The Aztecs, like many other cultures and religions around the world, believed in life after death but how, according to Aztec mythology, do their beliefs about the afterlife differ from others?
The afterlife is a belief in the survival of a person in some form after physical death. The ancient Egyptians for instance strongly believed in an afterlife which they felt would be similar to this life, but far better. Christians believe in heaven and hell when the good will be rewarded by going to heaven and evil punished.
The Aztecs, as did many other ancient religions, believed in a heaven and their myths speak of heaven consisting of thirteen levels. They also believed in an underworld of nine levels and four horizontal points corresponding to the compass points, each one linked with a creator god.
For the Aztecs, it was not the way a person lived their life that determined the consequences of their Fate after death but it was the way they died that would decide on whether they would go to the sun god or the underworld.
The house of the sun or the eastern paradise was the home of the souls of those who had been sacrificed for the gods and the souls of warriors killed in combat. The house of corn or the western paradise was the resting place of women who had died in childbirth. The southern paradise was for souls who had been drowned, struck by lightening or died of illness. The paradise of the north would be where all other souls resided at least for a while after death.
Because all souls would eventually move on once again. Those, for instance, dwelling in the house of the sun would, after four years, return to earth as a humming bird, butterfly or some other exotic bird. Those souls dwelling in the western paradise would, according to some myths, return to earth as phantoms while those in the paradise of the north would be challenged with nine trials to be accomplished within four years.
These trials included crossing a deep river where they might be guided by the souls of dead dogs, passing between two joined-together mountains, icy winds, wild beasts that ate human hearts, traversing narrow paths of stone, being pierced by arrows and other fearful tasks until eventually reaching the ninth level where the soul would find rest.
To help them make this perilous journey, people were buried with items that might aid them when carrying out these tasks such as jade beads, food, water and blankets. The jade bead was believed to replace their heart.
The souls of babies would go to one of the thirteen heavens as would the souls of men waiting to be reincarnated. These levels, according to some myths, included the earth, the moon, the stars, the sun, Venus, comets, the colour black, the colour blue, storms, white god, yellow god, red god and Omeyocan where the creators of the lord and lady of duality live.
All those in the afterlife would have duties that continued to fulfil the part they had to play within the cosmic process. A soul might help cure illness, worship the sun, bring rain, make healthy plants grow and all of this would contribute to the challenge of keeping the human race alive.
Life and death, according to Aztec belief, are undividable parts of the same cosmic cycle of energy. Life leads to death and in death, the body will nourish the Earth to provide for new life to be born.
Sources
http://www.calleman.com/content/13_heavens.htm
http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/index.php?one=azt&two=aaa&id=280&typ=reg
http://www.plu.edu/~beltrasa/heaven-underworld/home.html
http://www.aztec-history.net/aztec_religion
http://www.deathreference.com/A-Bi/Aztec-Religion.html
© C Somerville. This article has also been published in Yahoo Voices and Helium. Permission to republish in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
The afterlife is a belief in the survival of a person in some form after physical death. The ancient Egyptians for instance strongly believed in an afterlife which they felt would be similar to this life, but far better. Christians believe in heaven and hell when the good will be rewarded by going to heaven and evil punished.
The Aztecs, as did many other ancient religions, believed in a heaven and their myths speak of heaven consisting of thirteen levels. They also believed in an underworld of nine levels and four horizontal points corresponding to the compass points, each one linked with a creator god.
For the Aztecs, it was not the way a person lived their life that determined the consequences of their Fate after death but it was the way they died that would decide on whether they would go to the sun god or the underworld.
The house of the sun or the eastern paradise was the home of the souls of those who had been sacrificed for the gods and the souls of warriors killed in combat. The house of corn or the western paradise was the resting place of women who had died in childbirth. The southern paradise was for souls who had been drowned, struck by lightening or died of illness. The paradise of the north would be where all other souls resided at least for a while after death.
Because all souls would eventually move on once again. Those, for instance, dwelling in the house of the sun would, after four years, return to earth as a humming bird, butterfly or some other exotic bird. Those souls dwelling in the western paradise would, according to some myths, return to earth as phantoms while those in the paradise of the north would be challenged with nine trials to be accomplished within four years.
These trials included crossing a deep river where they might be guided by the souls of dead dogs, passing between two joined-together mountains, icy winds, wild beasts that ate human hearts, traversing narrow paths of stone, being pierced by arrows and other fearful tasks until eventually reaching the ninth level where the soul would find rest.
To help them make this perilous journey, people were buried with items that might aid them when carrying out these tasks such as jade beads, food, water and blankets. The jade bead was believed to replace their heart.
The souls of babies would go to one of the thirteen heavens as would the souls of men waiting to be reincarnated. These levels, according to some myths, included the earth, the moon, the stars, the sun, Venus, comets, the colour black, the colour blue, storms, white god, yellow god, red god and Omeyocan where the creators of the lord and lady of duality live.
All those in the afterlife would have duties that continued to fulfil the part they had to play within the cosmic process. A soul might help cure illness, worship the sun, bring rain, make healthy plants grow and all of this would contribute to the challenge of keeping the human race alive.
Life and death, according to Aztec belief, are undividable parts of the same cosmic cycle of energy. Life leads to death and in death, the body will nourish the Earth to provide for new life to be born.
Sources
http://www.calleman.com/content/13_heavens.htm
http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/index.php?one=azt&two=aaa&id=280&typ=reg
http://www.plu.edu/~beltrasa/heaven-underworld/home.html
http://www.aztec-history.net/aztec_religion
http://www.deathreference.com/A-Bi/Aztec-Religion.html
© C Somerville. This article has also been published in Yahoo Voices and Helium. Permission to republish in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.