Ques. What peculiarity has been remarked in the mythology of the Aztecs or ancient Mexicans?

Ans. Its incongruity. On the one hand we find their priests inculcating the most sublime truths of natural religion, and the purest maxims of morality, while on the other, their sacrifices and public worship were marked by a spirit of unexampled ferocity.

Ques. How has this been explained?

Ans. It is supposed that the religion of the Aztecs was derived from two distinct sources. The ancient Toltecs, who preceded them in Mexico, were a comparatively humane and enlightened race; they retained many of the highest principles of natural religion, united, probably, with truths derived from primitive tradition. The Aztecs seem to have adopted the religion of their more civilized predecessors without abandoning their own dark and cruel superstitions. Hence the contradictions and inconsistencies of their mythology.

Ques. What did the Aztecs believe of God?

Ans. They believed in one Supreme Lord and Creator, to whom they attributed all the divine perfections. The prayers which they addressed to Him recall, in many instances, the very phraseology of Scripture.

Ques. Did the Aztecs worship any other deity?

Ans. Yes, they worshipped many subordinate divinities who were supposed to preside over the elements, the changes of the seasons and the various occupations of men. Of these gods, thirteen held the most exalted rank, while the inferior class numbered over two hundred.

Ques. Who may be considered the chief of these subordinate divinities?

Ans. Huitzilopotchli, a sort of Mexican Mars, who was, in fact, the patron deity of the nation. His temples were the most stately of all the public edifices, and his altars in every part of the empire were continually reeking with the blood of human victims.

Ques. Who was Quetzalcoatl?

Ans. The Aztecs, like many nations of the old world, had their Golden Age. During this blissful period, Quetzalcoatl, god of the air, dwelt on earth, and instructed men in the use of metals, in agriculture and every useful art. Under his beneficent rule, the earth brought forth its fruits without care or labor: and such was the fertility of the soil that a single ear of corn was as much as a man could carry. The dyer’s art was not needed, for the cotton took, as it grew, the richest and most varied hues. The rarest flowers filled the air with perfume, and the melody of birds was heard in every grove. This happy state was not destined to last; Quetzalcoatl incurred the anger of one of the greater gods, and was obliged to abandon the country. He proceeded to the shores of the Mexican gulf, where he took leave of his followers, promising that, when many years had rolled away, he would revisit their descendants. He then embarked in a skiff made of serpent’s skins, and sailed eastward towards the fabled land of Tlapallan.

Quetzalcoatl was described by the Mexicans as tall, with a fair complexion, long, dark hair, and a flowing beard. They looked confidently for the return of the benevolent deity, and this tradition had no small influence in preparing the way for the future success of the Spaniards.

It is evident that Quetzalcoatl was the name given by the Mexicans to some beneficent ruler who instructed them in the arts of civilized life. It is singular that he should have been described with every characteristic of the European race; and some have conjectured that he was indeed a native of the Eastern hemisphere, cast by some strange accident among the simple natives of the New World. Ques. Did the Aztecs worship any household divinities?

Ans. Yes; the images of their penates, or household gods, were to be found in every dwelling.

Ques. What did the Aztecs believe with regard to a future life?

Ans. Their priests taught that the wicked were sent after death to expiate their sins in a region of eternal darkness. Those who died of certain diseases were entitled, after death, to a state of indolent contentment; but the Aztec paradise, like the Elysium of the Greeks and Romans, was reserved for their warriors and heroes. In this class were included those who were offered in sacrifice. These privileged souls passed at once into the presence of the Sun, whom they accompanied with songs and choral dances in his journey through the heavens. After a certain period, their spirits went to animate the golden clouds which floated over the gardens of paradise, or, assuming the form of singing birds, revelled amid the blossoms and odors of its sacred groves.

Ques. What peculiar rite was practised by the Aztecs in the naming of their children?

Ans. The lips and bosom of the infant were sprinkled with water. During the ceremony they implored the Lord, that the holy drops might wash away the sin that was given to it before the foundation of the world, so that the child might be born anew. Ques. How did the Aztecs bury their dead?

Ans. Immediately after death, the corpse was clothed in certain sacred habiliments, and strewed with charms, which were supposed to be necessary as a defence against the dangers of the unknown road which the spirit was about to travel. The body was then burned, and the ashes, carefully collected in a funeral urn, were placed in the house of the deceased. In this mode of burial, we may notice a certain resemblance to the funeral rites of the ancient Greeks and Romans. There was, however, this distinction, that although the latter occasionally sacrificed their captive enemies to the manes of a departed warrior, this offering formed no necessary part of the burial rite; on the other hand, the obsequies of an Aztec noble were always accompanied by the sacrifice of unoffending slaves, the number of victims being proportioned to the rank of the deceased.

Ques. Did the Aztec priests form a distinct order?

