Cultural aspects
Education
Universal education for children was mandatory until the age of fourteen. She was in the hands of her parents, but was supervised by the authorities of her calpulli. Part of this education involved learning a collection of sayings, called “Huēhuetlàtolli” (“Sayings of the Old Men”), which represented Aztec ideals.
There were two types of schools: telpochcalli, for practical and military studies, and calmécac, for specialized learning in writing, astronomy, theology and leadership.
The Mexica religion was the synthesis of the ancient beliefs and traditions of the ancient Mesoamerican peoples, of a complexity that implied existence itself, the creation of the universe and the situation of the human being with respect to the divine, closely linked to agriculture and rain. The human concert had its reason for being in divine nature and implied various concepts, of which the Mexica were the heirs of a Mesoamerican religious nucleus built over many centuries.
According to what was stated by the scholar Alfredo López Austin, in the Mesoamerican conception, matter was integrated into an animated part - visible, tangible - and another with an internal charge with two forces, one luminous, hot and dry and another dark, cold and humid, similar to the notion of the cosmos (which synthesized a cosmogonic belief in which the luminous part was the celestial vault up to the place where the sun lived - with a masculine/paternal characteristic, producer of fertile rain - and the dark part with the underworld—feminine/maternal recipient of the fertilizing rain and site of human and natural conception). The gods were composed in a variety of ways by these two materials and maintained constant communication with humans, whom they could "lodge" in mundane bodies in an intense way (turning the inhabited being into the god himself, as in the festivals in which they sacrificed a nobleman who was inhabited by Xipe Tótec) or in a light way, provoking perversions or virtues.
These forces permeated everything inhabited on Earth and their balance characterized the micro and macrocosmic order, which had to be maintained. In the Mexica case, a solid priestly elite held the power of communication and balance as a form of ideological submission with the bulk of the population, neophyte in cosmogonic explanations. The religious festivals were intended to balance the creative will against the destructive or harmful will and thus guarantee the continuity of the cycles, from the vital to the agricultural. It was not until the Postclassic people that the combination of these beliefs together with that of the necessary vital renewal and recycling of vital forces had in human blood the living expression of the ritual of continuity. For this reason, sacrifices were made either to humans invaded by divine forces and who were immolated in order to renew the powers of the "humanized" gods or in the search for vital food (blood, or precious water) to ensure celestial transit. From the reform of Tlacaélel, the belief became concrete for the Mexica that blood was the food of Tonatiuh, which was transported through the sky in two enormous snakes. This belief is represented in the Stone of the Sun. In relation to this, it is worth mentioning that the political, religious and military elites practiced ritual cannibalism with sacrificial victims.
Quetzalcóatl was an ancient god, prior to the Mexica, of whom there are different versions: for some he was the creator of man, while for others he was a civilizing god. He is also known as the god of the wind under the name of Ehécatl, which is one of his forms, and another of his forms is that of the god of water and the god of fertility. Quetzalcóatl is considered the son of the virgin goddess Coatlicue and twin brother of the god Xólotl "Xólotl (divinity)"). As the introducer of culture, he brought agriculture and the calendar to man, and is the patron of arts and crafts. In a Mexica myth, the god Quetzalcoatl allowed himself to be seduced by Tezcatlipoca, but threw himself onto a funeral pyre full of regret. After his death his heart became the morning star, and as such he is linked to the divinity Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. In any case, this god, described as a being with a white and bearded face, was a peaceful and civilizing god, opposed to human sacrifices, who tried to stop this ritual practice. Failing in his purpose, he emigrated eastward, promising that one day he would return in a certain year of the Mexica count. The myth of Quetzalcóatl is very interesting to understand the reaction of the Mexica to the arrival of the Spanish (Hernán Cortés).
Main Temple
In the center of the city was the Main Temple, a walled enclosure (with a snake-shaped wall, coatepantli) where the main temples and the House of the Young (telpuchcalli) were located. Nearby was the Axayácatl palace, which had one hundred rooms with their own bathroom for visitors and ambassadors. It was there where Cortés's men stayed, along with their Tlaxcalan allies.
