The Aztec religion is a polytheistic and monistic pantheism in which the Nahua concept of teotl was construed as the supreme god Ometeotl, as well as a diverse pantheon of lesser gods and manifestations of nature. The popular religion tended to embrace the mythological and polytheistic aspects, and the Aztec Empire's state religion sponsored both the monism of the upper classes and the popular heterodoxies.
The most important deities were worshiped by priests in Tenochtitlan, particularly Tlaloc and the god of the Mexica, Huitzilopochtli, whose shrines were located on the Templo Mayor. Their priests would receive special dispensation from the empire. When other states were conquered the empire would often incorporate practices from its new territories into the mainstream religion.
In common with many other indigenous Mesoamerican civilizations, the Aztecs put great ritual emphasis on calendrics, and scheduled festivals, government ceremonies, and even war around key transition dates in the Aztec calendar. Public ritual practices could involve food, storytelling, and dance, as well as ceremonial warfare, the Mesoamerican ballgame, and human sacrifice.
The cosmology of Aztec religion divides the world into thirteen heavens and nine earthly layers or netherworlds. The first heaven overlaps with the first terrestrial layer, so that heaven and the terrestrial layers meet at the surface of the Earth. Each level is associated with a specific set of deities and astronomical objects. The most important celestial entities in Aztec religion are the Sun, the Moon, and the planet Venus (as both "morning star" and "evening star").
After the Spanish Conquest, Aztec people were obliged to convert to Catholicism, and the two religions syncretized. This syncretism is evidenced by the Virgin of Guadalupe and the Day of the Dead.
Teotl
Nahua metaphysics centers around , "a single, dynamic, vivifying, eternally self-generating and self-regenerating sacred power, energy or force." This is conceptualized in a kind of monistic pantheism, citing Hunt 1977 and I. Nicholson 1959; Leon-Portilla 1966, p. 387 cited by as manifest in the supreme god , as well as a large pantheon of lesser gods and idealizations of natural phenomena such as stars and fire., citing . Priests and educated upper classes held more monistic views, while the popular religion of the uneducated tended to embrace the polytheistic and mythological aspects., citing Caso 1958; ; H. B. ; and I. Nicholson 1959, pp. 60–3.
is sometimes translated as "god", but it held more abstract aspects of divinity or supernatural energy, akin to the Polynesian concept of Mana.Taube and Miller 1999, pp 89. For a lengthy treatment of the subject, see Hvidtfeldt, 1958
In first contact with the Spanish prior to the conquest, emperor Moctezuma II and the Aztecs generally referred to Cortés and the conquistadors as "". Some historians interpret this to mean that the Aztecs believed them to be gods, but a better understanding of suggests that they were being referred to as "mysterious" or "inexplicable".Restall 2001 pp 11.6–118
Pantheon
The Aztecs would often adopt gods from different cultures and allow them to be worshiped as part of their pantheon. For example, the fertility god, Xipe Totec, was originally a god of the Yopi (the Nahuatl name of the Tlapanec people), but became an integrated part of the Aztec belief system. Further, sometimes foreign gods would be identified with an already existing god. Other deities, such as Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, had roots in earlier civilizations of Mesoamerica, and were worshiped by many cultures under different names.
The many gods of the Aztecs can be grouped into complexes related to different themes. Some were associated with aspects of nature, such as Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl, and other gods were associated with specific trades. Reflecting the complexity of ritual in Aztec society, there were deities related to pulque, a sacred alcoholic beverage, but also deities of drunkenness, excess, fun, and games. Many gods had multiple aspects with different names, where each name highlighted a specific function or trait of the god. Occasionally, two distinct gods were conflated into one, and quite often, deities transformed into one another within a single story. Aztec images sometimes combined attributes of several divinities.
