Mesoamerican Ethical Beliefs

As historians overview the history of the Aztecs they need to make sure to emphasize the importance of the human sacrifices that we completed by the Aztecs daily. This feature of the Aztecs is more notable because they deliberately didn’t occupy land for later sacrifices, it was the reason for many’s death, and they were willing to sacrifice warriors. It therefore must then be clear that the human sacrifices of the Aztecs must be emphasized more than the agriculture of the

The Aztecs were an ancient civilization that existed in present-day Mexico City from 1350-1519. The two most interesting parts of the Aztec civilization were their highly advanced agriculture and their religious beliefs, which included human sacrifice. Historians should emphasize the agricultural aspect because the Aztecs had an amazing farming system, and they centered their lives around agriculture. The modern-day Mexican culture chooses to focus on agriculture, and not make human sacrifice their focal point. Throughout the Aztec’s existence, they had an incredible farming system.

In the book Daily Life of The Aztecs On the Eve of the Spanish Conquest by Jacques Soustelle you are walked through what life was like for the Aztecs. You are in 16th Century Mexico, or to them Mexico-Tenochtilan. Soustelle does an excellent job immediately putting you in character with the introduction of the book. The book is broken down into seven different main chapters detailing major aspects of the Aztecs lives in the late 1500’s. You learn about where they lived, to the wars they fought, and what life was like for them from birth to death. In this paper I will further discuss four topics that were very crucial in the daily lives of the Aztecs. I will help you find a better understanding in their daily life as well as the many changes they migrated through over time. The four topics I will be discussing are: 1. Culture and Customs of the Aztecs 2. Civilization vs Barbarism 3. Art and Architecture 4. Education and Home Life.

This week in discussion we explored the Agriculture and Mythology of Mesoamerica focusing on the Aztecs and Mayans. As a group we discussed the similarities of the blood rituals in both the Aztec and Massai cultures. We believed that both of these cultures used blood in rituals and they believed that blood was sacred. The source of the blood however is different for the cultures where in Massai it is cow blood and for the Aztec it is usually human blood for sacrifice. Some group members believed that the Aztec were more violent as compared to the Massai and that they were crueler while the Massai respected the animals and regarded them as being sacred.

Like many religions they had festivals. Unlike most religions, these festivals were based on the Aztec calendar. http://www.crystalinks.com/aztecreligion.html Clothing

Ancient Aztec religion was different interaction of gods, dates, directions and colors. The most preoccupation in the religion of the Aztecs had to do with fear of the nature, and a fear of the end of the world. The Aztec religions believed that it took five gods to create the world. According to the Aztecs the attempts were preventing because if the hidden conflict among the gods

Well the aztecs had to major ways that they believed in. one was human sacrifice and the other was aztec agriculture. the one that i chose was aztec agriculture. I chose that because it seemed easir to me and because we use stuf that they had come up with.like the canals and the ittagaint and the islands. The aztecs were around 1350 to 1519. during that time they were in mexico city. And where they were there was 300,000 thousand people.they were not in a very big area. the religion i would stress about the most is aztec agriculture.and the three reasons that i'm gonna talk about is large scale, clever construction, and cultrera everyday life.

Before taking this course and completing this assigned reading, I knew one or two things about the religion assigned. People all around the world have so many differences and beliefs. Between the Aztecs and the Christians, they are not that much alike. Yes they have some similarities but their practices and teachings are different. Christians only believe in one God and the Aztecs believe in many gods. The Aztec religion is mainly focused on keep nature in balance. For as Christianity they believe in helping others, reading the Bible and being able to spread Gods word more. Christians believe God put us on this earth for a purpose. The rules that both the Aztecs and the Christians go by are no similar. They do things totally different. The religion of high God/gods, meanings. Some believe in more than one god and other believe there is only one God.