Ans. They were altogether distinct from the people, and formed a numerous and powerful hierarchy. Their different functions were exactly regulated; those who were best skilled in music formed the choirs—Others arranged the festivals according to the calendar. Some were engaged in the education of youth, and others had charge of the hieroglyphical paintings and oral traditions, while the dreadful rites of sacrifice were reserved to the chief dignitaries of the order.

Ques. Were women permitted to exercise any sacerdotal functions?

Ans. Yes; the Aztec priestesses exercised every function except that of sacrifice. They superintended the schools in which the daughters of the higher and middle classes received their education. These schools, as well as those for boys, directed by the priests, were under the strictest discipline. Ordinary faults were punished with extreme rigor; graver offences, with death.

Ques. How was this numerous priesthood maintained?

Ans. A certain quantity of land was annexed to each temple, and the priests were further enriched by first fruits and other offerings. This large provision became necessary from the fact that the Aztec priests were allowed to marry. The law prescribed that any surplus, beyond what was actually required for their support, should be distributed among the poor. This, and other benevolent provisions, seem very inconsistent with the cruelties practised in their public worship.

Ques. What was the form of the Mexican temples?

Ans. They were solid pyramids, constructed of earth, but completely cased in brick or stone. They were disposed in three or four stories, each smaller than that below. At the top was a broad area, in which stood one or more towers, containing images of the presiding deities. Before these towers were generally placed, besides the dreadful stone of sacrifice, two lofty altars on which burned perpetual fires. So numerous were these sacred fires in the city of Mexico, that the streets were brilliantly lighted even on the darkest night. The ascent was made, in some cases, by a stairway which led directly up the centre of the western face of the pyramid. More generally, it was so arranged, that the religious processions were obliged to pass two or three times around the pyramid before reaching the summit. The Mexicans called their temples Teocallis, or “houses of God.”

Ques. Are any of these structures still in existence?

Ans. Yes; of those which yet remain, the pyramid of Cholula is the largest, and perhaps the most perfect. It measures 176 feet in perpendicular height, and is 1425 feet square; it covers 45 acres. It is very ancient, having been built before the Aztecs conquered Anahuac, as that part of Mexico was formerly named.

Ques. What sacrifices were offered by the Aztecs?

Ans. Their sacrifices present the same striking contrasts which we find in everything connected with their religion.—Some festivals were of a light and joyous character, being celebrated with choral songs and dances. Processions of votaries crowned with garlands, bore offerings to the temple; fruits, ripe maize, and the sweet incense of the copal and other odoriferous gums; while the birds and domestic animals offered in sacrifice were consumed at the banquets with which the festival concluded. These innocent rites were evidently of Toltec origin; the dreadful practice of human sacrifice was introduced by the Aztec conquerors, whose wars were often undertaken for no other purpose than to procure victims for their altars.

Ques. Were these sacrifices numerous?

Ans. They were introduced only about two hundred years before the Spanish Conquest. They were at first exceptional, but became more frequent as the Aztec empire extended, until the number of those sacrificed annually throughout the empire is calculated at twenty thousand, which is the lowest estimate given. It was customary to preserve the skulls of the victims in buildings erected for the purpose. One hundred and thirty-six thousand of these ghastly relics were counted in a single edifice. Women were occasionally offered in sacrifice, but Tlaloc, the god of rain, could only be propitiated by the blood of young children and infants. In seasons of drought, these innocent victims, decked in the richest attire, and crowned with flowers, were borne to the temple in open litters, their cries being drowned in the wild chanting of the priests.

The feast of Tezcatlipoca, one of the chief gods, who was called the “Soul of the World,” was celebrated by the sacrifice of a single victim, with regard to whom many peculiar ceremonies were observed. A year before the sacrifice, a young man, distinguished for grace and beauty, was chosen from among the captives. He was splendidly attired, surrounded by every luxury, and was received everywhere with the homage due to the divinity whom he was supposed to represent.

When the fatal day arrived, the victim, who had been trained to perform his part with calmness and dignity, was conducted to the temple. As the melancholy procession wound up the sides of the pyramid, he played upon a musical instrument; at first, joyous airs, which grew graver and more mournful as the cortege advanced, until at length he broke his lute, and cast it aside. He then threw from him, one by one, his chaplets of flowers, and stood unadorned before the stone of sacrifice. The bloody work was soon accomplished, and the yet palpitating heart of the victim was thrown at the feet of the idol. The career of this captive, and his progress to the altar, was intended as an allegorical representation of human life, which, joyous at first, terminates in sorrow and in death. In speaking of human sacrifices, we have yet to mention the most revolting feature. The Mexicans, both men and women, feasted on the bodies of the victims; and no Aztec noble would venture to entertain his friends on a festival day without placing before them this loathsome food. It is worthy of remark that Montezuma surpassed all his predecessors in the pomp with which he celebrated the festivals of the Aztec gods, and the number of human victims which he offered on their altars.