Aztec scholar H. B. Nicholson (1971) classed the gods into three groups according to their conceptual meaning in general Mesoamerican religion. The first group he called the "celestial creativity—divine paternalism group". The second: the Earth-mother gods, the pulque gods, and Xipe Totec. The third group, the War-Sacrifice-Sanguinary Nourishment group, contained such gods as Ometochtli, Huitzilopochtli, Mictlantecuhtli and Mixcoatl. A more specific classification based upon the functional attributes of the deities is as follows:
Cultural god Tezcatlipoca: meaning “Lord of the Smoking Mirror", trickster deity, shaman, and the patron god of the ruling class. Associated with the form of the jaguar Quetzalcoatl: god of knowledge, monsters, life, and wind, and is the patron of priests and the Aztec elite. He had a hand in creating human life. The planet Venus in Aztec cosmology Mixcoatl: meaning "cloud serpent", god of the heavens and the hunt Huitzilopochtli: god of sun, war, and the patron god of the Mexica of Tenochtitlan Nature gods Tlaloc: a Pan-Mesoamerican god of lightning, rain, water, and thunder Tlaltecuhtli: meaning "earth lord", goddess of the Earth Chalchiuhtlicue: meaning "jade her skirt", goddess of springs, running water, lakes, rivers, seas, streams, horizontal waters, storms, and baptism Centzon Huitznahua: meaning "the 400 southerners", gods of the stars Ehecatl: the wind, often conflated with Quetzalcoatl and called "Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl" Tepeyollotl: god of the animals, darkened caves, echoes, and earthquakes. Tepeyollotl is a variant of Tezcatlipoca and is associated with mountains. Gods of creation Ōmeteōtl/Tōnacātēcuhtli: the Lord of Sustenance and one of the creators of all things Huehuetéotl/Xiuhtecuhtli: meaning "old god" and "turquoise lord", god of origin, time, fire and old age Coatlicue/Toci/Teteoinnan/Tonantzin: progenitor goddesses
Lords of the Night
Metztli: goddess (or god) of the moon Xiuhtecuhtli: god of fire and time Tezcatlipoca: god of providence, the darkness and the invisible, lord of the night, ruler of the North. Citlalicue: goddess of female stars in the Milky Way. Citlalatonac: god of female stars (Husband of Citlalicue) Piltzintecuhtli: god of visions, associated with Mercury (the planet that is visible just before sunrise or just after sunset) and healing Xolotl: lord of the evening star and the planet mercury, twin of Quetzalcoatl
Lords of the Day
Xiuhtecuhtli: god of fire and time Tonatiuh: god of the Sun Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli: god of dawn (Venus)
Gods of pulque and excess Tlazolteotl: goddess of filth and childbirth Tepoztecatl: god of pulque worshipped at Tepoztlan Xochiquetzal: goddess of pleasure, indulgence, and sex Tlazolteotl: goddess of lust, carnality, and sexual misdeeds. Mayahuel: goddess of pulque and maguey The Ahuiateteo: Macuiltochtli Macuilxochitl Macuil Cuetzpalin Macuilcozcacuauhtli Macuil Malinalli Centzon Totochtin: meaning "the 400 rabbits", god of intoxication Ometochtli: meaning "two rabbit", leader of the Centzon Totochtin, god of fertility and intoxication
Gods of maize and fertility Xipe Totec: meaning "our flayed lord", fertility god associated with spring, patron god of goldsmiths Centeotl: god of maize Chicomecoatl: goddess of agriculture Xilonen: goddess of tender maize Xochipilli: meaning "flower prince", god of happiness, flowers, pleasure, and fertility
Gods of death and the underworld Mictlantecuhtli: lord of the underworld Mictlancihuatl: queen of the underworld
Trade gods Yacatecuhtli: meaning "nose lord", god of merchants Patecatl: god of doctors and medicine
Religion and society Religion was part of all levels of Aztec society. On the state level, religion was controlled by the Tlatoani and the high priests governing the main temples in the ceremonial precinct of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. This level involved the large monthly festivals and a number of specific rituals centered around the ruler dynasty and attempted to stabilize both the political and cosmic systems. These rituals were the ones that involved a sacrifice of humans. One of these rituals was the feast of Huey Tozoztli, when the ruler himself ascended Mount Tlaloc and engaged in autosacrifice in order to petition the rains. Throughout society, each level had their own rituals and deities and played their part in the larger rituals of the community. For example, the class of Pochteca merchants were involved in the feast Tlaxochimaco, where the merchant deity would be celebrated and slaves bought on specific slave markets by long-distance traders would be sacrificed. On the feast of Ochpaniztli all commoners participated in sweeping the streets. Afterwards, they also undertook ritual bathing. The most spectacular ritual was the New Fire ceremony which took place every 52 years and involved every citizen of the Aztec realm. During this, commoners would destroy house utensils, quench all fires, and receive new fire from the bonfire on top of Mt. Huixachtlan, lit on the chest of a sacrificed person by the high priests. Women were also a vital part of Aztec society and religion. Many women had the right to land and the ability to vote on important issues. The Aztec deities also reflected this, as many of the essential deities were women.*
Priests and temples In the Nahuatl language, the word for priest was teopixqui – meaning "god guard". These men were seen as prominent leaders of the community who taught various ideas and morals to the public.* Tlamacazqui the "giver of things" ensured that the gods were given their due in the form of offerings, ceremonies, and sacrifices.
The Tlatoani of Tenochtitlan was the head of the cult of Huitzilopochtli and of the state religion of the Aztec empire. He had special priestly duties in different rituals on the state level.
However, the Aztec religious organization was not entirely under his authority. Bernardino de Sahagún and Duran describe the pairs of high priests (quetzalcoatlus) who were in charge of the major pilgrimage centres (Cholula and Tenochtitlan) as enjoying immense respect from all levels of Aztec society—akin to archbishops—and a level of authority that partly transcended national boundaries. Under these religious heads were many tiers of priests, priestesses, novices, nuns, and monks (some part-time) who ran the cults of the various gods and goddesses. Sahagún reports that the priests had very strict training, and had to live very austere and ethical lives involving prolonged vigils, fasts, and penances. For instance, they often had to bleed themselves and undertake prescribed self-mortifications in the buildup to sacrificial rites.
Additionally, Sahagún refers to classes of religious specialists not affiliated with the established priesthood. This included wandering curers, black magicians, and other occultists (of which the Aztecs identified many types, most of which they feared) and hermits. Finally, the military orders, professions (e.g. traders (pochteca)) and wards (calpulli) each operated their own lodge dedicated to their specific god. The heads of these lodges, although not full-time religious specialists, had some ritual and moral duties. Duran also describes lodge members as having the responsibility of raising sufficient goods to host the festivals of their specific patron deity. This included annually obtaining and training a suitable slave or captive to represent and die as the image of their deity in that festival.