The Legend
The Aztec celebration of day of the dead all started because of the Aztec belief of how human life came to be. According to one of the versions of the legend, humans had been made from bones of the previous life. Aztec believed that there has been five worlds created, four of which were previously destroyed killing the human raise. After the firth world was created (the world in which we humans live in now) the god Quetzacoatl wanted to once again create human life that had been previously abolished with the destruction of the fourth sun. To once again create human life Quetzacoatl when on a passage to the underworld with his guide dog Xolotl. He wanted to retrieve human bones from the 9th circle of the underworld which was guarded by Mictlantecuhtli- the Aztec god of death and the ruler of Mictal. When he got there Mictlantecuhtli was reluctant to give him the bones, so he gave him a task to achieve first. After he had completed the task Quetzacoatl started gathering the human bones but Mictlantecuhtli refused to allow him to gather bones, so she sent people after him to ...
They had at least 128 gods, including but not limited to the divine beings of “rain, fire, water, corn, the sky, and the sun.” They were honored in numerous ways: ceremonies and festivals, dances and feasts, and by having humans sacrificed to them. (Background Essay) Read those last few words again. As said in the popular children’s show Sesame Street, “one of these things is not like the other”. The integration of human sacrifice into Aztec culture was not nearly as subtle as written above, though: The most important Aztec deity in their whole religion, Huitzilopochtli, was the sun god. According to Aztec creation myths, Huitzilopochtli required a great deal of power to raise the sun every morning and keep the night from overpowering day for too long. This strength was drawn from regular consumption of human blood and hearts. This in turn caused the Aztecs to strongly believe in needing to give these things to him. According to the Aztecs, sacrificing people to Huitzilopochtli was the ideal way to provide him with these
Why did the culture and customs require human blood to survive? How did high Aztec society view these sacrifice? These answers are easy to obtain using anthropology and archeology and historical documents from the time such as the infamous letters of Cortez. To the first question o why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice to understand the reasons one must understand their epic religious beliefs. The Aztecs thought the world would end if they did not sacrifice human blood to their gods. The Gods were always locked in an epic battle and needed human blood to keep the universe from being destroyed. According to Aztec mythology, this world was the fifth and last universe so human blood was needed to continue the universe and prevent its destruction. The world had been destroyed four times before by the gods and it was up to the Aztecs who thought they were in the center of the world to stop its
The religious beliefs of the Aztec’s was bloody they believed they had to make many sacrifices to appease the gods. The sacrifices were an important aspect of the Aztec religion. At the root of these interesting rituals, were the beliefs that the gods needed to be nourished by human beings. This was accomplished through human blood. They did this by a practice called bloodletting. Bloodletting is intentionally harming and drawing blood from the body. Those who were higher in status within the Aztec religion were expected to give the most blood during these Aztec rituals.
The Aztec religion was a polytheistic religion and was a combination of many beliefs and practices of other Mesoamerican cultures and religion.Religion was very important to the Aztec and they had temples for the Gods they worshipped.They worshipped this Gods Huitzilopochtli is the God of war, Quetzalcoatl is the feathered serpent and is the God of morning and evening, Tonatiuh is the sun God, and Patecatl is the God of healing and fertility.The Aztec
Since human sacrifice is a very dark and twisted subject, historians don’t talk about it as much as their agriculture. Even though that it is true that human sacrifice is dark, it is also a very important part of Aztec society. Human sacrifice was basically a part of their religion. The Aztecs thought that without this ceremony, they wouldn’t get different things that their gods and goddesses bring. For instance, the Aztecs believed that the gods and goddesses would bring crops, sun, rain, existence, etc, and the only way to keep them pleased was by human blood. In history we learn about agriculture and different ways agriculture is important, but we never learned about human sacrifice before. So, this a new thing that everyone is learning, and this is something more interesting than learning about
Why do people celebrate death? Many people including myself have wondered this, and when I first heard of the mexican holiday Dia De Los Muertos. Translated in english, day of the dead is a holiday where instead of mourning lost ones they remember their lost ones by making alters, decorating their graves with things they used to like or their favourite food and celebrate their life. This mexican tradition is now celebrated throughout the united states aswell and this year we decided to dedicate alters to people we lost in the battle against police brutality. We have lost so many souls in the past decade that a black lives matter movement was created. Its sad that it even had to get to this point but all we can do now is fight for change and
One of principle beliefs of the Aztec religion involved the origins of the universe. Aztec adherents believed that their city, Tenochtitlan, was where the forces of the heavens and the underworld were connected, a similar idea that is represented by the ‘World Tree’. The heavens of their religion were divided into 13 levels with Ometeotl, the supreme creator, living in the highest 2 levels. As the World Tree suggests, their city was connected through the roots to the underworld, which in the Aztec religion consisted of 9 levels of Michtlan. Their belief in a supernatural dimension that was beyond their human experience meant that the gods were responsible for the creation of the Aztec world and provided a moral framework for their lives. Aztecs believed the myth of the Four Past Worlds where Ometeotl’s four sons were given the task of creating the world and humans to live in it. The sons created, fought and violently destroyed each others’ worlds until the new Earth and Sun were born. The two Gods, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcotl, met a great Earth monster Tlaltecuhtli and killed her, threw her tail into the sky to make the he...
