What did the Aztec worship?

What did the Aztec worship?

The Aztecs had many gods but worshipped Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war, above all others. The Aztecs believed that they lived in the era of the fifth sun and that any day the world could end violently. In order to postpone their destruction and appease the gods, men performed human sacrifices.

How did the Aztecs view the sun?

According to Aztec cosmology, the sun god Huitzilopochtli was waging a constant war against darkness, and if the darkness won, the world would end. The keep the sun moving across the sky and preserve their very lives, the Aztecs had to feed Huitzilopochtli with human hearts and blood.

Who was the Aztec god of the sun?

Huitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli, also called Xiuhpilli (“Turquoise Prince”) and Totec (“Our Lord”), Aztec sun and war god, one of the two principal deities of Aztec religion, often represented in art as either a hummingbird or an eagle.

What did the Aztecs do to honor their gods?

The Aztecs built temples to honor their gods. Temples provided a place for the music of worship, a place for the private ceremony of personal bloodletting, and a place to conduct the many human sacrifices that the Aztecs believed were necessary to keep their gods happy.

Who was the Aztec sun god?

Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli, also called Xiuhpilli (“Turquoise Prince”) and Totec (“Our Lord”), Aztec sun and war god, one of the two principal deities of Aztec religion, often represented in art as either a hummingbird or an eagle.

What did the Aztecs believe happened to the sun every evening?

The Aztecs often went to war in order to take captives that they could use in their sacrifices. The Aztecs believed they were living under the fifth, or final, sun. They feared the day when the fifth sun would die and the world would come to an end.

Does Aztec mean sun god?

What is the Aztec Sun God called? The most commonly used name for the Aztec Sun God is Huitzilopochtli. This name comes from Nahuatl, the main language spoken by the Aztecs. “Huitzilin” means hummingbird, and “opochtli” means “left” or “south”.

Why did the Aztecs like the sun?

The Aztecs believed that the sun god needed daily nourishment (tlaxcaltiliztli) in the form of human blood and hearts and that they, as “people of the sun,” were required to provide Huitzilopochtli with his sustenance. The priests also burned a huge bark-paper serpent symbolizing the god’s primary weapon.

Where did the Aztecs go to worship?

The Aztecs built temples to honor their gods. Temples provided a place for the music of worship, a place for the private ceremony of personal bloodletting, and a place to conduct the many human sacrifices that the Aztecs believed were necessary to keep their gods happy. Some temples were huge structures.

Who is the Aztec sun god?

Why was the sun god important to the Aztec?

The People of the Sun: As mentioned above, the Aztecs believed that Huitzilopochtli played a key part in the creation of the world as we know it. For them, it was his ferociousness in his pursuit of his siblings that created day and night. He provided the sun which allows for crops to grow and people to be nourished.

Did the Aztecs believe in afterlife?

The Aztecs believed in an afterlife. After they died, the Aztecs believed they would be assigned a job to do that helped their gods. Warriors who died in battle were believed to turn into butterflies and hummingbirds. This helped the gods who created nature.

What were the religious beliefs of the Aztecs?

The Aztec people worshipped over 1,000 gods. They believed that the sun fought darkness every night and rose to save mankind. They believed the earth was flat. They also believed in 13 heavens and 9 hells. In the Ancient Aztec religion , it was believed that the gods controlled all life from the birth of a baby until the death of an older person.

Who was the Aztec god of the Sun?

Huītzilōpōchtli. In the Aztec religion , Huitzilopochtli ( Classical Nahuatl: Huītzilōpōchtli [wiːt͡siloːˈpoːt͡ʃt͡ɬi], modern Nahuatl pronunciation (help·info)) is a deity of war, sun, human sacrifice, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan . He was also the national god of the Mexicas , also known as Aztecs, of Tenochtitlan.

Who was the most important Aztec god?

Xolotl – The Underworld Dog God of the Aztecs . According to Aztec mythology, Xolotl was a deity normally associated with Quetzalcoatl, one of the most important gods in the Aztec pantheon.

Who was the Aztec god of death?

Mictlantecuhtli (pron. Mict-lan-te-cuht-li) or ‘Lord of the Land of the Dead’ was the Aztec god of death and worshipped across Mesoamerica . He ruled the underworld (Mictlán) with his wife Mictecacíhuatl.