Aztecs Religion and its Influence on their Society

Max Harris
US History

Of all of the religions I know of, the Aztec religion was the one that was most influential on
every aspect of their life. The Aztecs religion affected their entire motivation as a society, as well as all
of their purpose in war. From their origins to their eventual downfall, they were completely devout to
their cause and their pantheon. I believe that everything about their society was tied into their religion,
and I will explain why.
The origin of the Aztecs by word of their religion is what creates the importance of the gods to
the Aztecs. They believed that there were four earths before the one they knew each meeting a different
destruction. This is an excerpt deciphered from an Aztec legend The first sun, the watery sun, was
carried off by the flood. All that lived in the world became fish. The second sun was devoured by
tigers. The third was demolished by a fiery rain that set people ablaze. The fourth sun, the wind sun,
was wiped out by storm. People turned into monkeys and spread throughout the hills. (Galeano). The
Aztecs believed that their world was the last world to be created, and its destruction would lead to the
ultimate end of life. The creation myth for the fifth sun explains the emphasis on sacrifice in their
society.
After the death of the fourth sun, the current gods gathered to decide who would become the
new sun. As they built the fire to sacrifice the god who would become the new sun, Tecciztecatl, a
proud and rich god volunteered to become the new sun. The other gods however, decided that a more
humble god was required to oversee the new world. Nanautl,who was a poor god, was selected to
become the new sun. After he was selected, Tecciztecatl ran towards the bonfire, intent on becoming
the new sun. As he reached the edge of the fire he froze with fear, and Nanautl calmly stepped into the
flame , becoming the sun. Tecciztecatl, humiliated and jealous of Nanautl, jumped into the fire after

him. The other gods cursed him as he burned by throwing in a rabbit, dimming his power, as he became
the moon. Even though the sun was created, it could not move so all of the current gods sacrificed
themselves to give the sun life. Every sacrifice the Aztecs make helps make up for their gods ultimate
sacrifice (Galeano).
There are many iterations and variations of Aztec creation myth, but they all carry the same
message, sacrifice is required for life. The importance of sacrifice was woven through all of their
myths, and sacrifice was the basis of their society. It is important to consider when looking at the Aztec
society that even though they sacrificed hundreds, they believed with every fiber of their being that his
was required to have life on Earth. The number of different deities to whom there were sacrificed and
the ways in which they were sacrificed represents the extent of the Aztecs religion, and how important
it is to them. I personally do not think the Aztecs were evil, as in their minds they were defending the
world against destruction. They may have been doing what we today would consider wrong, but in
their time it was important, so keep that in mind for the rest of the paper.
The most commonly represented form of sacrifice is the removal of the heart. Any time the
Aztecs have shown up in the media or movies, they are associated with the ritual bloodletting of their
sun sacrifice. The concept of this is that if they do not feed the sun flesh and blood, it will stop moving
and the world will die. The focus in the Aztec religion on the sun made this one of the most commonly
practiced forms. A sacrifice would be taken to the top of the sacrificial altar, where their heart would be
cut out and their body would be thrown down the other side of the building. This was most likely meant
to represent the rising and falling of the sun. Through this sacrifice they would please the sun and
continue the existence of their people. Aztec born people who were sacrificed thought of themselves as
heroes, preventing darkness and mayhem with their death.
Not all sacrifice was lethal however. A very common practice was self-bloodletting, where a
person would cut themselves, and put the blood on a strip of paper or similar object. They would then
burn this object, offering the blood to their gods(Smith pg5). It is not known which god this would be

offered to, but it is speculated that it could be to a variety of gods, and would serve a general sacrifice
that would happen very often, without need for death of the cut. This represented the total involvement
of their society in these sacrifices.
The Aztec people believe that the heavens above them were a completely different world of
their own, and that included battlefields. They believe that their gods need armies to fight the wars
against the darkness, as so to defend humanity from inevitable doom. In order to supply their gods with
warriors, they would initiate in campaigns known as Flower Wars. The Flower Wars were attacks on
nearby native groups purely for the point of gathering sacrifices for their deities armies. These wars are
what led to both the flourishing of the Aztec civilization and ultimately their downfall as well.
The Flower Wars were fought on behalf of Huitzilopochtli, the God of War and the Patron of
the Sun (Jaime). They were not so much as wars as short term enslavement and suppression of nearby
cultures. The Aztecs would often arrive at a village, capture prisoners and leave. They would then
proceed to take said prisoners to the nearest temple and sacrifice them as so to build the armies in the
heavens. The odd thing about these sacrifices is that most of the so called victims were often willing.
They would see the concept of a glorious afterlife as good, and would accept their death graciously
(Jaime).
Not everyone was so inclined to give their life to the Aztec religion, and conflict would ensue.
The Aztecs had the superior military and would easily defeat the nearby villages, but would not kill
them. The village had the choice between the death of everyone of them, or supplying prisoners to the
Aztecs to be sacrificed. This created fear amongst the surrounding civilizations as they would be
demoralized by Aztec domination. The Aztecs would come take their tribute as the villages could do
nothing to help their loved ones.
Sacrificial victims were the purpose of these wars, but so much more was gained. The
suppression of nearby cultures allowed the spread and evolution of the Aztec religion. By the time of
their downfall, the Aztecs had hundreds of deities, and many of those had been adopted from other

