The Aztecs worshipped many gods, each responsible for a different aspect of life like the sun rising, weather, illness, and happiness. They believed gods needed to be appeased through human sacrifices, with hearts often offered to the sun god Huitzilopochtli to prevent eternal darkness. Sacrifices were made by laying victims on a stone and cutting their chests open with obsidian knives to remove their still-beating hearts.

1. Aztec Religion

2. The Aztecs worshipped many gods, each of
whom were responsible for a different
aspect of life.
Gods were believed to do the following:
• Make sure the sun rose each morning
• Controlled the weather
• Controlled illness
• Controlled happiness etc.

3. Cineteotl
Goddess of
Maize
(Corn)
• What do you
think she is
carrying in her
hand?
• Why do you
think this?

4. Ehecatl
God of Wind
Mythology:
As the fourth sun was
destroyed in the Aztec
creation myth (due to
the Gods not being
satisfied with the men
they had created) the
gods gathered in
Teotihuacan.

5. Ehecatl (continued)
• There Nanahuatzin and
Tecciztecatl jumped
into a sacrificial fire and
became the sun and the
moon. They remained
immobile until Ehecatl
blew hard on them. At
first only the sun moved,
but once the sun started
moving the moon
moved also.

6. Teotihuacan

7. Patecatl
God of Medicine
God of healing and
fertility and the
discoverer of
peyote. (drug)
Peyote was used to
trigger
hallucinations

8. Mayauel
Goddess of Cactus
• Maguey (Agave Americana),
pulque, and all intoxicants
thereby.
• Original bringer of love to
mankind (with Quetzalcoatl)
Mayauel
• Description: She is depicted
naked, holding up a bowl of
pulque and seated on a throne
of a tortoise and snake. Night
was her sacred time and she
carried a cord that she used to
aid women in child birth.
• She is the Goddess who
discovered and introduced the
Gods to pulque.

9. Huitzilopochtli
The Sun God
• Sacrifices were
offered up to the
sun god for fear
the world would
stay in eternal
darkness

10. Tlaloc
The Rain God
• This God was
taken from one of
the types of people
that the Aztecs
conquered.
• He was one of the
most important.
Why do you think he
was considered
important?

11. Quetzalcoatl
• Sometimes depicted as a
white man (light, the
shining ones) looking
nothing like the
Mesoamerican people who
worshipped him.
• Most often he is depicted
as a feathered serpent.
• Feathers represent the
ascension of human
consciousness back to its
origins
• Confused with Hernan
Cortes the conquistador

12. Sacrifices

13. Sacrifices
• Made to the Sun God
Huitzilopochtli for fear
of living in eternal
darkness
• Beating hearts were
offered
• Victims were laid down
on a concave stone and
held down on all four
limbs

14. Obsidian Knives
Made from volcanic rock (lava)