Aztec Culture

Aztec Culture
The basic aspects of the Aztec culture were art, music, dance, and religion. Each of these areas were very important parts of everyday life. These areas were greatly intertwined for their many ceremonial and religious rituals. The Aztec Culture operated with a language called N'ahuati which included a highly developed and extensive sort of alphabet with their vocabulary depicted by several hundred pictures. The Aztecs used pictographs to communicate through writing. Some pictures symbolized ideas and others represented the sounds of syllables. Paper was made by taking strips of bark from fig trees and pounding it on hard pieces of wood.

The Aztec artists were stone workers who carved the idols and statues. The sculptures were made to pleasethee gods. Many of the sculptures reflected their perception of the gods and how they interacted in their lives. Scribes were responsible for the recording of events such as births and deaths as well as decrees and history. Scribes were respected craftsmen, and their profession was probably hereditary. There were painters of pictographs. Pottery makers shaped clay with their hands. Feather designers made head dresses and other adornments with feathers of brillantt colored tropical birds.

The instruments of the Aztecs were rattles, whistles, flutes, bells, drums, and trumpets. Dancers were taught at an early age. Everyone in the village danced before the gods to honor and praise. Dancers acted out significant acts of the gods in an attempt to imitate them. Costumes of bright colors with bells and feathers were most often the most important part of the ritual dance ceremonies.

The Aztecs had a god for just about everything. They had many beliefs such as the earth was flat, and that there were 13 heavens and 9 hells. The Aztec people held their gods in great respect and built large lavish temples to honor them. Their pagan rituals included human sacrafice to honor and appease the gods. The Aztecs worshipped hundreds of gods and goddesses with each representing a different aspect of life.

The early Aztec economy consisted of a type of bartering systems as this was a pre-capitalistic society. The highly developed empire had elaborate leadership and society made up of four classes. These classes were the nobles who were highest in power. Second were the commoners who were mostly farmers and made up the largest part of the population. Next were the serfs who worked for the nobles. The last group were the slaves who consisted of those captured and indebted who couldn't pay. Governmental office positions were usually inherited, but could be awarded by exceptional service to the emperor.

Education was considered very valuable and a requirement in the Aztec culture. Teachers were greatly admired. Boys and girls were educated from birth. During the first years, fathers educated the boys, while mothers taught the girls. Once family education was over, the children of the nobles and priests went to the calmcac while all others went to the tepochcalli. Both boys and girls went to school but were kept separate. There was a tepochcalli school in each neighborhood where the common children learned history, myths, religion and Aztec ceremonial songs. Boys learned about agriculture, the trades, and received intensive military training. Girls were educated to form a family and were educated in the arts and trades to ensure the welfare of their future homes. The calmccac taught children of nobility and served to form new military and religious leaders.

The principal food of the Aztec was called a tlaxcalli ( in Spanish tortilla) which was a thin cornmeal pancake. They used the tlaxcalli to scoop up foods to eat or wrap foods to form tacos. The Aztecs hunted for the meat in their diet which consisted of deer, rabbits, ducks, and geese. They raised turkeys and dogs for meat. The Aztecs have been credited with the discovery of chocolate.

The Aztec culture was very advanced in many ways and many parts of it have been carried over into modern civilization today. Its influence can be seen in commerce and trade, the arts, music, philosophy, and writing.