Thank you for visiting. This article is the fourth installment (the final one) in a series explaining the original texts of Aztec mythology.
In this final installment, I look at what most characterizes Aztec mythology — and is often told fearfully — “human sacrifice,” and the calendar, the structure of the cosmos, and the afterworld behind it. Why did the Aztec people offer sacrifices?
The ritual and view of life and death dealt with here rely mainly on the Sahagun-compiled “Florentine Codex” (especially Book 2, recording the ritual calendar, and Book 3, recording the afterworld). And for the calendar itself, the pictorial book “Codex Borbonicus,” which depicts the divinatory calendar, and others are precious original texts. In this article too, I explain while showing at key points which original text it is based on.
For an overview map of the original texts of Aztec mythology as a whole, please see this summary article.
Human Sacrifice — Why Were Sacrifices Offered?
Speaking of the Aztec civilization, the image of human sacrifice, offering hearts atop a temple, is strong. This tends to be told as a cruel custom, but for them it was an earnest and sacred duty to protect the world.
Its reason lies in the creation myth seen in the previous articles. Recall it. The Fifth Sun finally began to move when the gods sacrificed their own lives (blood) (Article 1). And humanity itself was born from the blood that Quetzalcoatl and the gods offered (Article 2). That is, the Aztec people thought thus:
“Both the sun (the world) and humans exist by the sacrifice (blood) of the gods. Then, unless humans too keep returning blood to the gods, the sun will stop and the world will be destroyed.”
Blood was the “repayment of a debt” to the gods, and the most precious offering to feed the sun. Especially to the god of sun and war, Huitzilopochtli, the hearts of sacrifices were offered. Atop the great temple Templo Mayor, towering at the center of the capital, the priest opened the chest with an obsidian blade and, the original texts convey, took out the still-beating heart and offered it to the sun. The heart was also called “precious water (chalchihuatl)” and was held to be the sun’s sustenance. For them this was an act to postpone the end of the world and make the sun rise tomorrow too.
Here I want to dispel a misunderstanding: it was not only those made into sacrifices who offered blood. According to Sahagun’s records, from kings to common people to priests, people routinely performed “bloodletting (the act of offering one’s own blood).” With the sharp thorns of the agave (maguey) or an obsidian blade, they pierced their own earlobes, tongues, limbs, and sometimes genitals, and offered the oozing blood to the gods, stained on paper or grass. Priests in particular are told to have been covered in wounds all over, as proof of their devotion. That is, human sacrifice was the most extreme single form of a faith spread throughout society — “repaying the debt to the gods with one’s own blood.”
An Illustrated Introduction to the World’s 5 Great MythologiesView on Amazon →
An Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Myths and LegendsView on Amazon →
The God’s Incarnation Ixiptla, and the Forms of Sacrifice
Aztec sacrifice had a distinctive idea. That is the “ixiptla (the incarnation of a god, the likeness of a god).”
A sacrifice was not merely killed. In many cases, the one chosen as sacrifice was treated, for a fixed period until offered, as becoming a particular god itself. The most famous is the example of Tezcatlipoca. A chosen beautiful youth, for a whole year, was waited upon by the people as the living god Tezcatlipoca and lived in luxury. And on the festival day, he himself climbed the temple stairs and, as the god, had his heart offered. To manifest the god on earth and return it to the god — it was such a ritual.
The form of sacrifice also differed by the god offered to.
| God | Main sacrifice and form |
|---|---|
| Huitzilopochtli / the sun | The hearts of warriors and captives are offered |
| Tlaloc (rain) | Children are offered. Their tears were held to call the blessing rain |
| Tezcatlipoca | A youth who played the god for a year. Also a gladiatorial-style combat sacrifice |
| Xipe Totec (rebirth) | The sacrifice’s skin is flayed and worn by the priest. A symbol of the rebirth of a seed breaking its husk |
And what was carried out to secure this many sacrifices was the “Flower War.” This was not for conquering territory, but a ritual war with neighboring states, aimed at mutually capturing captives to offer as sacrifices. That capturing the enemy alive was valued more than killing them on the battlefield was also for offering the captives to the gods.
The Two Calendars and the “New Fire Ceremony”
The Aztec people valued the movement of the heavens and the calendar extremely highly. They used together two calendars of differing character. The use of the divinatory calendar is depicted, with the 20 day signs and guardian gods, in the pictorial books “Codex Borbonicus” and “Tonalamatl (the book of days).”
| Calendar | Mechanism | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Tonalpohualli | 20 day signs × the numbers 1–13 (260 days) | Ritual, divination. Reads fortune and fate |
| Xiuhpohualli | 20 days × 18 months + 5 unlucky days (365 days) | Solar calendar. Agriculture, seasonal festivals |
The 260-day calendar for divination, and the 365-day calendar matched to the sun’s movement. These two gears mesh and turn, and in exactly 52 years all the combinations go around once. This is called the “Calendar Round.” Note that the 5 days (nemontemi) at the end of the Xiuhpohualli were held to be unlucky blank days belonging to no month, and people spent them quietly, avoiding calamity.
