WHAT WAS THE AZTEC WAY OF LIFE LIKE? - HISTORY - 2025

The Aztec way of life was centered on family and home life, agriculture with cultivation of land, religion and war, and art.

The Aztec empire was a civilization that inhabited the central and southern region of Mexico, in the period from 1300 to 1521 approximately.

Model of Tenochtitlan

The Aztec name comes from Aztlan which means “White Land”, and which refers to its origins in northern Mexico.

According to historians and also their own tradition, the first Aztecs were hunters and gatherers from the north.

They moved south, taking advantage of the collapse of the Toltec civilization, and founded Tenochtitlán, the old capital city, today Mexico City.

Aztec language

The Aztecs, who called themselves Colhua Mexica, spoke Nahuatl, a language that eventually spread north to the Yellowstone River in the United States and south to Panama.

This occurred at the time of greatest splendor of this civilization, and their language became the lingua franca of the entire region.

Family and Home Life: Marriage

The life of a new family began with marriage. They were unions arranged by the parents and relatives of the spouses when they were still children.

They were decided by discussing with the religious leaders the sun sign of birth of the consorts. They chose the wedding day considering the Aztec calendar and also the opinion of the young matchmakers.

In the Aztec family, the man could have more than one wife, but his inheritance remained only for the children of the first wife.

The home was the woman's domain, where she carried out all her activities and made decisions.

Aztec society

Aztec society was dominated by men, considered the head of the home. Women had more power at the political level in the early days of this civilization, but later, their greatest influence was in the family. Old widows were highly respected as wise men and their advice was sought.

The children helped with the housework. Boys were educated in school with military training and girls learned the trades and activities of adult women.

Agriculture and food

The Aztecs developed a remarkable system of agriculture. They cultivated intensively in all the available land, they created an irrigation system and the recovery of swamps. They achieved high productivity, which contributed to their prosperity and wealth.

Its fertile lands produced beans, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, along with corn, which was the most common grain and the main food.

These products grew together with what is known as chocolate. The Aztecs prepared it liquid and added chili, also called ají, spicy.

Religion and war

The Aztecs believed in the fierceness of the Sun God Huitzilopochtli who, after fighting the battle of crossing the sky every day, returned to the womb of his mother Coatlicue, the earth, to renew his strength in his fight against darkness.

To guarantee human existence, the Aztecs, or children of the sun, had to feed it with human blood.

For this reason, war was a religious obligation, which they used to obtain prisoners and then sacrifice them.

Aztec art

The heyday of the Aztec civilization led to the emergence of talented artists. They stood out in their metalwork, in gold and silver, of extraordinary delicacy: earrings, bracelets, rings, necklaces, with details of eagles, turtles, shells and even gods, are testimony to the skill of the best craftsmen.

They also excelled in sculpture of gods in stone and wood, sometimes in monumental sizes, and other times painted in brilliant colors.

Some Aztec artists turned to miniatures, reproducing plants, insects and oysters in precious materials such as pearl, amethyst, obsidian, jade.

Turquoise was the material favored by these artists, and with it they produced mosaics to cover sculptures such as the skull that represents the god Tezcatlipoca and that is exhibited in the British Museum in London.

References

1. Jacques Soustelle. (2016). Aztec Society Family. 09/27/2017, from Aztec History Website: aztec-history.com
2. Charles Gibson. (1964). A history of the Indians of the valley of Mexico. In The Aztecs under the Spanish Rule (25-50). California: Stanford University Press.
3. Publishers of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2014). Aztec People. 09/27/2017, from Encyclopedia Britannica Website: britannica.com
4. Mark Cartwright. (2014). Aztec Art. 09/27/2017, from Ancient History Encyclopedia Website: ancient.eu
5. Editor. (2012). Aztec Agriculture: Floating Farms Fed the People. 09/27/2017, from History on the net Website: historyonthenet.com.