- Chủ nhật Tháng 10 02, 2011 2:56 pm
Aztec Gods and Goddesses
Religion was extremely important in Aztec life. They worshipped hundreds of gods and goddesses, each of whom ruled one or more human activities or aspects of nature. The people had many agricultural gods because their culture was based heavily on farming; also they included natural elements and ancestor-heroes.
They believed that the balance of the natural world, the processes that make life possible - like the rain or solar energy - and that the destiny of people depended on the will of these gods. While some deities were benevolent, others had terrifying characteristics.
The Aztecs thought that the power of the gods should be acknowledged and thanks given to them, so as to avoid the catastrophes that their rage or indifference could cause. For this reason, the monumental ceremonial centers were built and there were so many religious rites. The existence of the gods and their goodwill were maintained by offering up the most valuable human possession, life. This then, was the origin of human sacrifice and the ritual of bearing intense physical pain, which believers intentionally caused themselves.
The following are the most important Aztecs Gods.
Huitzilopochtli
o Huitzilopochtli, or Hummingbird on the Left, was the Aztec's protector, war-god and sun-god. According to myth, the earth-goddess Coatlicue was impregnated by a heavenly ball of feathers.The moon-goddess and star-gods planned on killing her for shaming their family. However, Huitzilopochtli sprang from his mother fully armed and killed his siblings, symbolizing day's triumph over night. The Aztecs were originally nomadic hunter-gatherers, and Huitzilopochtli led them to the future site of Tenochtitlan, their capital. He took the form of an eagle holding a snake standing on a cactus on an island in the middle of a lake.
Tezcatlipoca
o Tezcatlipoca, or Smoking Mirror, was a creator god associated with war, strife, hurricanes, beauty, the night sky, divination, nobility and sorcery. The name Smoking Mirror referred to volcanic glass mirrors which Mexican magicians used for peering into the future. The Aztecs believed that the gods created and destroyed the world four times. Tezcatlipoca and his brother Quetzalcoatl created our world after the previous world was destroyed by floods. According to the Aztec creation story, they created the earth from the body of the monster Tlalteotl. Humans sacrifice hearts and blood in her honor.
Quetzalcoatl
o Quetzalcoatl, or the Plumed Serpent, was worshiped throughout central Mexico as a god of science, culture, corn, creation and the wind. In one myth, he created the current generation of humans from the bones of the previous generation. He brought them to life by sacrificing his own blood. Another story describes how Tezcatlipoca drove Quetzalcoatl out of the legendary city of Tollan by getting him drunk and tricking him into making love to his own sister. Filled with shame, Quetzalcoatl burned himself on a funeral pyre and transformed into the morning star.
Tlaloc
o Tlaloc, the god of rain, nourished the corn, caused droughts and even destroyed crops with hail. The Aztecs believed people who died from drowning, lightning strikes, scabies, leprosy and gout spent the afterlife with Tlaloc. Xipe Totec, or the Flayed Lord, was the god of agriculture, fertility and coming-of-age. He was usually depicted in the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim. During Xipe Totec's ritual month, a man impersonated the god by wearing a flayed skin. At the end of the festival, he would remove the skin as a symbol of the land's renewal.
Religion was extremely important in Aztec life. They worshipped hundreds of gods and goddesses, each of whom ruled one or more human activities or aspects of nature. The people had many agricultural gods because their culture was based heavily on farming; also they included natural elements and ancestor-heroes.
They believed that the balance of the natural world, the processes that make life possible - like the rain or solar energy - and that the destiny of people depended on the will of these gods. While some deities were benevolent, others had terrifying characteristics.
The Aztecs thought that the power of the gods should be acknowledged and thanks given to them, so as to avoid the catastrophes that their rage or indifference could cause. For this reason, the monumental ceremonial centers were built and there were so many religious rites. The existence of the gods and their goodwill were maintained by offering up the most valuable human possession, life. This then, was the origin of human sacrifice and the ritual of bearing intense physical pain, which believers intentionally caused themselves.
The following are the most important Aztecs Gods.
Huitzilopochtli
o Huitzilopochtli, or Hummingbird on the Left, was the Aztec's protector, war-god and sun-god. According to myth, the earth-goddess Coatlicue was impregnated by a heavenly ball of feathers.The moon-goddess and star-gods planned on killing her for shaming their family. However, Huitzilopochtli sprang from his mother fully armed and killed his siblings, symbolizing day's triumph over night. The Aztecs were originally nomadic hunter-gatherers, and Huitzilopochtli led them to the future site of Tenochtitlan, their capital. He took the form of an eagle holding a snake standing on a cactus on an island in the middle of a lake.
Tezcatlipoca
o Tezcatlipoca, or Smoking Mirror, was a creator god associated with war, strife, hurricanes, beauty, the night sky, divination, nobility and sorcery. The name Smoking Mirror referred to volcanic glass mirrors which Mexican magicians used for peering into the future. The Aztecs believed that the gods created and destroyed the world four times. Tezcatlipoca and his brother Quetzalcoatl created our world after the previous world was destroyed by floods. According to the Aztec creation story, they created the earth from the body of the monster Tlalteotl. Humans sacrifice hearts and blood in her honor.
Quetzalcoatl
o Quetzalcoatl, or the Plumed Serpent, was worshiped throughout central Mexico as a god of science, culture, corn, creation and the wind. In one myth, he created the current generation of humans from the bones of the previous generation. He brought them to life by sacrificing his own blood. Another story describes how Tezcatlipoca drove Quetzalcoatl out of the legendary city of Tollan by getting him drunk and tricking him into making love to his own sister. Filled with shame, Quetzalcoatl burned himself on a funeral pyre and transformed into the morning star.
Tlaloc
o Tlaloc, the god of rain, nourished the corn, caused droughts and even destroyed crops with hail. The Aztecs believed people who died from drowning, lightning strikes, scabies, leprosy and gout spent the afterlife with Tlaloc. Xipe Totec, or the Flayed Lord, was the god of agriculture, fertility and coming-of-age. He was usually depicted in the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim. During Xipe Totec's ritual month, a man impersonated the god by wearing a flayed skin. At the end of the festival, he would remove the skin as a symbol of the land's renewal.