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| Aztec religion | |
|---|---|
| Name | Aztec religion |
| Region | Mesoamerica |
| Primary sources | Florentine Codex, Codex Borgia, Codex Mendoza |
| Period | Postclassic period (c. 1300–1521) |
| Major deities | Huitzilopochtli, Tlaloc, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca |
| Language | Nahuatl |
| Temples | Templo Mayor |
Aztec religion was the complex religious system practiced by the Nahua peoples centered at Tenochtitlan and across the Triple Alliance (Aztec) during the later Postclassic period of Mesoamerica. It integrated ritual practice, cosmology, and political authority, drawing on earlier traditions from Teotihuacan, Toltec culture, and neighboring polities such as the Mixtec, Zapotec, and Tlaxcala. Primary sources for its study include accounts by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, ethnographic records by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún compiled in the Florentine Codex, and pictorial manuscripts like the Codex Borgia and Codex Mendoza.
Nahua cosmology envisioned a multilayered universe divided into heavens and underworlds described in texts tied to Nahuatl language cosmography, with the centrality of the axis mundi embodied by the Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan. The cosmos was governed by cyclical ages or suns reflected in the Aztec calendar stone iconography and in myth cycles paralleled in sources such as the Codex Chimalpopoca and the Anales de Tlaltelolco. Concepts of cosmic vacancy and renewal informed statecraft in the Triple Alliance (Aztec) and diplomatic rites performed with polities like Texcoco (altepetl) and Tlatelolco. Celestial bodies—Tonatiuh, Centeotl, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli—were both timekeepers and active agents in omens recorded by historians including Diego Durán.
The divine pantheon centered on major deities such as Huitzilopochtli, Tlaloc, Quetzalcoatl, and Tezcatlipoca, each associated with domains, lineage claims, and state ritual obligations upheld by rulers like Moctezuma II. Secondary and regional gods—Xipe Totec, Xochiquetzal, Chalchiuhtlicue, Mictlantecuhtli, Tonatiuh—interacted in myth cycles preserved in manuscripts such as the Codex Telleriano-Remensis and the Codex Vaticanus A. Priesthoods negotiated authority with military institutions including the Jaguar Warriors and Eagle Warriors who performed votive rites tied to gods like Huitzilopochtli. Lineage deities and tutelary spirits linked noble houses in city-states such as Culhuacan and Tlacopan to sacred genealogies recorded in annals like the Codex Boturini.
Ritual practice ranged from household offerings described in ethnohistorical works by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún to grand public ceremonies at plazas adjoining temples in Tenochtitlan and Texcoco (altepetl). Human sacrifice, a focal point in colonial descriptions by Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Diego Durán, intersected with animal offerings, bloodletting rituals associated with elite figures such as Cuitláhuac and rites of passage for warriors returning from campaigns against rivals like Tlaxcala and Cholula. Ceremonies were timed by the ritual calendar systems maintained in codices like the Codex Borbonicus and involved paraphernalia, chants, and dances attested in accounts by Andrés de Olmos and Mateo García. Sacrificial rites served political ends including legitimization of rulers from dynasties such as those of Tenochtitlan and Texcoco (altepetl).
Religious specialists included high priests (tēuctli equivalents) who oversaw temple complexes like the Templo Mayor, calendar-keepers who maintained the tonalpohualli, and hereditary cult specialists attached to noble lineages recorded in the Codex Mendoza. Institutions housed in temple precincts coordinated offerings, military vows, and education at schools such as the calmecac and telpochcalli which trained elite youths and warriors including members of the Eagle Warriors and Jaguar Warriors. Missionary and colonial interactions with clergy from the Spanish Empire produced documentary records by figures like Fray Bernardino de Sahagún and Diego Durán, who described the organizational structures and initiation rites performed by priests serving deities such as Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl.
Sacred topography centered on temple-mounds and urban temples in centers such as Tenochtitlan, Texcoco (altepetl), Tlatelolco, and earlier sites like Tula (Mesoamerican site) and Teotihuacan. The ritual year combined the 260-day tonalpohualli and the 365-day xiuhpohualli used to schedule festivals and ceremonies documented in the Codex Borbonicus and the Codex Borgia. Major festivals—New Fire ceremony linked to the xiuhmolpilli, the month of Tlacaxipehualiztli honoring Xipe Totec, agricultural rites to Centeotl and Chicomecoatl—drew participants from calpulli and altepetl such as Culhuacan and Azcapotzalco. Urban plazas, ballcourts, and temple stairways formed stages for public rites and market-linked observances in annals compiled by Chimalpahin.
Cosmogonic myths recount successive creations and destructions of suns described in the Codex Chimalpopoca, the Florentine Codex, and the Codex Vaticanus A, where deities like Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca alternately sacrifice and fashion the world. Narratives of origin include journeys of culture heroes connected to Tula (Mesoamerican site) traditions and migration accounts linking founding lineages of Tenochtitlan to ancestral homelands such as Aztlan found in the Codex Boturini. Underworld journeys to Mictlan guided by psychopomp deities like Mictlantecuhtli and calendar omens involving deities such as Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli framed ethical and ritual expectations for individuals and communities chronicled by Diego Durán and Fray Bernardino de Sahagún.
Following the conquest by the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and the fall of Tenochtitlan, Nahua religious forms underwent syncretism with Christianity in Mexico, producing hybrid practices recorded in colonial chronicles by Bernardino de Sahagún and in artifacts preserved in institutions like the National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico City). Survivals are evident in festivals syncretized with saint days in communities such as San Juan Teotihuacán and San Andrés Mixquic, and in the intellectual revival of Nahua studies by scholars like Miguel León-Portilla and institutions such as the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Archaeological work at sites including Templo Mayor excavation and analyses of codices such as the Codex Mendoza continue to reshape understanding of ritual practice, cosmology, and the enduring influence of Nahua religion across modern Mexico City and broader Mesoamerica.
Category:Mesoamerican mythology