12/24/2022 0 Comments Aztec civilization![]() ![]() Quetzalcóatl, the survivor of the age of the Wind Sun, brought civilization to the people. The Aztecs had four mythological eras: those of (1) the Water Sun, which was destroyed by flood, (2) the Sun of the Earth, which was destroyed by earthquake, (3) the Wind Sun, which was destroyed by a giant, with only Quetzalcóatl, the feathered serpent, remaining, prophesying the destruction of the Earth by wind and the evolution of humans into monkeys, and (4) the present Sun of Fire, which will end in a general conflagration. The Aztec calendar was the one common to much of Mesoamerica, and it comprised a solar year of 365 days and a sacred year of 260 days the two yearly cycles running in parallel produced a larger cycle of 52 years. Closely entwined with Aztec religion was the calendar, on which the elaborate round of rituals and ceremonies that occupied the priests was based. Human sacrifice, particularly by offering a victim’s heart to Tonatiuh, was commonly practiced, as was bloodletting. Prominent in the Aztec pantheon were Huitzilopochtli, god of war Tonatiuh, god of the sun Tlaloc, god of rain and Quetzalcóatl, the Feathered Serpent, who was part deity and part culture hero. At base, it shared many of the cosmological beliefs of earlier peoples, notably the Maya, such as that the present earth was the last in a series of creations and that it occupied a position between systems of 13 heavens and 9 underworlds. ![]() SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!Īztec religion was syncretistic, absorbing elements from many other Mesoamerican cultures. ![]() Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them!
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