Indigenous Aztec Dance to the gods

Ritual human sacrifice in the Aztec religion, real or myth? (Codex Magliabechiano/Wiki)

(Miguel Perez) Before Columbus: Danza Prehispanica de Mexico (Alta/Baja California) 2017

The Aztec religion is a polytheistic and monistic pantheism in which the Nahua (Nahuatl, the indigenous language of Mexico) concept of teotl was construed as the supreme god Ometeotl, as well as a diverse pantheon of lesser gods and manifestations of nature [1].

The popular religion tended to embrace the mythological and polytheistic aspects, and the Aztec Empire's state religion sponsored both the monism of the upper classes and the popular heterodoxies [2].

The most important deities were worshiped by priests in Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), particularly Tlaloc and the god of the Mexica (the tribe from which the word "Mexico" derives), Huitzilopochtli, whose shrines were located on the Templo Mayor ("Main Temple").

Their priests would receive special dispensation from the empire. When other states were conquered the empire would often incorporate practices from its new territories into the mainstream religion [3].

In common with many other indigenous Mesoamerican civilizations, the Aztecs put great ritual emphasis on calendrics, and scheduled festivals, government ceremonies, and even war around key transition dates in the Aztec calendar [4].

Quetzalcóatl (Aztec religion)

Public ritual practices could involve food, storytelling, and dance, as well as ceremonial warfare, the Mesoamerican ballgame (precursor of football, soccer, and basketball), and human sacrifice (a tribute to appease the bloodthirsty gods of military service and slaughter) [5].

The cosmology of Aztec religion divides the world into 13 heavens and nine earthly layers or netherworlds [6]. The first heaven overlaps with the first terrestrial layer, so that heaven and the terrestrial layers meet at the surface of the Earth, where we are.

The celestial entities of "shining ones" (sky devas)

Each level is associated with a specific set of deities and astronomical objects. The most important celestial entities in Aztec religion are the Sun, the Moon, and the planet Venus (as both "Morning Star" and "Evening Star") [7].

After Conquest by Spain, Aztec people were forced to convert to Catholicism, and the two religions syncretized.

In this religion, your black magic blood sacrifice will come from a scapegoat, who is the God Himself disguised as a human to pay Himself a ransom for your eternal soul washed in blood: You have to accept it, or we'll kill you. And let our priests molest your kids because they don't have wives. The Vatican orders it. Don't worry. His Mom is very nice and will do lots of favors for you.

Let me just liberate your iishti so you can go back to the Son, I mean Sun (Codex Laud, f.8)

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This syncretism is evidenced by the Virgin of Guadalupe [8] and the Day of the Dead. More: Aztec religion