Aztecs: Defeated by Disease

Fact: Most Aztecs were actually defeated by disease, not war.

While many may attempt to claim that the Spaniards beat the Aztecs through military brilliance, this could not be further from the truth. In fact, the original attacks of the Spanish were thoroughly rebuffed and they had to beat a hasty retreat. The Aztecs actually had a fairly good chance at beating the Spanish and the overall war was a fairly close one. It can be easily said that if not for the smallpox contracted from the Europeans that wiped out so many of them, especially their leaders, that it is extremely unlikely they would have fallen to the Spanish. The amount of harm caused by European diseases was tremendous, it is estimated that over twenty million Mexicans died in a period of just five years due to the diseases brought over by the Spanish.

http://listverse.com/2013/02/21/10-fascinating-facts-about-the-aztecs/

Aztecs: Mandatory Schooling

Fact: The Aztecs had mandatory schools separated between boys and girls.

While the Aztecs put strong emphasis on parents teaching their children properly, they also had mandatory public schooling for all children. Those of a noble class had different schools to attend and schools were also separated by gender. Boys of nobility would be sent to the Calmecac School where they learned from the priests about history, astronomy, art, and how to govern and lead.. Boys of lower caste were sent to the Cuicacalli School, which was much more focused on preparing them for possible service in the military as warriors. Girls were sent to separate schools and much more of their education was focused at home where they were taught domestic duties such as cooking and weaving.

http://listverse.com/2013/02/21/10-fascinating-facts-about-the-aztecs/

More Aztec Games

• Aztecs - Fling the Teacher

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/games/fling/aztecs/

• Aztec God Games

http://www.kongregate.com/games/fightclub69/aztec-god-game

• Aztec Mind 2

http://www.clixsense.com/en/Games/Puzzles/0/1231/Aztec_Mind_2

• Aztec Hidden Objects

http://www.bigmoneyarcade.com/index.php?action=playgame&gameid=822

Aztec Religion

1. Ancient Aztec religion was a complex interaction of gods, dates, directions and colors. It seems that most of the preoccupation in the religion had to do with fear of the nature, and a fear of the end of the world.
   
   By the time the Mexica's Empire (Mexica is the proper name for the Axtecs) was at its height, the political and religions systems were in close interaction. The actions of the ruling classes and common people can be best understood if we look way back to the Mexica understanding of the creation, or rather creations, of the world. Because the religion was a mixture from various peoples, there are variations. We'll give a general overview here.

   In the Beginnings

   
   Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent
   
   According to ancient Aztec religion, it took the gods 5 tries to create the world.  These attempts were foiled because of infighting among the gods themselves.  After he was knocked from his exalted position by rivals, the first creator, Tezcatlipoca, turned into a jaguar and destroyed the world.  Under similar circumstances, the world was created and then destroyed with wind, and then two floods.
   
   Each time a creator-god would take a turn being the sun.  Finally the gods had a council, and decided one of them would have to sacrifice himself to be the new sun.  Nanauatl, a lowly, humble god became the sun, but there was a problem - he wasn't moving.  The gods realized that they all must sacrifice themselves so that humans could live.  The god Ehecatlsacrificed the others, and a mighty wind arose to move the sun at last.
   
   This was no free sacrifice, however.  Not only would the people have to help this weak sun to keep moving, they would also be responsible to repay the sacrifice.  The world remained in a precarious position!
   
   Once the sun was dealt with, the world had to be recreated.  Quetzalcoatl (meaning feathered serpent) was the one who would create humans.  Of course, people had been created several times before, so Quetzalcoatl descended into the underworld to retrieve their bones.  He tripped as he fled, and the bones shattered into different sized pieces, which is why people are all different sizes.  By adding his own blood to the mix, people came to life.
   
   For another variation and more detail, see the Aztec creation story here.
   

   The calendar and the sun

   The ancient Aztec religion was highly focused on keeping nature in balance.  One false step could lead to natural disaster.  The weak sun could stop moving.  In the sky was a constant battle between light and darkness, a battle that would someday be lost.
   
   Huitzilopochtli (Hummingbird of the South) was the warrior sun (either the sun god or the one who fights for the sun god, Tonatiuh (the name given to Nanauatl)).  Huitzilopochtli (or Tonatiuh) needed blood sacrifice in order to win the battle against darkness.  Either there would be ritual blood-letting, or actual people would be sacrificed.  Those sacrificed would rise to fight with him.  And so human sacrifices became more and more common in Mexico.  Often battles would be fought just to capture prisoners to sacrifice - the Aztec flower war (or Aztec flowery war).
   
