When was the Aztec empire the largest?
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Aztecs controlled a vast amount of territory containing 400 to 500 subjugated states.
Why did the Aztecs hold a festival called the new fire every 52 years?
The New Fire Ceremony was a ritual held every 52 years in November upon the completion of a full cycle of the Aztec solar year (xiuhmopilli). The ceremony's purpose was to renew the sun and bring another cycle.
What kind of festivals did the Aztecs have?
This article contains a list of the most significant ancient Aztec festivals, holidays, and celebrations including: Rain Festivals. The New Fire Ceremony. The Quecholli Festival.
What was the festival of Toxcatl?
The Festival of Toxcatl was dedicated to the god Tezcatlipoca and featured the sacrifice of a young man who had been impersonating the deity for a full year.
Why did Aztecs cut people's hearts?
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.
Did the Aztecs smoke?
The Mexican lowlands, where tobacco grows more readily was where the major use of tobacco occurred for religious and medicinal purposes (e.g., Maya tobacco enemas), as well as recreationally. Tobacco (iyetl, in Classic Nahuatl) was absolutely present and used among the Aztecs.
What is famous festival in Mexico?
Some of the best Mexican festivals are Three Kings day, Candlemas, Guadalajara, Saint's week, All Saints day. What are the main holidays celebrated in Mexico? The main holidays which are celebrated in Mexico are Ano Nuevo, Dia de la Constitución, Dia del Trabajo, Dia de la Independencia, Dia de la Revolución.
What are 3 things the Aztecs are known for?
The Aztecs were famous for their agriculture, land, art, and architecture. They developed writing skills, a calendar system and also built temples and places of worship. They were also known for being fierce and unforgiving.
Why did the Aztecs have festivals?
To honor the gods, various outfits and festivals were held. The Aztec deities served as providers for all of the society's needs. Along with various rituals and offerings, dressing up was thought as a way to respect the gods worshiped.
Who slaughtered the Aztecs?
Hernan CortésAn important event in world history was the conquest of the Aztec Empire by Spanish conquistadors in 1521. As part of the conquest the Spanish conquistadors, who were led by Hernan Cortés, took the Aztec leader Moctezuma II captive. Soon after, occurred the massacre of unarmed Aztec citizens by the Spanish.
Why did the Toxcatl massacre happen?
The Spaniards' account of the incident Some said it was caused by the message sent by Narváez, others because the people wanted to toss the Spaniards out of the Aztec city [Tenochtitlan], which had been planned as soon as the ships had arrived, because while they were fighting they shouted "Get out!" at them.
Why did the Cholula massacre happen?
In October 1519, Spanish conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes assembled the nobles of the Aztec city of Cholula in one of the city courtyards, where Cortes accused them of treachery. Moments later, Cortes ordered his men to attack the mostly unarmed crowd.
What did the Aztecs do every 52 years?
New Fire Ceremony, also called The Binding Up of the Years, in Aztec religion, ritual celebrated every 52 years when the 260-day ritual and 365-day civil calendars returned to the same positions relative to each other. In preparation, all sacred and domestic fires were allowed to burn out.
What did the Aztecs believe would happen every 52 years?
The Aztecs believed that, after the Fifth Sun, the world was likely to come to an end again at the close of any 52-year cycle - by fire, or wind, earthquake or flood: or it might be that Glass Butterfly, the Lightning Goddess, would perpetrate the destruction.
What did the Aztecs fear would happen every 52 years?
The 52-year cycle The cycle of fifty-two years was central to Mesoamerican cultures. The Nahua's religious beliefs were based on a great fear that the universe would collapse after each cycle if the gods were not strong enough. Every fifty-two years a special New Fire ceremony was performed.
What did fire mean to the Aztecs?
The cult of the God of Fire, of the Year, and of Turquoise perhaps began as far back as the middle Preclassic period. Turquoise was the symbolic equivalent of fire for Aztec priests. A small fire was permanently kept alive at the sacred center of every Aztec home in honor of Xiuhtecuhtli.
Why is Xilonen celebrated?
Celebrated for eight days, beginning on the 22nd of June. The ancient Aztec festival of Xilonen was celebrated in honor of the goddess of maize. Xilonen, also known as Chicomecoatl, just like other Aztec gods demanded human sacrifice during her ceremonies to sustain her interest in favor of the people. Every night, unmarried girls, wearing their ...
What did the Conchero dancers wear?
In this Aztec festival, the story of his life is told, detailing the struggle against the Spaniards both in native Indian languages and in Spanish, while Conchero dancers perform their world-famous dances, wearing feathered headdresses trimmed with mirrors and beads.
How many days are in the Aztec fire festival?
New Fire Ceremony Festival. Celebrated every 52 years. The Aztec calendar divided the year into 18 months of 20 days each, plus a five-day “unlucky” period. The Aztecs also knew a ritualistic period of 260 days, made up of 13 months with 20 named days in each.
How many dancers are in a Conchero group?
Most of these Conchero groups consist of 50 or more dancers, each performing in his own rhythm and to his own accompaniment. The pace of the dance performance rises gradually until it reaches a sudden climax, which is followed by a moment of silence.
What are Aztec festivals?
Celebrations and festivals are an integral part of Mexican life, and the costumes, arts, food and music testify to its inhabitants’ love of life and pride for the country.
What was the first rain festival?
Cortez and his men observed various festivals held in honor of the god of rain and lightning, Tlaloc. The Aztecs celebrated the first rain festival at the beginning of the agricultural year in February, in the course of which a priest or shaman carried out a number of rituals to encourage rain-fall. The second rain festival was offered ...
How many traditions are there in Mexico?
Mexico’s Culture includes more than 5000 traditional festivities per year. The country is rich with ancient Aztec and Mayan influences.
What festivals did the Aztecs celebrate?
These are just a few of the many other festivals the Aztecs celebrated like the, festival of Xilonen, Festival of Xipe Totec, Celebration of Quecholli Festival and many more. A sacrifice would be made at midnight and the priest would pull out the victim heart then lit a fire in their chest.
Why did the Aztecs celebrate the third rain festival?
The third rain festival the Aztecs celebrated was held in autumn to encourage rain fall. Because their god Tlaloc was thought to have lived in a high mountain the Aztec people formed shapes of small mountains and images of Tlaloc himself at their festivals. Cuauhtemoc festival.
How many rain festivals did the Aztecs have?
These were done by priests on behalf of the people who gathered to watch. The Aztecs celebrated three rain festivals during the year.
What was the second rain festival?
The second rain festival, in March, was an offering to their god Tlaloc and many others, once the first flowers had begun to bloom, this signalled the arrival of the new life from the Earth. Image from: http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-experts/which-was-the-most-powerful-aztec-god.
What were the Aztec calendars?
Fire festival. The Aztec people had two calendars, The Xiuhpohualli and the Tonalpohualli. The Xiuhpolualli was a 365 days year calendar, there were 18 months each with 20 days, then 5 unlucky days were added to bring it up to 365.
When is Cuauhtemoc festival?
The Cuauhtemoc festival was celebrated every year in August in front of Cuauhtemoc statue, he was the last emporer of the Aztecs, in this festival the story of his life was told by the priests while Conchero dancers performed their world famous dancers. Image from: http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-experts/why-did-the-aztecs-worship-maize.
What is the origin of the Tenochtitlan?
Mexica migration and foundation of Tenochtitlan. In the ethnohistorical sources from the colonial period, the Mexica themselves describe their arrival in the Valley of Mexico. The ethnonym Aztec (Nahuatl Aztecah) means "people from Aztlan ", Aztlan being a mythical place of origin toward the north.
What are the sources of knowledge about the Aztecs?
Knowledge of Aztec society rests on several different sources: The many archeological remains of everything from temple pyramids to thatched huts, can be used to understand many of the aspects of what the Aztec world was like. However, archeologists often must rely on knowledge from other sources to interpret the historical context of artifacts. There are many written texts by the indigenous people and Spaniards of the early colonial period that contain invaluable information about precolonial Aztec history. These texts provide insight into the political histories of various Aztec city-states, and their ruling lineages. Such histories were produced as well in pictorial codices. Some of these manuscripts were entirely pictorial, often with glyphs. In the postconquest era many other texts were written in Latin script by either literate Aztecs or by Spanish friars who interviewed the native people about their customs and stories. An important pictorial and alphabetic text produced in the early sixteenth century was Codex Mendoza, named after the first viceroy of Mexico and perhaps commissioned by him, to inform the Spanish crown about the political and economic structure of the Aztec empire. It has information naming the polities that the Triple Alliance conquered, the types of tribute rendered to the Aztec Empire, and the class/gender structure of their society. Many written annals exist, written by local Nahua historians recording the histories of their polity. These annals used pictorial histories and were subsequently transformed into alphabetic annals in Latin script. Well-known native chroniclers and annalists are Chimalpahin of Amecameca-Chalco; Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc of Tenochtitlan; Alva Ixtlilxochitl of Texcoco, Juan Bautista Pomar of Texcoco, and Diego Muñoz Camargo of Tlaxcala. There are also many accounts by Spanish conquerors who participated in Spanish invasion, such as Bernal Díaz del Castillo who wrote a full history of the conquest.
