WHERE AND WHEN THE AZTECS LIVED

          The ancient Aztecs lived from 1200 B.C. to about the late 1500's A.D.  The recorded history of the Aztec's began 1168 A.D.  The Aztecs lived first in Atzlan before moving to The Valley of Mexico.  They created the city of Tenochtitlan and that was their first city of stone.  It was actually not them who chose to go to The Valley of Mexico.  The God of the Sun, Huitzilopochtli, told their leader Tenoch, that they should move as soon as possible to The Valley of Mexico and build their city there.

            Within the Aztec Empire there are three main cities.  These cities are: Tenochtitlan, Teotihuacan and Tula.  The city of Tenochtitlan settled in 1325 A.D.  They shared the territory of Mexico with the Mayan's and Inca's.  The Aztec's became a tribe in around the year 1200 A.D.

 THE AZTEC WRITING

            The Ancient Aztecs never actually had a written language like the Romans or Greeks.  They used pictures.  They had pictures to represent certain things, but mostly it was just like our pictures.  Each one has a different meaning.  Some even tell stories, just like the Aztec's pictures. 

            A lot of the pictures that represented things, where fairly easy to figure out.  Take for example these pictures below.  The bottom rows of pictures are cities and villages.

           Paper in the Aztec tribes was highly prized.  They gave paper as gifts and offerings.  They made their paper out of the bark of the ficus tree.  They would beat the bark until flat.  This was called bark cloth although it was not a cloth.

             They did not start recording their history until after the Spanish conquest and then only by a scribe that could speak both Nahuatl and Spanish.   They wrote mostly about daily lives and nature and their history.

AZTEC LANGUAGE

Just because they did not have a written language like ours, does not mean they did not have a spoken language.  The Aztec's called their language Náhuatl (pronounced NAH waht l).  Other Indian races also spoke this language like the Comanche, Pima, Shoshone and other tribes of western North America.  Singing was a big part of their celebrations.  Words and phrases are formed by joing prefixes, suffixes and root words.  Nahuatl had become a very popular language, because it was easy to pronounce and had a distinct sound.  Nahuatl gave the Aztec's an easy way to communicate thoughts.  It was an easy language to learn and not rough or in fluid.  Nahuatl was pronounced like the Spanish language always pronouncing the "e"'s even at the end of a word.    

The consonants are pronounced as they are in English with the exception of:

 * x which is pronounced sh

* z which is pronounced s

* qu which is pronounced k before e and I, but kw before an h is breathed

* ll has the English value

* u and y are semi-vowels, u being pronounced like the w in well and y like the y in yet

The written language never coincided with Nahuatl and therefore basically left the Aztec's with two different languages.

 AZTEC RELIGION

The Aztec's and other ancient tribes of Mexico did not have a religion like we have today.  However, the Aztec's religion was very important to them.  They had temples in which they would worship hundreds of gods and goddesses.  Each god and goddess ruled over one or more activities of human life.  They had exactly sixty four known gods and goddesses.  Listed below are all sixty four gods and goddesses along with what they ruled over and, for some, what they were identified with.

 Acolmiztli A God of the underworld.

 Acolnahuacatl Another God of the underworld.

 Amimitl God of lakes.

 Atl God of water.

 Atlaua God of fisherman and water. Called 'Lord of the Waters'. Associated with the arrow.

 Camaxtli God of war, hunting and fate. Creator of fire. Along with three other gods created the world.

 Centeotl God of maize.

 Centzonuitznaua Gods of the southern stars. Rebel brothers of the sun god Huitzilopochtli.

 Chalchiuhtlatonal Another God of water.

 Chalchiuhtlicue Matron Goddess of rivers, streams and marriage. Ruled over all waters of the earth.

 Chalchiutotolin God of pestilence.

 Chalmecacihuilt A Goddess of the underworld.

 Chalmecatl Yet another god of the underworld.

 Chantico Goddess of hearth and volcano fires.

 Chicomecoatl Goddess of maize. Her symbol is an ear of corn.

 Chicomexochtli God of painters.

 Chiconahui Hearth Goddess and guardian of the household.

 Cihuacoatl Earth mother Goddess. Patron of childbirth and those who died while giving birth. Often portrayed with a child in her arms.

 Citlalatonac God who created the stars with Citlalicue.

 Citlalicue Creator Goddess. With Citlalatonac, created the stars.

 Ciucoatl Goddess of the earth.

 Coatlicue Goddess of earth and fire.

 Cochimetl God of merchants and commerce.

 Coyolxauhqui Goddess of the moon and earth. Possesses magical powers with which she can cause great harm.

 Ehecatl God of the winds. A form of Quetzalcoatl, he can bring life to all that is lifeless.

 Huitzilopochtlin Mighty god of war, the sun and storms. Represented as the hummingbird.

 Huixtocihuatl Fertility Goddess. Connected with salt and salt water. She is the elder sister of Tlaloc.

 Itzlacoliuhque Obsidian knife god.

 Itzli Stone knife god, and god of sacrifice.

 Itzpapalotl Goddess of agriculture.

 Ixtlilton God of healing, medicine, feasting and games.

 Malinalxochi Sorceress Goddess with power over scorpions, snakes and other stinging, biting insects of the desert.

 Metztli Moon god.

 Mictlantecutli Lord of the dead and ruler of the Aztec underworld. Often seen as a skeleton or a figure wearing a skull. His animals are the spider, owl and bat.

 Mixcoatl God of the hunt and war. Also ruler of the polar star.

 Nanauatzin God who sacrificed himself in a fire so that the sun could shine on the world.

 Omecihuatl Creator Goddess.

 Ometecuhtli Creator god and god of fire. The highest god of the Aztec pantheon. Ruled over duality and the unity of opposites.

 Opochtli God of fishing, hunting and bird snaring.

 Patecatl God of healing and fertility.

 Paynal Messenger god to Huitzilopochtli.

 Quetzalcoatl Creator god and wise legislator. God of the wind, water and fertility. Light skinned and bearded, or represented as a feathered, flying snake.

 Tecciztecatl Moon god.

 Teoyaomqui God of dead warriors.

 Tepeyollotl God of caves and the earth. Believed to create earthquakes and the echo. His animal is the jaguar.

Teteoinnan Mother of the gods.

 Tezcatlipoca God of night and material things. A tempter, he often tried to urge men to evil as a test of their moral character. Sometimes seen as the opposite of spiritual Quetzalcoatl.

 Tlahuixcalpantecuhtli God of the dawn and Venus as the morning star. An aspect of Quetzalcoatl.

 Tlaloc God of rain, agriculture, fire and the south.

 Tlaltecuhtli Monster earth god.

 Tlazolteotl Earth Mother-Goddess and Goddess of sex.

 Tonatiuh Aztec sun-god and god of warriors.

 Tzitzimime God of the stars.

 Ueuecoyotl God of sex and irresponsible merrymaking.

 Xilonen Goddess of maize. Called 'the hairy one' for the tassels of the corn.

 Xipe Totec God of agriculture, spring and the turning of the seasons. Flayed himself each year to offer food for humans (as a maize seed loses it's outer skin). After he shed his skin, he appeared as a shining, golden god.

 Xiuhcoatl Fire-snake. God of drought and scorched earth.

 Xiuhtecutli Also called Huehueteotl. The senior deity of the Aztec pantheon. He is the personification of light in the darkness, warmth in coldness, and life in death. Often depicted with a red or yellow face.

 Xochipilli God of flowers, love, games, beauty, song and dance.

 Xochiquetzal Goddess of birds, butterflies, song, dance and love. Also a protector of artisans, prostitutes, pregnant women and birth.

 Xocotl God of fire and the stars.

 Xolotl God of lightning who guides the dead to the underworld. Seen as the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl. Depicted as a skeleton or a man with the head of a dog.

 Yacatecuhtli God of traveling merchants.

 AZTEC CUSTOMS and CELEBRATIONS

          The Aztec bride would have her hair freshly washed; her face painted, covered in red feathers and carried on the back of a sturdy woman to the groom's house.  The couple would then sit on woven mats; the bridegroom's mantel was tied to the bride's huipil (blouse).  Four elders would sit, each on one of the four corners of the mat giving advice on their future lives to the new couple.  Relatives and friends would bring gifts and drink chocolate and pulque.  Only guests past middle age could drink pulque until intoxicated but those younger received severe punishment.  Noblemen could actually marry more than one wife, but commoner could only choose one.