The palace of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin had several annexes. One of them was the menagerie: two enclosures where animals from much of Mesoamerica were cared for. One enclosure was dedicated to birds of prey and the other to a wide variety of animals, including birds, reptiles and mammals. Around three hundred people were in charge of caring for the animals. There was also a botanical garden dedicated especially to medicinal plants. Another section was a kind of aquarium "Aquarium (container)"), which contained ten saltwater ponds and ten freshwater ponds for fish and waterfowl.
The canals were crossed by wooden bridges that were removed at night. It was by trying to cross these canals at night that the invaders lost most of the gold they had stolen from Montezuma's palace. The layout of the canals is still preserved in the layout of some avenues in current Mexico City such as México-Tacuba, Calzada del Tepeyac or Calzada de Tlalpan.
Arts
The Mexica people were good sculptors since they could make sculptures of all sizes in which they captured religious or nature themes. They captured the essence of what they wanted to represent and then created their works in great detail.
In the largest sculptures they usually represented gods and kings. The smaller ones were used for representations of animals and common objects.
The Mexica used stone and wood and sometimes decorated the sculptures with colored paint or inlaid with precious stones.
Music, singing and dance accompanied all ceremonies such as marriages, funerals, those of a political nature such as the ascension of a new leader, those of a warrior nature and even the festivities related to the calendar cycles. Religious dances were held in the courtyards of the temples.
Some musical instruments used are Teponaztli, Tecomapiloa, Omichicahuaztli, Huéhuetl, Coyolli"), Chililitli, Chicahuaztli, Cacalachtli, Ayotl, Ayacahtli"), Tetzilacatl, Ayoyotes. The tlapitzalli, a clay flute, was used to signal the start of a battle. Snail shells were also used as trumpets.
Mexica astronomy and astrology: the relationship of the stars and heavens
Without a doubt, the three stars that attracted the most attention to the Mexica are: the sun, the moon and the planet Venus, which is why these stars have caused great beliefs and myths. Because of the way he “disappeared” and “reappeared.”
The Moon represented femininity, fertility, vegetation and also drunkenness, having as its symbol tecciztlì (the sea snail), which in turn is the symbol of the female reproductive system. In certain aspects the moon is related to water; in the manuscripts it is represented in a half-moon-shaped container filled with water, with the silhouette of the rabbit standing out above it.
The goddesses (like the goddess of water) have many attributes in common, particularly in their clothing.
The gods of drunkenness (there being several, since there are several ways to get drunk), such as “pulque”, were considered lunar deities, since they were considered the cause of abundant harvests, turning the gods of drunkenness into gods of abundant harvests and the protection of banquets, true drinking festivals to celebrate abundance.
They were called Centzon Totochtin, the "four hundred rabbits", however when analyzing their names we realized that they refer to the names of a town (for example Tepoztlán, a Nahua town in the Cuernavaca valley). This is explained since small local gods were grouped together for each harvest and celebration. Without a doubt the most important of the four hundred rabbits was Ometochtli “Two-rabbit”. These gods were so important that several religious hymns were dedicated to them.
When comparing what was previously said about the sun and the moon, one can notice under both stars the characteristics of the primordial couple, fire (sun) and Earth (moon); the very ancient duality represented in the sky.
The planet Venus "Venus (planet)") was called Hueycitlalin (the great star). In his aspect as a god he was Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. Various manuscripts represent said god as an archer. It was feared as a cause of diseases and to avoid them, care was taken to repair the cracks in the houses and close any openings in them when Venus was on its way to ascend the western horizon.
In another aspect (Borgia Codex, plate 54, upper right) the god Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli appears in the funereal costume of the god of death, Mictlantecuhtli, with his face covered with a mask in the shape of a dead man's head. With this costume, in addition to receiving the characteristics of a god who gives diseases and bad omens, he remembers that Venus was born from the death of Quetzalcoatl. After the sacrifice, Quetzalcóatl, converted into Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, spent four days in the hell of the north, the domain of Mictlantecuhtli. Here we find the theme of death and rebirth, of the journey to the country of death that unites the three personalities of Quetzalcóatl-Xólotl-Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli.