All About: Awesome Aztecs by PS Quick

Author:PS Quick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: aztecs, horrible histories, temple, sacrifice, mexico, learn, fun, interesting, facts omgfacts, educational, KS1, KS2, KS3, school, civilizations
ISBN: 9781783336081
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2014
Published: 2014-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

The Tajin Pyramid

Aztec Religion and Gods

The Aztecs worshipped many gods. They built beautiful temples in which to worship and created beautiful things that represented the gods. They drew pictures that told stories about the gods and scribes recorded religious ceremonies and events by using hieroglyphics.

Because they began as a farming nation some of their most important gods were connected to nature. Others were to the natural elements such as fire and water or heroes from the past. When they conquered a new nation they often adopted their gods too.

The sun played a really important part in Aztec religion. The Aztecs called themselves the ‘People of the Sun’ and they were convinced they had to keep their sun strong or it would stop moving. They believed that each evening the sun had to battle over darkness so that it could rise again the next morning.

The Aztecs lived in fear of this battle being lost so each day they fed it blood by performing human sacrifices. Huge numbers of people were needed for these daily sacrifices and often wars were fought just to capture prisoners to use. These wars were called ‘The Flower Wars’.

There are many different versions of the Aztec creation story but one is that Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl were the parents of many of the important gods. Some stories say they were husband and wife but others say they are the same god who was half man and half woman.

Four children were born and came to be known as the directions of South [Huitzilopochtli], East [Quetzalcoatl, West [Xipe Totec] and North [Tezcatlipoca]. The Aztec empire was thought to be the very centre of the universe so directions were very important to its people.

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