Aztec Culture

QUESTION: What were the basic aspects of the Aztec culture

ANSWER:

The Aztec Culture operated with a language called N’ahuatl. Being such an advanced society, they also developed an extensive sort of alphabet of pictures containing several hundred symbols depicting their vocabulary.

In the Aztec Culture, art, music, dance, and religion were all very important parts of everyday life. Each of these areas were taken seriously and greatly intertwined for their many religious and ceremonial rituals.

The Aztec Artists:

• Stone workers who carved statues and other idols
• Scribes kept records of events, decrees, and history
• Painters of pictographs
• Pottery makers used clay shaped by hand
• Feather designers making head dresses and other adornments (usually for nobility and rulers). Feathers of brilliant colored tropical birds were used.

The Musicians and Dancers:

• Instruments were rattles, whistles, flutes, bells, shells, drums, and trumpets
• Dancers were trained at an early age. Every one in the village danced before the gods to honor, beseech, and praise.
• The dancers acted out significant acts of the gods in attempts to imitate them.
• Costumes were different for different ceremonies. Bright colors, bells, and elaborate feathers often were part of the most important rituals.

The Aztec culture - The Religion
The Aztecs had many beliefs and many more gods. There was a god for almost everything. They believed the earth was flat, and that there were 13 heavens and 9 hells. The Aztec people held their gods in great respect and built large beautiful temples to honor them. Some of the temples had large pools, gardens, living quarters for the priest.

Their pagan rituals included human sacrifice. Many of the temples displayed racks of human skulls from their victims. The sacrifices were done to appease and honor the sun god so that he would bless them with an abundance of food. The hearts of the victims would be placed in a sacred bowl and held up to the sun god in reverence.

There are many pagan rituals such as these throughout the world worshiping countless false gods. However, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 8:6, “But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we exist for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.”