In total, it is a three-day celebration starting on October thirty-first and reaches to November second. Celebrating death and honoring the dead are its focal points. It is believed that during this time, the spirits of those who have died return to their earthly homes, where they are made welcome with gifts, flowers, and food (“Mexico” 218-226). In Mexico, festivals to honor the dead have been celebrated for hundreds of years, beginning in the fifteenth century when the Aztec controlled the region. These early festivals were meant to honor the Aztec god of death and were held during harvest time (“Halloween and Festivals of the Dead” 195-209). The Aztec also honored their dead during the month-long harvest celebration. As a part of these celebrations, many prisoners of war were sacrificed to the Aztec sun and war god, Huitzilopochtli (“Mexico”
One of the main things the Aztecs are known for are their human sacrifice rituals. They believed that life and balance would not be possible without offering sacrificial blood to the gods since the gods sacrificed themselves to give them the sun. Burying the dead was seen as an act of feeding the earth. The Aztecs preformed two rituals for the dead, the first being for children and the second being for adults. The ritual for adults put special focus on warriors who died in
The religion and culture of the Aztecs played a role in the way the way they thought and fought. They worshiped the war-god Huitzilopochtli. He was identified with the sun and was called "the Giver of life" and "the Preserver of Life" (xxxix). The religion carried some ridiculous rituals such as human sacrifice along with using magicians and wizards to cast spells. In war conditions, human sacrifice played a big role because the Aztecs would not fight to kill,...
A major element of Aztec life was religion, as often is in the case in ancient civilizations. The Aztecs were a polytheistic people, and they often made use of human sacrifice to please their gods. Diaz often makes reference to the blood-stained walls of the Aztec temples in his account of the conquest. In reference to the success of Cortes and his soldiers, an anci...
In the Hispanic culture such as Guatemala and Mexico, the Dia de Los Mortos is celebrate on November 1st and 2nd. Families’ getter to go to the cemeteries together; they clean the graveyard and bring flowers to their loved ones. They also decorate skulls with the name of the departed written on the forehead. Many
When honouring the gods that they believed helped them pursue life, it took no limit to satisfy the gods. Egyptians had a way in which they had preist and their Pharaohs to communicate with the gods using rituals and ceremonies to doll like figures or idols that they treated like real people. Aztecs had a different idea when it came to honouring the gods. They believed human blood was the most precious item you could give to a god in which
...parts of the celebration, October 31st, November 1st, and finally November 2nd. On October 31st, it is seen that the kid’s souls return. November 1st is considered the adult’s day of returning, and November 2nd is when all souls have returned from the dead and there is a big celebration. People of Mexico celebrate by making many baked goods and cooking meals, making objects such as masks and decorating papers and toy coffins to prepare for the return of the souls.
Religion was very important in Aztec civilizations. They worshiped hundreds of gods and goddesses. They all stand for different things like, the sun and water to death. According to Ian Mursell/Mexicolore Aztecs believed “the gods created and controlled the world and kept the sun moving.”