What is the Aztec language?
Linguistically, the term "Aztecan" is still used about the branch of the Uto-Aztecan languages (also sometimes called the yuto-nahuan languages) that includes the Nahuatl language and its closest relatives Pochutec and Pipil. To the Aztecs themselves the word "aztec" was not an endonym for any particular ethnic group.
How was the Aztec Empire ruled?
The Aztec Empire was ruled by indirect means. Like most European empires, it was ethnically very diverse, but unlike most European empires, it was more of a system of tribute than a single system of government. Ethnohistorian Ross Hassig has argued that Aztec empire is best understood as an informal or hegemonic empire because it did not exert supreme authority over the conquered lands; it merely expected tributes to be paid and exerted force only to the degree it was necessary to ensure the payment of tribute. It was also a discontinuous empire because not all dominated territories were connected; for example, the southern peripheral zones of Xoconochco were not in direct contact with the center. The hegemonic nature of the Aztec empire can be seen in the fact that generally local rulers were restored to their positions once their city-state was conquered, and the Aztecs did not generally interfere in local affairs as long as the tribute payments were made and the local elites participated willingly. Such compliance was secured by establishing and maintaining a network of elites, related through intermarriage and different forms of exchange.
What is the meaning of the mask in Aztec mythology?
Large ceramic statue of an Aztec eagle warrior. The Nahuatl words ( aztecatl [asˈtekat͡ɬ], singular) and ( aztecah [asˈtekaʔ], plural) mean "people from Aztlan ," a mythical place of origin for several ethnic groups in central Mexico.
How did the Aztecs expand their empire?
Nevertheless, the expansion of the empire was accomplished through military control of frontier zones, in strategic provinces where a much more direct approach to conquest and control was taken. Such strategic provinces were often exempt from taxation. The Aztecs even invested in those areas, by maintaining a permanent military presence, installing puppet-rulers, or even moving entire populations from the center to maintain a loyal base of support. In this way, the Aztec system of government distinguished between different strategies of control in the outer regions of the empire, far from the core in the Valley of Mexico. Some provinces were treated as subject provinces, which provided the basis for economic stability for the empire, and strategic provinces, which were the basis for further expansion.
What is the Aztec civilization?
For the same reason, the notion of "Aztec civilization" is best understood as a particular horizon of a general Mesoamerican civilization.
What was the name of the city in Tenochtitlan?
At first, the Mexica in Tenochtitlan were one of a number of small city-states in the region. They were subject to the Tepanec, whose capital was Azcapotzalco, and had to pay tribute to them. In 1428, the Mexica allied with two other cities—Texcoco and Tlacopan. They formed the Aztec Triple Alliance and were able to win the battle for regional control, collecting tribute from conquered states.
What are the two pictographic texts that survived Spanish destruction?
Two pictographic texts that survived Spanish destruction—the Matricula de tributos and Codex Mendoza — record the tributes paid to the Aztecs. The codices also recorded religious practices. A 260-day ritual calendar was used by Aztec priests for divination, alongside a 365-day solar calendar.
How tall are the pyramids of the Sun?
These marvels still stand at an incredible height of around 65 meters (213 feet) and 43 meters (141 feet) ...
What did the Aztecs do to their religion?
At their central temple in Tenochtitlan, Templo Mayor, the Aztecs practiced both bloodletting (offering one’s own blood) and human sacrifice as part of their religious practices. The Spanish reaction to Aztec religious practices is believed to be partially responsible for the violence of the Spanish conquest .
What does "destroy" mean?
destruction or surrender of something as way of honoring or showing thanks.
What does "native country" mean?
a person's native country or region.
What is an independent state?
independent political state consisting of a single city and sometimes surrounding territory.
Where did the Mexica come from?
Several myths describe the migration of the Mexica from Aztlan, thought to be somewhere in northern Mexico or the southwestern United States. The Mexica departed Chicomoztoc at the urging of their patron deity, Huitzilopochtli, to journey to establish a new settlement.