   Every 52 years, the people were terrified that the world would end.  All religious fires were extinguished, people all over the empire would destroy their furniture and precious belongings and go into mourning.  When the constellation of the Pleiades appeared, the people would be assured that they were safe for another 52 years.
   
   The world in ancient Aztec religion was divided up into 4 quadrants, and the center - their city Tenochtitlán.  The heavens were divided into 13 ascending layers, and the underworld 9 descending layers.  The heavens and underworld may be better described as wheels within wheels, a more common form for the Aztecs than layers or lines.  The temple in Tenochtitlán was also the place where the forces of heaven and earth intersected.

   The end

   Prophecies were a part of the ancient Aztec religion.  Many scholars today believe that the Aztec people thought that the conquerer Hernan Cortes was their god-hero Quetzalcoatl, who had been banished.  Whether or not the more educated upper class shared this belief is questionable.
   
   The afterlife of a person was based mostly on how they died.  Some, such as those sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli, would join the battle against the darkness.  In ancient Aztec religion, some would eventually be reincarnated as birds or butterflies, or eventually humans.  Some would be, for a time, disembodied spirits roaming the earth.  Most at some point would have to make the long journey through the 9 levels of the underworld.  People would be buried in a squatting position, with items that would help them in their journey.  In the end they would live in darkness.

   
   The great temple at Tenochtitlán today,
   where temples to the gods Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc stood

   To summarize

   Ancient Aztec religion was focused on how the gods, humans and nature were interconnected.  There was a strong emphasis on the worship of Huitzilopochtli.  The military conquest and ritual sacrifices were all related, and in a great part focused on helping Huitzilopochtli keep the sun strong so that disaster could be averted every 52 years.

http://www.aztec-history.com/ancient-aztec-religion.html

Aztec Celebrations

Aztec Rain Festival Celebration

Celebrated 3 times a year.

Much of Mexico was under Aztec rulership for about 100 years up until the time when the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez and his soldiers invaded the territory in 1521. Cortez and his men observed various festivals held in honour of the god of rain and lightning, Tlaloc.

The Aztecs celebrated the first rain festival at the beginning of the agricultural year in February, in the course of which a priest or shaman carried out a number of rituals to encourage rain-fall .

The second rain festival was offered to Tlaloc and other rain gods in March, once flowers had begun to bloom, as these signified the arrivals of the first new life from the earth.

A third Aztec rain festival was celebrated in autumn in order to encourage rain-fall. At the third rain festival, Aztec people formed shapes of small mountains and images of the god, Tlaloc, as he was thought to live in a high mountain.

As superstitious modern folklore has it, during the Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968, it poured with rain, because of a certain act of some students who created a statue of Tlaloc and sat on its top. Legend has it that Tlaloc did not quite approve of this and the sky came down during the Olympic Games held in the city that year.

Cuauhtemoc, Last Aztec Emperor

Homage to Cuauhtemoc Festival

_{Celebrated in August.}

Cuauhtemoc was the last emperor of the Aztecs, whose memory is honoured every year during a celebration held in front of his statue on the Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.

In this Aztec festival, the story of his life is told, detailing the struggle against the Spaniards both in native Indian languages and in Spanish, while Conchero dancers perform their world-famous dances, wearing feathered headdresses trimmed with mirrors and beads.

They carry with them images of Jesus Christ and many saints to represent the blending of Aztec and Spanish cultures. Most of these Conchero groups consist of 50 or more dancers, each performing in his own rhythm and to his own accompaniment. The pace of the dance performance rises gradually until it reaches a sudden climax, which is followed by a moment of silence.

Mexican poet Octavio Paz claims that the Spaniards' invasion of Mexico brought about an era in which the Aztec culture was almost entirely forgotten or forsaken. The Emperor Cuauhtemoc, in his words, is honoured for his "bold and intimate acceptance of death".

New Fire Ceremony Festival

_{Celebrated every 52 years.}

The Aztec calendar divided the year into 18 months of 20 days each, plus a five-day "unlucky" period. The Aztecs also knew a ritualistic period of 260 days, made up of 13 months with 20 named days in each. When one cycle was superimposed on the other, a "century" of 52 years resulted.

At the end of each of these 52-year cycles, the Aztecs were scared that the world would come to an end, therefore the most impressive and important of all festivals was held in these periods. Widely known as the New Fire Ceremony, this Aztec festival involved the putting out of the old altar fire and the lighting of a new one, as a symbol of the new cycle of life, represented by the dawning of the new era.

