BELIEFS

Aztec Gods

The three most important gods for the aztecs were Huitzilopochtli, he was the one who led them to their place and where they were to live, he is also was the patron of war and sacrifices. His shrine was decorated with red skulls for blood. Next was Tlaloc, he was the god of rain and water. They believed that the cries of babies were sacred to the god. So many of the ceremonies involved the sacrifice of children. The third most important god was Tonatiuh, the god of the sun. He provided warm and fertile. So he needed sacrificial blood. He also was the patron of the warriors.

Beliefs

Religion was important to the aztecs. It was believed that it took 5 tries to create the world. They had to sacrifice to a god for the sun to move. But the sun sat still so they had to sacrifice to all the gods. They thought there was a battle with light and darkness so the people had to sacrifice blood. Every 52 years they thought the world was going to end. So there religion was focused on the gods, and how nature was interconnected.

Sacrifices

They did there sacrifices by having a person placed on stone. Then, they would have the priest cut the person's chest and stomach, and take out the heart as it was beating. The dead body was cut up and was given to the people; they ate the pieces of the human. Another method of sacrifice was to set the victims on fire, before death they took the person out of the fire and had the hearts cut out. It was believed that the city would be set on fire.They also sacrificed children but before sacrificing them they would make the kids cry, because the god of water and rain would be angry if they did not.

But not all sacrifices were fatal. They let lots of blood out. Also it was not only humans getting sacrificed. They sacrificed butterflies and snakes also.It is possible that around 20000 people were scarificed each year.