The religion of the Aztec, including their beliefs, customs and religions, acted as a tremendous influence on their government, economy, and culture. Religion was the foundation for the infamous culture of the Aztec Civilization. Through ceremonies of sacrifice, and the infusion of cosmology into their religion, the Aztecs sculpted a culture unlike that of any other civilization, and left behind a legacy to be studied and admired for generations to come. Religion ultimately shaped the unique civilization of the Aztecs, through cultivating the general outlook and values of the Aztecs, expanding the empire, and influencing the architecture and layout of their city.

The selfless act the gods committed led to one of the major reasons for human sacrifices which was that since the gods gave up their own life for the creation of the new world, that the Aztecs had to somehow respect and honor their action. They did this by creating an eighteen month calendar, which dedicated each month to a certain god. The Aztecs used scared and solar calendars to tell time and when all the possible combinations had been used, usually every fifty-two years, the Aztecs would go through a twelve-day period before the cycle started again (Benson 506).

The Aztecs and Incas possessed different ideological and intellectual values or developments throughout their powers. For instance, an image of the Aztecs shows their practice of human sacrifice through a ceremony and the building of large temples to honor the gods (Fefferman, “Human Sacrifice Mendoza”). Ideology was a major interest of the Aztecs for they sacrificed themselves for their many deities and cared more about them, unlike the Incas who did not practice sacrifice for their gods. Aztec

The panic in the eyes of the Aztec emperor’s victim escalated hastily, making nothing comprehensible and fearing what the life ahead of him has in store. Taking advantage of each element of the human body, the most important reason for sacrificing humans was donating the blood of the victim to one of the gods. The Aztecs utilized every resource and every part of the resource available to them to make them a proficient and accomplished civilization. The Aztec civilization adapted their way of life in Mesoamerica to become a notorious culture; from their advanced rituals and authority they continue their legacy to today.

In addition to sacrifices, religion even influenced the indigeneous peoples' geographic location. Most of us are familiar with the image that is on the Mexican flag; it is an eagle standing on a cactus, eating a snake. Huitzilopotchli, who was the leader of his people was told to leave Aztlan and travel south until he found a symbol to settle down. As he was traveling, he found an eagle on a cactus eating a snake and decided that that was the sign he was looking for; so he settled down. That now-famous image became the central symbol on the Mexican flag. This was symbolic to them because the eagle represented the sky or heaven, the cactus represented the underworld, and the snake represented the ground. In addition, the bird eating the snake on the cactus also represented duality, the coexistence of natural elements, as it fused together the bird which represented the sky, and the snake which represented the ground. Duality was important because it represented the stability and equality of everything(Covarrubias 2012). The stone of the fifth sun, also known as the “Aztec Calendar”, is a widely known symbol. However, what is not widely known is that the stone of the fifth sun is actually a religious reminder created by the Mechica/Aztecs. The four squares represent earth, fire, wind and water; and also represent the four previous suns. The two faces in the stone of the fifth sun appear

The religion of the Aztecs was made up of mainly three gods: Huitzilopochtli, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Below these three main gods were four creating gods. Below these four gods were many other gods, however the most important were Tlaloc, the rain god, Chalchihuitlicue, the god of growth and Xipe, the god of spring. The main thing that captures the attention of Aztec religion is their human sacrifice made to the different gods. Although human sacrifice was practiced around Mesoamerica, the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice in a large scale never seen before to date. The idea of human sacrifice was that Gods gave things to humans like food, rain, wealth, and other goods only if they were given human beings in return. The Aztecs believed that the goods liked best the living hearths of sacrificed captives. If the captive was a well skilled soldier and very brave then the Gods would return better goods to his people. This idea lead to wars were the Aztecs fought with other indians and capture their bravest men for sacrifice. As we can imagine,

Religion played a very important role in the Aztec and Inca culture. Religious rituals consisted of human sacrifice and polytheism. Their deities were inspired by nature and the earth’s physical makeup. Both appear to be similar but peel back the onion and notable differences reveal themselves. It is difficult for modern day society to understand how human sacrifice can exist in such advanced civilizations.