   One of the Aztec celebrations is Danzantes.  In these celebrations there is music and dancing and all-round joy.  Danzantes are held to remember all the Aztecs ancestors.  They wore, and wear now for these celebrations, brilliant costumes of feathers and leather.

Another, more or less, celebration where the sacrifices.  Human sacrifices.  These human sacrifices where made to the gods.  The sacrificial priests would take the victims to the top of the temple and then cut out the heart, still beating, and throw it into the air.        

      Since they loved flowers so much they made a celebration called the Offering of the Flowers.  During this midyear event, people filled houses and temples with flower garlands.  Warriors in bright costume would dance in the streets like a "moving serpent".  There were drums and flutes playing constantly during this celebration.  This was one celebration that did not involve human sacrifice.   

AZTEC FAMILY LIFE

Aztec children spent their early years in the house under the eye of affectionate but firm parents.  When a child was wild or lazy they were either forced to breathe in the smoke of burning chilli peppers or scratched with maguey thorns.  Children were taught practical skills and often given harsh advice by their elders.  Boys would carry firewood or water.  Girls would learn how to use the spindle at age six.  When children died they were buried by the families corn bucket because its untainted spirit would guard the nourishment of life.

            Students at the schools would undergo fasts, worked in the fields and gathered wood for temple fires.  They suffered severe punishment if even the smallest breaking of the rules was found.  They could never get a full night sleep therefore rising exhausted in the night to walk into the mountains alone.  When reaching the mountains they cut their skin allowing sacrificial blood to spill to the ground.  Dissatisfied priests taught them the songs of the gods, dreams and foretelling.

            The family would wake with the sun and from there begin morning ablutions such as washing the face and hands and eating breakfast.  The Aztec's bathed twice a day and were relatively clean to the surprise of the Spaniards.  Seeing as there where no pigs there was apparently no soap, but the Aztec's had a natural detergent and that was the roots of the copal-xocotl which was called the soap tree by the Spaniards.

 OTHER IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING FACTS

  The most important and interesting fact about the Aztecs is the story of their coming to Mexico.  Would you like to hear it?  All right then.  Here it is:

One night the leader of the first Aztec tribe had a dream.  It was a message from The God of the Sun, Huitzilopochtli.  The Sun God said to travel south until they reached a lake where, on a stone at the center of the lake, sat an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its claws.  And then they could build their empire. So they traveled the following day and in three days time they came to the lake and in the centre of that lake was a stone and on that stone there was a cactus and on that cactus there was an eagle with a snake in its claws.

The Aztec's had a special like for flowers.  They wrote poems and songs about them.  This also led to their love of nature.  They also wrote poems and songs about where they where in relation to the world.  It was a mystery they were determined to solve.

  The Aztecs calendar was made up of fifty two years like the Chinese calendar, with a sign or animal for each year.  At the end there are five extra days that do not fit into the calendar.  This are considered unlucky and all important business is halted.

  They actually had a stone calendar that was more accurate then any European calendar.  The Aztec's had a great fear that the sun would be extinguished on certain days.  On their stone calendar there are different figures telling a story of a thousand years almost.  It told what was, what is (in the Aztec's time), and what will come to pass.  They relied on this stone to tell them what to prepare for and what there great ancestors went through.

          In doing this project I learned a lot about the Ancient Aztec's.  I learned that they were a lot like the Mayans.  They had human sacrifices and a pictograph language.  They also lived in Mexico and spoke Nahuatl.  So they had about four things in common.  I also learned that they were actually pretty clean, especially for tribes' people.  But, they also had great respect for the gods and laws that where not to hard to follow.  They lived in harmony with one another and the other tribes unlike the ancient Greeks and Romans.  They had beautiful and serene weddings, that where not too rowdy and out of order but also fun.  They loved dance and music.  They even had a fear of the sun being extinguished.  And that is what I learned.

            My impression of the Aztec's was that they had self respect and where a very peaceful civilization.  I thought they were very interesting and fun to learn about. I found it a challenge to find information on their family life.  Maybe because family life isn't something that could be left in the dirt like fossils.  There are modern Aztecs today but they are not a lot like their ancestors.  They obviously don't have human sacrifices any more!  That's a good thing!