mesoamerican cultures. This allowed the religion to be easily accepted by the natives, and become one
of the most in-depth and complete religions of the 15th century.
By dominating and demoralizing the nearby villages, the Aztecs had nearly total control of all
trade nearby. This allowed them to create flourishing cities and great shrines, all dedicated to their
gods. The Aztecs had hundreds of thousands of people, and hundreds of prisoners to help their
sacrificial goals, taken from places such as Tlaloc. The Aztecs had reached a golden age, but that
wouldnt last forever.
The arrival of the Spanish heralded the end of Aztec civilization. Through a number of factors,
the Aztec civilization would fall. I do still hold however that the Aztec religion played into this as well.
The overall vulnerability of the Aztec nation at this point in time was due to their religious legends.
Some of this can be discerned through spoken word of the Spanish, as well as through artifacts and
drawings by the Aztecs.
When the Spanish led by Cortes first arrived in Tenochtitlan, they were greeted with much favor
by the Aztecs. The reason for this is that the Aztecs believed the Spanish, or at least Cortes, was a god.
In much of the Aztec legend, the word Teotl was likely a term for god. In many of the Aztec legends
that survived regarding the Spanish, they referred to them as Teotl(Crystal link). There is still a lot of
speculation on this god theory, but many variations still exist. One common one is that the Aztecs
believed that Quetzcoatl would return one day in mortal form to guide the Aztecs to glory. Many of the
Aztecs may have believed this may have been Cortes, and that is why he was greeted with such
friendship and gold(Jaime). It is known that Montezuma II, the emperor at the time, did not think
Cortes was a god and attempted to ward off cortes, but that was unsuccessful.
When Cortes arrived, the Aztecs told him of a great celebration in their honor, but this would
not be what they expected. The Spanish looked on in horror as the Aztecs sacrificed dozens of men in
their honor. Although the Spanish were not the most savory characters, this still was enough to terrify
them, and they would eventually use this sacrifice as a reason to conquer them. The nature of the

sacrifices was most likely the heart removal, as supposedly accurate first hand accounts from the
Spanish depict the priests cutting the still beating hearts out of the sacrificial victims. Records from the
Spanish should be taken with a grain of salt, as most were slanted to gain the approval to kill the
Aztecs.
The Spanish now became aggressive against the Aztecs. They began attempting to take Aztec
cities,but the Aztec army rivaled that of the Spanish. This was primarily due to their knowledge of the
land. The Spanish could not defeat the Aztecs on their own. After two stinging defeats, the Spanish
needed a new plan, and new allies.
When groups of people around the Aztec empire heard of a large army at war the Aztecs, they
were thrilled. The opportunity to get out from under the Aztec presence was too great to pass up.
Groups such as the Tlaloc began to rise up. In the end the combined army was able to defeat the Aztecs.
This victory however, was not entirely that of martial victory, but greatly allowed by disease.
When the Spanish first arrived, smallpox began spreading throughout the Aztec empire. More than 25%
of the empire fell to smallpox alone. This combined with the shortage of food, killed many
Aztecs(Jaime). The Aztecs began thinking they failed their gods, as the people died of diseases, more
were sacrificed, trying desperately to save their civilization. By the time of Cortes arrival to the defeat
at Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs had sacrificed hundreds, possibly thousands of people while seeking
retribution. This demoralization and weakening of the society was what allowed the Spanish to fell the
Aztecs with such haste.
In 1521, most likely around August, the last Aztec emperor surrendered. From their supposed
origins to their final defeat, the Aztecs believe devoutly in their religion. Their religion and sacrifices
created their greatest moments and their most stinging defeats. In the end it is evident, even through all
of the speculation and variation, that the Aztecs would not have been one of the greatest empires in
North America without their religion. It is a society completely entwined with their beliefs that will
flourish, and the Aztecs were an example of this.

Work Cited

Cottril,J.(2006). Aztec History. Retrieved from http://www.aztec-history.com/

Galaeno,E.(2004). Aztec Gods and Myths. Retrieved from

http://www.class.uh.edu/courses/engl3396/jtchris2/index.htm

Smith,E.M. (2006) Aztec Culture. Arizona: Arizona State University.

Reade,A.K (1998) Time and Sacrifice in the Aztec Cosmos.Bloomington,IN:

Indiana University Press