The Legacy Of The Aztecs
How this great civilisation still lives today
There is a story once told by Bernardino de Sahagún, the Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Spanish colonisation of Mexico. It may be apocryphal, a retrofitted fiction crafted by the Spaniards to facilitate their conquest but, given the prevalence of the returning god, demi-god or king in different mythologies around the world, it carries the ring of truth. It stated that King Moctezuma II, who ruled the Aztec kingdom during the arrival of Hernán Cortés, welcomed the conquistador’s appearance, recalling an indigenous belief and proclaiming the Spaniard to be an incarnation of Quetzalcóatl, the feathered serpent deity who was destined to return and restore his sacred kingdom of Tollan.
It is said that in Mexico today, and even among some Latinos living in the
US, there are people who still hold onto this belief, hoping that one day a great Aztec deity might return in a symbolic or political context. For Aztec culture still holds a prominent place in modern Mexico, in its national identity and within the hearts of so many of those who call it home. In 1964, the then-mexican president dedicated a plaque at Tlatelolco, which, alongside the ancient capital of Tenochtitlán, stands as the primary archaeological site in Mexico City. It reads: “Heroically defended… Tlatelolco fell to the power of Hernán Cortés. It was neither a triumph nor a defeat but the painful birth of the Mestizo nation that is Mexico today.” ‘Mestizo’ is a term that refers to a person of combined Spanish and Native American descent, and it’s the foundation of the Mexican gene pool. If one stands before the archaeological site of Tlatelolco in the middle of Mexico City, the Aztec pyramid in the sacred precinct rises before the early colonial church of Santiago Tlatelolco, while modern tower blocks look down. Here we see all three cultures – Aztec, Spanish, Mestizo – gathered together as one. Modern Mexicans, like their Aztec forbearers, carry a deep cultural memory and it’s both fitting and understandable that just as the Aztecs looked back, misty-eyed and proud, at their own Toltec heritage, so do Mexicans look back with pride at the Aztec peoples. One only need consider the Mexican flag: centred amid the green, white and red vertical stripes sits an eagle holding a snake and standing atop a cactus. This image was important
in the Aztec world, signifying the sacred spot where Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and the sun, told his people to build the great city of Tenochtitlán. It forms the central image of the frontispiece on the Codex Mendoza. Veneration for the Aztec past is palpable at every level in Mexico, including the administrative: the central government funds archaeology, while the native archaeologists themselves unearth the past in honour of the national heritage. Many of the funds come from the federally backed National Institute of Anthropology and History, and it seems to have poured a small fortune into the excavation of the Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlán, the great symbol of the Aztec city. When the excavation was underway between 1978 and 1982, the aptly named archaeological leader Eduardo Matos Moctezuma became something of a national celebrity.
It’s important to note that the Spanish conquest did not mean the complete destruction of Aztec culture right away, but it did have a profound and immediate impact on the nature and systems of government. Human sacrifice was abolished instantly and the Aztec tax system died in 1521, followed with the continuance of native warfare tactics and the existing systems and arteries of trade.
The more overt, outward trappings of the state religion also came under attack from the Christians’ missionary zeal. Aztec peasant life, however, continued mostly unaffected and it endured in rural areas for a long time. In some areas it still continues largely unchanged to his day. The Nahuatl language also survived the conquest and even today is spoken by more than a million people across Mexico, remaining an important, living repository of ancient stories, myths and legends.
Even during colonial times, for the peasants in the countryside, the farmers and fishermen, it mattered little whether they were ruled by, and paid their taxes to, Moctezuma II or Philip II. The calpolli, or collection of families that lived and worked in the same area, remained the centre of their social life. And while the Spanish conquest marked the end of the great pyramid- and temple-building projects that dominated their landscape, the common folk continued to build and live in the same kinds of simple houses.
Similarly, the traditional tools employed by the common people remained in use, as did the distinctive orange, unglazed pottery. Even after the introduction of iron, all across the countryside workers retained and manufactured obsidian tools. Archaeologists have shown that iron nails and glazed ceramics did not start appearing in rural sites until after
1650. And while this retention of native tradition might simply reflect an unwillingness to change, some historians argue that it was a conscious decision taken by many ordinary people in a bid to boost their political influence and their economic standing, while also exerting more control over their daily lives. Of course, they couldn’t hold back the tide, and Spanish language and culture eventually washed through every area of people’s lives. Yet the Nahuatl culture was not entirely overwhelmed. Even today there are Nahuatl Indians living in Mexico. The term ‘Indian’ is controversial, of course, especially when used in relation to Native American people in the USA. In Mesoamerica, it was a term used by the Spaniards to designate any native people and to differentiate them from their European ‘overlords’, whether Aztecs, Mayas, Zapotecs or any other kind of people. Today in Mexico, its use has changed and the problematic term ‘Indian’ is employed in relation to anyone who
Aztec-inspired designs remain a popular fixture in contemporary fashion styles
“FOR THE PEASANTS, FARMERS AND FISHERMEN, IT MATTERED LITTLE WHETHER THEIR TAXES WERE PAID TO MOCTEZUMA II OR PHILIP II”
speaks a native language and who lives in rural poverty.