And this turning point of 52 years was, for the Aztec people, the most fearful time of crisis, when the world might be destroyed. What was performed on that night was the “New Fire ceremony (Toxiuhmolpilia).”
People extinguished all the fire in their houses, broke their household goods, and held their breath, awaiting the night. The priests climbed a mountain and watched for a particular star to pass the zenith. And it was held that if they succeeded in kindling a new fire by the drill method on the chest of a sacrifice, the world would continue another 52 years. The lit fire was shared by torch to the temples of various places, and then to the houses, and the start of a new era was grandly celebrated. The world’s survival was staked on a single night’s fire — it is a ritual that well expresses the Aztec worldview.
The Structure of the Cosmos — Thirteen Heavens and Nine Underworlds
The Aztec people thought the cosmos had a structure stacked in many layers.
The heavens consist of 13 layers, and in their highest layer “Omeyocan” dwells the root god Ometeotl seen in Article 1. On the other hand, below the ground spread 9 layers of underworld, whose lowest layer is the land of the dead Mictlan.
And the earth was in between that heaven and underworld. The earth was divided into the four directions of east, west, south, and north, each tied to a color, a sacred tree, and a guarding god (the four Tezcatlipocas). At its center (the fifth direction) was the very Aztec capital, and the great temple Templo Mayor was thought to be the axis of the world, connecting heaven, earth, and underworld.
The Afterworld — the Destination Decided by “How One Died”
The Aztec view of the afterworld has a very unique feature compared with other religions. What conveys this is the appendix to Book 3 of the Sahagun-compiled “Florentine Codex.” According to it, the soul’s destination is decided not by good and evil in life (how one lived), but by “how one died.”
Where the most people go is the underground land of the dead “Mictlan.” The souls of those who died ordinarily, by illness or old age, head here. The soul journeys the underworld of nine layers over a span of four years, crossing a river, passing between colliding mountains, and crossing a wasteland blown by freezing wind, overcoming many ordeals, and at last reaches the death king Mictlantecuhtli of the lowest layer and is held to gain a peace resembling extinction. To help this harsh journey, a dog was sometimes buried with the dead as a companion for the journey.
Those who died related to water — those who drowned, were struck by lightning, or died of a water-related illness — go to the rain god Tlaloc’s paradise “Tlalocan.” This was held to be a pleasant eternal-spring paradise, lush with vegetation and full of food.
And what was held most honorable was warriors who died in battle, those offered as sacrifices, and women who lost their lives in childbirth. Likening childbirth to “a battle of capturing a captive,” women who died in birth received the same honor as the fallen in war. They become glorious souls accompanying the sun. Warriors helped the sun rise from the east to the zenith of the sky, and women who died in childbirth led the sun from the zenith down to the west. They were believed, in time, to change into beautiful hummingbirds or butterflies and flutter back to the earth.
Thus, the view of life and death that gives the highest honor to death in war, death in childbirth, and death as a sacrifice was also deeply tied to the Aztec worldview of offering one’s life to support the sun.
To Learn More
Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.
An Anatomical Illustrated Guide to the Myths That Make StoriesView on Amazon →
World Mythology for Beginners (illustrated)View on Amazon →
Conclusion
In this article, I explained in detail Aztec human sacrifice and the calendar, cosmos, and afterworld, following the original texts. How was it?
Aztec human sacrifice was not a mere cruel custom, but an earnest undertaking rooted in the creation myth — “returning blood to the sun and the world, which are kept alive by the gods’ sacrifice, to prevent destruction.” The god’s incarnation ixiptla, the 52-year cycle and “New Fire ceremony” woven by the 260-day and 365-day calendars, the cosmos of thirteen heavens and nine underworlds, and the afterworld decided by how one dies — through all of them, this distinctive worldview runs consistently.
With this, all four articles of the Aztec mythology original-texts series are complete. From the creation of the Five Suns, to Quetzalcoatl’s civilization, the gods and the founding, and sacrifice and worldview, I hope you have savored the cosmos of the Aztec people, who lived next to destruction.
I also explain the original texts of other mythologies and religions. For the full list, please see the Summary of the World’s Mythology and Religion Original Texts.
For the strength of the gods and heroes, please also refer to this ranking article.
I hope you’ll read the next article too.
📚 Series: The Original Texts of Aztec Mythology (5/5)