On the day of the New Fire Ceremony all the fires in the Valley of Mexico were extinguished before sundown. Great masses of Aztec people journeyed from out of Mexico City to a temple several miles away on the Hill of the Star, following the lead of their priests or shamans. On this hill the priests lingered, waiting for a celestial sign coming from any direction as the firmament of the stars could be observed quite well from this spot. The sign would signify whether the world would end or whether a new cycle would begin.

The marrow of this ritual was actualized when the constellation known as the Pleiades passed the zenith enabling life to go on as it had. Had it failed to do so, the sun, the stars and other celestial bodies would change into ferocious beasts who would thereafter descend to the earth and devour all the Aztecs. Then an earthquake would finish the destruction.

In each year, once a favorable interpretation of the celestial signal was made, burning torch-light were carried by runners all through the valley to rekindle the fires in each house.

Celebration of Quecholli Festival

_{Celebrated on the 280th day of the Aztec year, at end of 14th month.}

Mixcoatl, also known as the Cloud Serpent, was the Aztec deity of the chase, possessing the features of a deer or rabbit. He was associated with the morning star. One of the four creators of the world, he set a fire from sticks enabling the creation of humans.

The Quecholli Aztec festival is held honouring him by way of a ceremonial hunt. Quecholli was celebrated at the end of the 14th month, the same day on which weapons were made.

Celebration of the Vernal Equinox at Chichen Itza Festival

_{Celebrated on the 21st of March.}

Chichen Itza, one of the Mexico’s most famous and best preserved Mayan ruins, is situated on the Yucatan Peninsula. In each year on the Vernal Equinox, a beam of sunlight, as it hits the great El Castillo pyramid, brings into life a shadowy form that creates the illusion of a huge serpent slithering down its side.
                                     
The Aztecs held that this serpent was the feathered snake god, Quetzalcoatl, also Kukulcan of the Mayas. Since the time of the discovery of the annual awakening of the serpent god some 45 years ago, tourists from around the world have gathered on the site on the 21st of March. Not many are familiar with the fact that the snake can be observed four days before and after the equinox.

Tourists, waiting impatiently for the moment when the serpent becomes visible, can spend the time enjoying folk dancers, musicians, and poets. When finally the hours of sunlight equal the hours of darkness, the shadowy form of the serpent slides into view.

Although Quetzalcoatl can also be observed at the Autumnal Equinox in September, this being the rainy season, there is a fairly real chance cloudy weather might get in the way of enjoying the effect.

Festival of Xipe Totec Celebration

_{Celebrated in March.}

Xipe Totec was a war-god of the Aztecs, often called "Our Lord the Flayed One". Statues and images of Xipe Totec depict a god wearing a human skin. His festival, known as Tlacaxipehualiztli, was held in March.

Aztec warriors took the festival of Xipe Totec for an excellent opportunity to mimic the god himself. Slaughtering their prisoners of war, also cutting their hearts out, they removed their skins and wear them for the entire 20-day month. They would fight mock battles, after which they would dispose of the rotting skins of the slaughtered in caves or holes in the ground.

Modern scholars have read a little too much into this practice when they saw it as an agricultural metaphor, and the wearing of human skin as a symbolic representation of the process by which a seed grows inside a rotting hull before popping its head as a fresh shoot. More recent archaeological evidence discredits any connection between the Aztec festival of Xipe Totec and Aztec agricultural knowledge.

_{Celebrated for eight days, beginning on the 22nd of June.}

The ancient Aztec festival of Xilonen was celebrated in honour of the goddess of maize. Xilonen, also known as Chicomecoatl, just like other Aztec gods demanded human sacrifice during her ceremonies to sustain her interest in favor of the people.

Every night, unmarried girls, wearing their hair long and loose, representing their unmarried status, carried young green corn in offering to the goddess in a procession to her temple. A slave girl was picked to represent the goddess herself and dressed up in a fashion to resemble her and on the last night she was sacrificed in a ceremony for Xilonen.

http://haunty.hubpages.com/hub/Ancient-Aztec-Festivals-Celebrations-and-Holidays

*Aztecs History*

 The Aztec Empire was peopled by a group that was once nomadic, the Mexicas.  Their chroniclers told them that after their long journey from Aztlán, they found themselves to be outcasts, until they found the sign sent to them by their god Huitzilopochtli, and began to build their city.  And so the Mexica peoples continued, and the Aztec Empire began.


http://www.aztec-history.com/

Who are the Aztecs?

1.  The Aztecs are a tribe, according to their own legends, from Aztlan somewhere in the north of modern Mexico. From this place, which they leave in about the 12th century AD, there derives the name Aztecs by which they are known to western historians.
2.