind the Aztecs of their religion, but it also served to perpetuate the world by repeating the important events of the creation. The wide variety of gods in Aztec religion is a result of several factors. One of these rituals was the feast of Huey Tozoztli, when the ruler himself ascended Mount Tlaloc and engaged in autosacrifice in order to petition the rains. Huixachtlan, lit on the chest of a sacrificed person by the high priests. The Tlatoani of Tenochtitlan was the head of the cult of Huitzilopochtli and of the state religion of the Aztec empire. Aztec, self name Culhua-Mexica, Nahuatl-speaking people who in the 15th and early 16th centuries ruled a large empire in what is now central and southern Mexico.The Aztecs are so called from Aztlán (“White Land”), an allusion to their origins, probably in northern Mexico. These temples were called “Teocalli” which means god houses. Reflecting the complexity of ritual in Aztec society, there were deities related to pulque, a sacred alcoholic beverage, but also deities of drunkenness, excess, fun, and games. Legends say that Aztlan was the first place the Aztecs ever lived. He was a rival god to Quetzalcoatl. Name and Etymology . Cinteotl (as well as the Tlalocs and Chicomecoatl). Plazas were where the bulk of worshippers gathered to watch rites and dances performed, to join in the songs and sacrifices (the audience often bled themselves during the rites), and to partake in any festival foods. by Daniel G. Brinton) Ancient Aztec religion was a complex interaction of gods, dates, directions and colours. He had special priestly duties in different rituals on the state level. The Aztec religion was made up of a complex set of beliefs, rituals and gods that helped the Aztec/Mexica to make sense of their world's physical reality, and the existence of life and death. Buildings around the base of the pyramid, and sometimes a small chamber under the pyramid, stored ritual items and provided lodgings and staging for priests, dancers, and temple orchestras. Religion played a very important role in the lives of the Mexica people of the Aztec Empire. It will help you to generate 1000's of cool Aztec Names which you can use in books, novels, games, or whatever fantasy world you want to use it. For example, the class of Pochteca merchants were involved in the feast Tlaxochimaco, where the merchant deity would be celebrated and slaves bought on specific slave markets by long-distance traders would be sacrificed. A third monument in the plaza in front of Templo Mayor was devoted to the wind god, Ehecatl, who was an aspect or form of Quetzalcoatl. This included wandering curers, black magicians, and other occultists (of which the Aztecs identified many types, most of which they feared) and hermits. Tezcatlipoca in many ways represented the opposite of his brother, Quetzalcóatl. Flowers and offerings (including a great amount of blood) generally covered much of the floors and walls near these images. The people who were sacrificed came from many segments of society and might have been a war captive, slave, or a member of Aztec society; the sacrifice might also have been man or woman, adult or child, or noble or commoner. In the ceremonial center of Tenochtitlan, the most important temple was the Great Temple which was a double pyramid with two temples on top. p. 8. Blood fed the gods and kept the sun from falling. Religion was intertwined in almost every aspect of their lives: agriculture, social gatherings, you name it. Many things influenced the design and composition of Aztec art. Tezcatlipoca was also connected to war and sorcery. Mictlan had nine layers which were inhabited by different deities and mythical beings. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The importance of connecting and controlling the cycles of nature, such as the sun and moon cycles, with human activities, resulted in the use, in the pan-Mesoamerican tradition of sophisticated calendars which were consulted by priests and specialists. Thus, Tlaloc/Huitzilopochtli represents the duality of water and fire, as evidenced by the twin pyramids uncovered near the Zocalo in Mexico City in the late 1970s, and it reminds us of the warrior ideals of the Aztec: the Aztec glyph of war is burning water. Choose your favorite aztec religion photographs from millions of available designs. Macuilxochitl, the god of … Legend has it that this is the site on which the Mexicas built their capital city of Tenochtitlan. TENOCH: Nahuatl name composed of the … While there aren't many Aztec names that were historically gender neutral, some Aztec cultural names can be used as modern unisex baby names. In the realm of religion we are really talking about Nahua religion. The Aztecs believed that he was the creator of humanity as well as the most human-friendly deity. The cosmology of Aztec religion divides the world into thirteen heavens and nine earthly layers or netherworlds. Maestri, Nicoletta. Does Human Spirit Really Need Praying God Five Times A Day? The Aztecs Pyramid at St. Cecilia Acatitlan, Mexico State. In the process, they adopted most of the Toltec/Nahua pantheon, but they also made significant changes in their religion. Finally, the military orders, professions (e.g. In Aztec cosmology, as in Mesoamerica in general, geographical features such as caves and mountains held symbolic