All about the ancient tribes
What did the Aztecs regard as sacred? Tlaloc, the rain deity, Huitzilopochtli, patron of the Mexica tribe, Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent and god of wind and learning, and Tezcatlipoca, the cunning and elusive god of fate and fortune, were among the most significant gods in Aztec religion.
Major Aztec Gods: Huitzilopochtli. The Aztecs believed in a number of prominent gods who towered above the other gods and goddesses in terms of their influence and strength. Huitzilopochtli, commonly known as Huitzilopochtl, was not only the patron god of the Mexica people but also one of the most powerful gods in Aztec religion.
Recent (as of July 28, 2018) The religion of the Aztecs consisted of a diverse collection of beliefs, rites, and gods. These elements assisted the Aztecs and Mexica to make sense of the physical reality of their world as well as the fact that life and death were real.
Cannibalism and ceremonial sacrificing of humans were only two of the many types of ceremonies that were done for the gods of the Aztec culture. Human sacrifice was the primary purpose for which war captives were utilized, and as a result, the empire engaged in continuous conflict with other city-states in order to secure a stable supply of war captives.
The Maya followed a polytheistic religion, similar to that of the Aztecs; but, in contrast to the Aztecs, the Maya did not worship a single deity, whereas the Aztecs regarded Huitzilopochtli as their primary deity. The Aztecs had a holy calendar consisting of 365 days that was utilized for agriculture, and their writing system was based on glyphs (symbols that stand for sound or words).
The Sun, the Moon, and Venus (in both its roles as the ″morning star″ and the ″evening star″) are considered to be the three celestial beings of the greatest significance in Aztec religion. The Aztecs were often referred to as the ″people of the sun″ in popular culture. Worship of many of the most important Aztec gods and goddesses continues in the modern or contemporary world.
No less than 200 gods and goddesses, split into three distinct categories, have been found by academics researching the religion of the Aztecs (also known as the Mexica). Each group is responsible for monitoring a different facet of the cosmos, including the heavens or the sky, the precipitation, fertility, and agriculture, and lastly, conflict and the offering of lives.
In the Aztec creation myth, Ometecuhtli was born of himself, and as a result, the androgynous being’s two genders played the roles of husband and wife to give birth to the other four major gods of the Aztec religion: Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Xipe Totec. These gods, in turn, represented the four cardinal directions.
Huītzilōpōchtli
Huitzilopochtli | |
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Ethnic group | Aztec, (Mexica) |
Festivals | Panquetzaliztli |
Personal information | |
Parents | Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl (Codex Zumarraga)Mixcoatl and Coatlicue (Codex Florentine) |
Huitzilopochtli was venerated by the Aztecs, an indigenous people group from Mexico. The Aztecs thought that Huitzilopochtli waged an epic fight with his sister every day while the sun pursued the moon. At Hueteocalli, an Aztec temple dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and the place where the Aztecs carried out human sacrifices, the Aztecs constructed their city.
Aztec priests would cut open the chests of those who were being sacrificed using obsidian blades that were razor sharp, and then they would offer the gods the victims’ hearts while they were still beating.
The Aztecs were renowned throughout history for their achievements in agriculture, land management, art, and architecture. They constructed temples and other places of worship in addition to developing the ability to write and a calendar system. They were also notorious for their ferocity and lack of mercy for others. They offered human sacrifices as a way to appease their gods.
The term ″Mesoamerican religion″ refers to a collection of native faiths that were practiced extensively throughout Mesoamerica prior to the arrival of the Spanish. The religion of the Aztecs and the religion of the Maya are two of the most well-known examples of Mesoamerican religious practices and beliefs.
The Aztecs believed in an infinite number of gods and goddesses, one for each facet of their society and way of life.
The subsequent life Aztecs did believe in an afterlife, and there are some Aztecs today who still hold this belief. However, their beliefs regarding the afterlife are distinct from those of a large number of other civilizations in a number of significant respects. The majority of Aztecs held the ancient belief that after death, most individuals traveled to the same place in the underworld.