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Terms / Concepts

• eagles and jaguars
  
  
  • "Warrior Knights of the Eagle and Knights Jaguar"
    
    
  • associated with . . .
    
    
    • day and night
    • sun and darkness
      
      
• Aztlán
• "A lake somewhere in northern Mexico, land of the white heron, land of the Aztecs"
  
  
• chinampa
  
  
  • "floating gardens"
    
    
    • including modern-day Xochimilco
      
      
  • crops:
    
    
    • corn
      
      
      • tamale
      • tortillas
      • patole (gruel)
      • atole (gruel)
        
        
    • beans
      
      
    • chilis
      
      
    • squash
      
      
    • tomatoes
      
      
    • amaranth
      
      
    • Aztecs farmed insects and their eggs
      
      
      • these were considered delicacies
        
        
    • Aztecs pressed algae into cakes
      
      
    • pulque
      
      
  • "These were some of the most productive fields in the world."
    
    
• natural environments (slides)
  
  

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• hallucinogens
  
  
  • "pathways to the world of the spirits"
    
    
    • peyote
      • Cf., film: To Find Our Life: The Peyote Hunt of the Huichols of Mexico (VC 3324)
        
        
    • frog skins
      
      
    • pulque (allcohol)
      
      
    • cacao
      
      
    • strong tobacco
      
      
    • mushrooms

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Notes

• world was destroyed four times before
  
  
  • we are now in the fifth world
    
    
• sacrifice
  
  
  • autosacrifice
  • heart sacrifice



Aztec heart sacrifice



• "cult of death"
  
  

• skulls
  
  
• eagle on cactus was foretold in myth
  
  
  • sometimes said to have a snake in its beak
  • probably a Harris's Hawk
    
    
• The Aztecs wandered for 200 years
  
  
  • "they were tested to the limit for 10 generations"
    
    
  • including 50 - 60 years in the desert
    
    
    • and then came south and into contact with the Toltecs
      
      
• then they entered the high plateau called "The Valley of Mexico"
  
  
• in 1311, after two centuries, the Aztecs arrived at Lake Texcoco
  
  
• Aztec thought of themselves as "the chosen people, invincible, indestructible," leading to a "truly imperial vision"
  
  

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• important animals
  
  
  • rattlesnakes
    
    
    • 3 - 4 times a year shed their skin
      
      
  • the quetzal was the most important bird of all
    
    
  • the eagle and jaguar were the most sacred animals
    
    
  • parrots
    
    
  • hummingbirds
    
    
  • more than 50 species of water birds migrated to the Valley of Mexico for the winter
    
    
    • including pelicans, ducks. . . .
      
      
  • butterfly
    
    
    • including those who died in war
      
      
  • bats
    
    
    • the most important nocturnal pollinator
      
      
  • shells
    
    
  • fish
    
    
  • coral
    
    
  • puma (mountain lion)
    
    
  • raccoon
    
    
    • mapachtli, "they take everything in their hands"
      
      
      • mapache, "the bandit," "the thief"
        
        
• important plants
  
  
  • maguey (agave; "century plant")
    
    
    • used for
      
      
      • clothing
        
        
      • roofing
        
        
      • food
        • nopales (prickly pears)
        • tunas (cactus fruits)
          
          
      • drink
        • pulque (the alcoholic drink of the Aztec and pre-Aztec)
        • agua miel ("honey water")
          
          
      • rope
        
        
      • parchment (paper)
        
        
  • corn
    
    
    • tamales
    • tortillas
    • patole (gruel)
    • atole (gruel)
      
      
  • beans
    
    
  • chilis
    
    
  • squash
    
    
  • tomatoes
    
    
  • amaranth
    
    
  • pines
    
    
    • there were more than 50 species of pines in the forests around the Valley of Mexico
      
      
  • Atkinson, Sonja. The Aztec Way to Healthy Eating. NY: Paragon House, 1992.
    
    
    
• wet / dry season
  
  

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• ritual war
  
  
  • the skilled warrior was judged by his ability to take captives unmarked and in perfect condition
    
    
  • 1487 -- thousands of prisoners were sacrificed at the inauguration of a new church on Lake Texcoco
    
    
    • continued for four days
      
      
  • by 1502 "the bloody empire extended from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean"
    
    
  • the maintenance of their empire required no garrisons or occupation forces
    
    
  • The Spanish made war in a new way
    
    
    • they did not take prisoners
    • they were not interested in prisoners for sacrifice, just elimination
    • They joined forces with the enemies of the Aztec
      • esp. the Tlaxcalans
        
        

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• tribute
  
  
  • feathers (from rainforest areas) were the most cherished possession
    
    
    • feathers may have been the force for the expansion of the Aztec empire
      
      
    • Quetzal feathers were highly prized
      
      
  • turquoise (from the now-American Southwest) was highly prized
    
    
    • it decorated their representtions of the gods
      
      
  • gold
    
    
    • gold = the color of the sun
  • did not tarnish or fade
  • 2 tons of gold were collected each year as tribute

  
  Aztec Gold
  
  

  • tzompantli (Aztec skull rack)
    
    
  • skulls in Mesoamerica generally represent death and the promise of resurrection

  

  Tzompantli, or skull rack

  
  
  

• in 1519 the Indian population = 20,000,000
  
  
  • by 1608 it had declined to about 1,000,000
    
    
• disease brought in by the Spanish eventually killed many more than war
  
  
• The Aztec calendar predicted the return of a fair-skinned God at year "One Reed" (1519)
  
  

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• The Aztec had more than 1000 gods
  
  
  • they represented birth, death and rebirth
  • many were decorated with skulls and snakes
  • earthquakes and volcanoes reminded the Aztecs that the gods controlled this world
  • every night the earth goddess devoured the sun
  • only human blood offering would bring it back


Aztec goddess



• religious syncretism
  
  

• Dia de los Muertos
  • the skull is not a mecabre representation, but a fact of life, representing death and the promise of resurrection

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Cultures

• Aztecs
  
  
  • capital = Tenochtitlán



Tenochtitlán

• Toltecs
  
  

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Sites / Locations

• Teotihuacán (Teotihuacanos)
  
  
  • was abandoned more than 500 years before the arrival of the Aztecs
    
    
  • Aztec mythology was built around this mysterious city
    
    
• Tula, Hidalgo (Toltecs)
  
  
• Lake Texcoco
  
  
• Tenochtitlán (Aztec)
  
  
  • "The Venice of the Americas"
    
    
  • in the early 1500s = 300,000 people
    
    
    • four times the size of London of Henry VIII
      
      
  • "One of the most spectacular cities on earth."
    
    

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Individuals

Cortés attacking Tenochtitlán