value as places of crossing between the upper and nether worlds. To the Aztecs, death was instrumental in the perpetuation of creation, and gods and humans alike had the responsibility of sacrificing themselves in order to allow life to continue. Macuiltochtli, the god of drunkenness. For example, the fertility god, Xipe Totec, was originally a god of the Yopi (the Nahuatl name of the Tlapanec people), but became an integrated part of the Aztec belief system. Scholars studying the Aztec (or Mexica) religion have identified no fewer than 200 gods and goddesses, divided into three groups. Baby names after a deity were also considered as supremely important among the Aztecs, as were names influenced by fierce warriors from their mythology. In the Nahuatl language, the word for priest was tlamacazqui meaning “giver of things”—the main responsibility of the priesthood was to make sure that the gods were given their due in the form of offerings, ceremonies, and sacrifices. The prominent Aztec scholar Henry B. Nicholson classified the numerous Aztec gods in three groups: celestial and creator deities, gods of fertility, agriculture and water and deities of war and sacrifices. The three levels, heaven, world, and underworld, were connected through a central axis, or axis mundi. "Aztlan" means "place of the herons" in the Nahuatl language. His name means "feathered serpent" and he was usually drawn as a serpent which could fly, very much like a dragon. Whereas a monotheistic religion, such as Christianity, only has one god. The Aztec Religion and Gods of the Ancient Mexica. The sacrificial victims were usually warriors but sometimes slaves, depending upon the god and needed ritual. Aztec: Ahuic: Name of the Aztec goddess of the running water in rivers, streams, and waves: Girl: Aztec: Amoxtli: Book: Girl: Aztec: Anacaona: Golden flower: Girl: Aztec: Apozanolotl: Name of the Aztec … 16, num. In the Aztec pantheon, there were many gods who has specific powers and thus different temples were reserved for different gods. An important aspect of Aztec ritual was the impersonation of deities. Aztec means people from Aztlan. AZTEC RELIGION. The higher the rank of the warrior the better he is looked at as a sacrifice. At Tenochtitlán, the principal Aztec city, “between 10,000 and 80,400 people” were sacrificed over the course of four days for the dedication of the Great Pyramid in 1487, according to Ross Hassig . The second: the Earth-mother gods, the pulque gods, and Xipe Totec. The Aztecs believed in a multiple-deity universe, with different gods who reigned over different aspects of Aztec society, serving and responding to Aztec specific needs. Afterwards, they also undertook ritual bathing. A big part of their religion was ritual sacrifices. QUETZALCOATL: Aztec Nahuatl name meaning "feathered serpent." Thus grand temples were built throughout the Aztec Empire. Sahagun reports that the priests had very strict training, and had to live very austere and ethical lives involving prolonged vigils, fasts, and penances. For millennia, the practice of human sacrifice was widespread in Mesoamerican and South American cultures. […] President Lincoln said in 1862: “the times are dark, the... […] and nurturing maternal energy associated with great mother figures such... ... [Trackback] [...] Read More Infos here: slife.org/ethics-in-religion/ [...], […] https://www.discovermongolia.mn/about-mongolia/culture-art-history/religion-in-mongolia https://slife.org/mongolian-shamanism/ https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-religions-are-practiced-in-mongolia.html […], ... [Trackback] [...] Find More Informations here: slife.org/western-slang-lingo-and-phrases/ [...], ... [Trackback] [...] Read More: slife.org/mens-rights-movement/ [...]. Furthermore, all the calpullis had special temples dedicated to the patron gods of the calpulli. The most spectacular ritual was the New Fire ceremony which took place every 52 years and involved every citizen of the Aztec realm. In this lesson, we'll explore the gods and goddesses of one such ancient religion, that of the A… Close to the temple steps there was usually a sacrificial slab and braziers. Larger temples also featured subsidiary chambers accommodating lesser deities. […] This literature was highly treasured by many Jewish enthusiasts, in... Sacrifice and Flaying of Captives, mock battles, gladiatorial sacrifice, priests wear victims skin for 20 days, military ceremonies. The nature of teotl is a key element in the understanding of the fall of the Aztec empire. Societies were unequal, with an upper and peasant class. It has been widely believed that this means that they believed them to be gods, but a better understanding of teotl might suggest that they were merely seen as “mysterious” or “inexplicable”. This list of Aztec boy names with their meanings is sure to entice you. This legendary vision is pictured on the Coat of Arms of Mexico. . This worldview is best described in the myth of the five suns recorded in the Codex Chimalpopoca, which recounts how Quetzalcoatl stole the bones of the previous generation in the underworld and how later the gods created four successive worlds or “suns” for their subjects to live in, all of which were destroyed. New Perspectives, ABC-CLIO Inc. Santa Barbara, CA; Denver, CO and Oxford, England. The Aztec culture, successor of earlier civilizations, together with the associated Maya culture, laid great emphasis on astronomical observation and on a complex religious calendar. The temple house (calli) itself was relatively small, although the more important ones had high and ornately carved internal ceilings. The victim(s) would be housed, fed, and dressed accordingly. The heads of these lodges, although not full-time religious specialists, had some ritual and moral duties. The Aztecs, the Late Postclassic civilization that the Spanish conquistadors met in Mexico in the 16h century, believed in a complex and diversified pantheon of gods and goddesses. The Aztecs would often adopt gods from different cultures and allow them to be worshiped as part of their pantheon. On the state level, religion was controlled by the Tlatoani and the high priests governing the main temples in the ceremonial precinct of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. It was polytheistic, but tended to vary depending on specific community. The Party of the Lie (from The Stream) says: Agape, Aquarius & the Star of Bethlehem: America’s Return to Hope – Astro-Insights Blog says: 1komma5grad-quellen – Matthias Ziemer Photography says: Earth’s Crisis and Evolution Series- Part 1 Finding Commonality in Religious and Spiritual Pathways – SacredFireofKnowledge says: Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window), Agape, Aquarius & the Star of Bethlehem: America’s Return to Hope – Astro-Insights Blog. Many gods had multiple aspects with different names, where each name highlighted a specific function or trait of the god. Sahagun and Duran describe the pairs of high priests (quetzalcoatlus) who were in charge of the major pilgrimage centres (Cholula and Tenochtitlan) as enjoying immense respect from all levels of Aztec society—akin to archbishops—and a level of authority that partly transcended national boundaries. But the larger the effort required of the god, the greater the sacrifice had to be. In the table below, the veintena festivals are shown, the deities with which they were associated and the kinds of rituals involved. ThoughtCo, Aug. 25, 2020, thoughtco.com/aztec-religion-main-aspects-169343. Priests were educated at the Calmecac if they were from noble families and in the Telpochcalli if they were commoners. Mexica legends identify the Toltecs and the cult of Quetzalcoatl with the mythical city of Tollan, which they also identified with the more ancient Teotihuacan. Mictlantecuhtli; Mictlantecuhtzi; Tzontemoc; Lord of Mictlan; Religion and Culture: Aztec, Mesoamerica; Family Relationships: Husband of Mictecacihuatl; Symbols, Iconography, and Attributes of Mictlantecuhtli . Throughout society, each level had their own rituals and deities and played their part in the larger rituals of the community. Jul 27, 2017 - The Aztecs believed in numerous gods (polytheism); they basically had a god for everything! The most important celestial entities in Aztec religion are the Sun, the Moon, and the planet Venus (both as “morning star” and “evening star”). AZTEC RELIGION developed in the capital city of Tenochtitl á n in the Valley of Mexico between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries ce. Thus as the sun was believed to dwell in the underworld at night to rise reborn in the morning and maize kernels were interred to later sprout anew, the human and divine existence was also envisioned as being cyclical. But in the history of humanity, this was not always the case, and it is still not the case in other parts of the world. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. The earth and the underworld were both open for humans to enter, whereas the upper plane in the sky was impenetrable to humans. The Aztec world consisted of three main parts: the earth world on which humans lived (including Tamoanchan, the mythical origin of human beings), an underworld which belonged to the dead (called Mictlan, “place of death”), and the upper plane in the sky. For festivals, temple steps and tiers were also festooned with flowers, banners and other decorations. Cultural Aztec Names That Are Gender Neutral. Both high priests were called by the title Quetzalcoatl—the high priest of Huitzilopochtli was Quetzalcoatl Totec Tlamacazqui and the high priest of Tlaloc was Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc Tlamacazqui. Mictlantecuhtli is God of these domains: Death; South; Owls; Spiders; Dogs (because Aztecs believed that dogs accompanied souls to the underworld) Story … These rituals were the ones that involved a sacrifice of humans. Continual rebuilding enabled Tlatoani and other dignitaries to celebrate their achievements by dedicating new sculptures, monuments, and other renovations to the temples. Existence was envisioned as straddling the two worlds in a cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. How about having a look and finding a name for your baby boy. To the Mexicas, the Toltecs were the originators of all culture; toltecayotl was a synonym for culture. "The Aztec Religion and Gods of the Ancient Mexica." The role of humans was to maintain this balance by practicing appropriate ceremonies and sacrifices. Likewise, each part of life had one or more deities associated with it and these had to be paid their dues in order to achieve success.