Essay On Aztec Religion

The Aztec religion was a complex belief system. Its many aspects were intertwined with everyday Aztec life and the lives of other cultures that surrounded the Aztec empire. Their pantheon of gods, their temples, their priests and rituals were well known throughout the empire, and are still known today. The Aztec religion led the Mexica to their homeland, impacted their relations with other cultures, and in part, caused their fall. The Aztec religion was a complex network of gods, priests, and rituals. They lived their lives based on the constant threat of death or apocalyptic events. The world began by gods sacrificing themselves to become the sun. Even the origins of the Aztecs as a culture had its roots intertwined in religion. They had an origin story for themselves, and it directly involved their most important god, Huitzilopochtli, the war god. According to legend, he is the one who sent them on the journey to their new homeland in the Valley of Mexico. Once the Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Mexico, they began to absorb the aspects of other religions that surrounded them, in addition to the aspects of their faith they borrowed from more ancient civilizations such as the Toltecs and inhabitants of
All sacrifices took place at the top of the pyramid in the middle of Tenochtitlan. The most common sacrifice involved the victim, usually a war captive, walking to the top of the pyramid where the priests waited. They would then be grabbed by the priests, thrown on a stone face up, and the priest would cut into their chest and remove their heart. The heart would then be dedicated to the sun, and placed in a bowl. The spirit was believed to go to fight with Quetzalcoatl after death. Often, the bodies, once thrown to the foot of the pyramid were dismembered and the meat was given to the captor’s family. At the foot of the pyramid, the bodies would be decapitated, and the skulls