Modern Nahuatl Indians are not Aztecs but their lives contain echoes of that culture. The techniques used to construct traditional homes are said to be almost identical to their ancestors’. In addition, their diet of maize, beans, chillies, avocados and squashes is also very similar to that of the Aztecs. In textile production, many Nahuatl Indians still spin thread by hand and use a backstrap loom “virtually identical to that used by the Aztecs”, according to Professor of Anthropology Dr Michael E Smith. Obviously, Spanish and Mestizo culture has infiltrated their lives – they spin wool and eat pork and chicken – but these people are living proof that, on many levels, modern Mexican life and culture is underpinned by the vestiges of the Aztec past.
Interestingly, the Nahuatl language not only runs through place names across Mexico – from Coyoacan to Churubusco – it’s also crept into the English language. Just consider tomato from tomatl, coyote from coyotl or chocolate from chocolatl, to name but a few.
And while the Spanish missionaries, unlike many invaders, including the
Aztecs themselves, did not incorporate or appropriate the gods of those they conquered – monotheism is not an inclusive belief system – they did not, or could not, destroy all traces of their new subjects’ religion. The friars and missionaries were also forced to adapt new definitions and compromises when speaking through interpreters of the Nahuatl language, which often, says historian Davíd Carrasco, “resulted in new meanings given to notions of sin, crucifixion, sacrifice, salvation, saints and God”. The native people, he says, were also resistant to the newly built Christian churches, forcing the missionaries to construct large, open-air precincts that could host masses and sermons.
In addition, and much to chagrin of the friars, the native people did not simply accept Catholicism as preached by the missionaries, but took whatever elements that appealed and blended these with their own pre-existing beliefs. One example of the persistence of pre-christian belief is to be found in figures of the crucified Christ manufactured from maize, whereby the makers combined their belief in the divine seeds with their understanding of the divine life of Christ.
Going back even further, there are numerous examples of sculptures crafted during the early colonial period that incorporate both Christian and Aztec religious imagery. A prime example is the baptismal font in the monastery at Zinacantepec, a huge monolithic basin cut from grey volcanic stone, carved with a design that combines Christian images of Christ and Mary with symbols of the rain god Tlaloc. Perhaps the most powerful blend of Christian and Aztec belief is found with the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe, whose apparition is said to have appeared in the colonial period at a sanctuary closely associated with a native goddess.
“THE AZTECS TOOK ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIANITY AND BLENDED THESE WITH THEIR OWN BELIEFS”
She is said to have spoken the Nahuatl language, was of the same racial colouring as the Aztec people and showed favour to the native people, while making demands of the Spaniards on their behalf. She is now revered the world over as a sacred ‘Mother of Mexico’.
Perhaps the most famous expression of Aztec ceremonial practice that survives today is the Day of the Dead, which is really a celebration of life and a memorial to the ancestral past. Archaeology has shown that in Aztec culture the dead were often buried in close proximity to the home, being still considered part of their family to be hosted within the domestic compound. The rituals and offerings made to the deceased members of the family are seen as the basis for the Day of the Dead ceremonies held by modern Mexicans.
It is said that during Aztec times these ceremonies were likely held in high summer but were moved to October 31 and then the first days of November to tie in with the Christian triduum of All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day. These celebrations now unfold across America as well as in Mexico and have become public displays rather than just ceremonies held by Mexican people in their homes.
Whether in public or private, the Day of the Dead is usually celebrated with bright yellow or orange marigolds, known by the Aztecs as cempoalxochitl, which they associated with the completion of a life lived. Altars, especially in the home, are further decorated with sugar skulls, photographs of the deceased and food offerings such as the sweet rolls ‘pan de muerto’ (or ‘bread of the dead’). Altars are usually lit by candles and perfumed with copal incense. “If you look closely at these altars,” writes Davíd Carrasco, “you may notice a humorous, tender image of the Aztec spirit-dog Xolotl, standing on a pedestal by the underground river on the way to Mictlan, waiting to guide the souls of the dead to the other shore.” In Mexico, the first day of the celebrations is set aside to remember those who died in infancy or childhood. Adults are remembered the following day.
Aztec art has also found its way into the work of modern painters and sculptors such as Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, with their celebrated murals, and also the paintings of Frida Kahlo, perhaps the most famous of all Mexico’s visual artists. Aztec imagery also appears on Mexican bank notes and is widely employed in traditional dances.
During the Mexican wars of independence from Spain during the early-19th century, the insurgent leader José María Morelos invoked the great
Aztec warrior people and the Spanish slaughter in the precincts of Tenochtitlán, proclaiming, “Spirits of Moctezuma… celebrate… this happy instant in which your children have come together to avenge the injustices and outrages.” Nowadays, these are more peaceful times in Mexico. The leading academic journal is called Aztlán (the name of the mythical place of origin of the Aztecs), while the eagle and serpent remain recurring themes in Mexican art, as do skeletons that recall the Aztec skull racks.
The Mexican past is very much alive in the Mexican present and it looks set to form an important part of a Mexican future. Some people might even say that Quetzalcóatl has returned and ensured that his nation and his people live on in a new and modern world.
The enduring fascination with Aztec society has spawned countless films, books and even video games