Forging an empire
As they developed their city and gained more prominence in the Valley of Mexico, the Mexica formed an alliance with Texcoco (Tetzcoco) and Tlacopan (today, Tacuba), known as the Triple Alliance. Really, when we refer to the “Aztecs,” we are talking about the people who formed this alliance.
Mexica rulers
The Mexica ruler was known as the huey tlatoani (“chief speaker”; pronunciation: whey-tla-toe-anee). There were eleven tlatoque (the plural form of tlatoani) of Tenochtitlan, beginning with Acamapichtli in 1375 and ending with Cuauhtemoc in 1525.
Sustaining an empire
Tenochtitlan was a bustling city, with more than 100,000 people living in it. Food and water were of great concern, especially because the city was located on an island in a lake. Chinampas, or floating gardens, provided the food necessary to sustain the Aztec empire. They consisted of human-made islands where crops could be grown.
A complex pantheon of deities
The Mexica had numerous deities in their religious pantheon. The two most important deities were Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, a rain and agricultural god. Their significance was symbolized by the twin temples atop the Templo Mayor in the center of Tenochtitlan.
Aztec calendars
The Aztecs had two different calendars: a 260-day ritual calendar called the tonalpohualli (day count), and a 360-day (plus 5 extra days) calendar called the xiuhpohualli (year count). The xiuhpohualli was divided into eighteen months of twenty days each, and each of these months had a festival that honored a specific deity or deities.
Aztec art
Aztec artists worked in a number of different media, from monumental stone sculptures, terracotta sculptures, and murals to codices, featherworks, and mosaics. Stone sculptures like Coatlicue (top of the page) demonstrate the expertise and skill of stone carvers. The sculpture is over-life size, and is carved from a single stone.
Overview
Religion
Nahua metaphysics centers around teotl, "a single, dynamic, vivifying, eternally self-generating and self-regenerating sacred power, energy or force." This is conceptualized in a kind of monistic pantheism as manifest in the supreme god Ometeotl, as well as a large pantheon of lesser gods and idealizations of natural phenomena such as stars and fire. Priests and educated upper classes held m…
Definitions
The Nahuatl words (aztēcatl Nahuatl pronunciation: [asˈteːkat͡ɬ], singular) and (aztēcah Nahuatl pronunciation: [asˈteːkaʔ], plural) mean "people from Aztlan", a mythical place of origin for several ethnic groups in central Mexico. The term was not used as an endonym by Aztecs themselves, but it is found in the different migration accounts of the Mexica, where it describes the different tribes who left Aztlan together. In one account of the journey from Aztlan, Huitzilopochtli, the tutelary deity of …
History
Knowledge of Aztec society rests on several different sources: The many archeological remains of everything from temple pyramids to thatched huts, can be used to understand many of the aspects of what the Aztec world was like. However, archeologists often must rely on knowledge from other sources to interpret the historical context of artifacts. There are many written texts by the indigenous people and Spaniards of the early colonial period that contain invaluable informat…
Political and social organization
The highest class were the pīpiltin or nobility. The pilli status was hereditary and ascribed certain privileges to its holders, such as the right to wear particularly fine garments and consume luxury goods, as well as to own land and direct corvee labor by commoners. The most powerful nobles were called lords (Nahuatl languages: teuctin) and they owned and controlled noble estates or houses, and could serve in the highest government positions or as military leaders. Nobles mad…
Economy
As all Mesoamerican peoples, Aztec society was organized around maize agriculture. The humid environment in the Valley of Mexico with its many lakes and swamps permitted intensive agriculture. The main crops in addition to maize were beans, squashes, chilies and amaranth. Particularly important for agricultural production in the valley was the construction of chinampas on the lake, artificial islands that allowed the conversion of the shallow waters into highly fertile gard…
Urbanism
Aztec society combined a relatively simple agrarian rural tradition with the development of a truly urbanized society with a complex system of institutions, specializations, and hierarchies. The urban tradition in Mesoamerica was developed during the classic period with major urban centers such as Teotihuacan with a population well above 100,000, and, at the time of the rise of the Aztec, the urban tradition was ingrained in Mesoamerican society, with urban centers serving m…
Art and cultural production
The Aztec greatly appreciated the toltecayotl (arts and fine craftsmanship) of the Toltec, who predated the Aztec in central Mexico. The Aztec considered Toltec productions to represent the finest state of culture. The fine arts included writing and painting, singing and composing poetry, carving sculptures and producing mosaic, making fine ceramics, producing complex featherwork, and working metals, including copper and gold. Artisans of the fine arts were referred to collectiv…