Aztecs BELIEFS
The Aztecs attitude towards other cultures was developed during their legendary journey to find their homeland. Along the way they were involved in conflicts with other peoples. As a result they became disciplined, independent and resourceful people.
According to legend the Aztec decision on where they should live was based on command by their god Huitzilopochtli. The Aztecs believed that the gods controlled every aspect of their life and they looked up to the gods for signs of how to live. Although they had many different gods, they believed some were more powerful than others. The Aztecs believed that the gods lived in the skies and other places. This was why they thought mountains were sacred places—the mountaintop was that much closer to heaven, the home of the gods. Aztec priests sometimes built temples on mountaintops, where they believed the physical and spiritual worlds met. For the Aztecs, killing another person as a sacrifice had a deeply religious significance. It was the strongest expression of their devotion to the gods, since they believed that the victim’s blood nourished the gods. Without it the god’s would die.
Aztec religion was focused on how the gods, humans and nature were interconnected. There was a strong emphasis on the worship of Huitzilopochtli. The military conquest and ritual sacrifices were all related, and in a great part focused on helping Huitzilopochtli keep the sun strong so that disaster could be averted every 52 years.