Aztec Religion

The Aztec religion is a polytheistic and monistic pantheism in which the Nahua concept of teotl was construed as the supreme god Ometeotl. It embraces a diverse pantheon of lesser gods and manifestations of nature. The religion of the common people tended to embrace its mythological and polytheistic aspects. The Aztec Empire's state religion sponsored both the monism of the upper classes and its more popular heterodoxies. The Aztec Empire officially recognized the more popular cults. The imperial cult was solely dedicated to the distinctive warlike patron god of Huitzilopochtli. Human sacrifice was common in worship ceremonies dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. These took place frequently throughout the region. Typically, multiple victims were sacrificed each day at any one of a number of temples. Subjugated peoples were allowed to retain their own religious traditions in conquered provinces so long as they included imperial god Huitzilopochtli in their local pantheons. The Empire, in turn, would often incorporate practices from newly conquered territories into the mainstream religion. In common with many other indigenous Mesoamerican civilizations, the Aztecs put great ritual emphasis on their calader. They scheduled festivals, government ceremonies, and even warfare around key transition dates in the Aztec calendar. Public ritual practices could involve food, storytelling, and dance, ceremonial warfare, the Mesoamerican ballgame, and human sacrifice. The cosmology of Aztec religion divides the world into thirteen heavens and nine earthly layers or netherworlds. The first heaven overlaps with the first terrestrial layer, so that heaven and the terrestrial layers meet at the surface of the Earth. Each level is associated with a specific set of deities and astronomical objects. The most important celestial entities in Aztec religion are the Sun, the Moon, and the planet Venus which serves as both morning star and evening star. Many leading deities of the Aztecs continue to be worshipped today. These deities like Tlaloc, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca are venerated by different names in various Mesoamerican cultures. For the Aztecs, significant are the rain god Tlaloc, Huitzilopochtli (patron of the Mexica tribe), Quetzalcoatl (the feathered serpent and god of wind and learning), and Tezcatlipoca (the shrewd, elusive god of destiny and fortune). Tezcatlipoca was also connected to war and sorcery. Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli were worshipped in shrines positioned at the top of the largest pyramid, Templo Mayor, in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (now the historic center of Mexico City). Another monument in the plaza stands in front of Templo Mayor and was devoted to the wind god, Ehecatl, who was an aspect or form of Quetzalcoatl. Nahua (the native peoples of Mexico) metaphysics centers around teotl, described as a single, dynamic, vivifying, eternally self-generating and self-regenerating sacred power, energy, or force. This is conceptualized in a type of monistic pantheism best manifested in the supreme god Ometeotl and includes a large pantheon of lesser gods and idealizations of natural phenomena such as stars and fire. Ōmeteōtl (meaning two gods) is a name used to refer to the pair of Aztec deities Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, who are also known as Tōnacātēcuhtli and Tonacacihuatl. Ometeotl was one as the first divinity, and split into Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl in order to reproduce and create the world. However, a legion of scholars question this interpretation.