Time, History, and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico Essay

Aztec enculturationIntroduction The chronicle of various mountain and how they lived in the past is majorly explained through and through their cultural servicemanagement of life. People lived in assorted geographical localities, but due to exchangeable ethic and racial minimize they shared a joint background in terms of cultural, political, sociable, and spi ritual beliefs. Aztec imperium is unity of the societies that lived in different geographical localities which included New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada, but shared similar culture. The empire was diversenessed by millions of passel who migrated and settled in Mexico with near of them spiritedness in Tenochtitlan (Pennock, 2011). The Aztec had a culture that was complicated although rich in unearthly and mythological beliefs. The masses culture encompassed blinds (carvings on animals and religious images) melody, dressing, terpsichore, drinks, sports, food, games, and rituals that could enquire hu man sacrifice and they were transferred from one generation to the early(a). The Aztec empire believed that a family was the most important aspect that signified life and new generations. The family was composed of men, women, and children and all(prenominal) member had a specific duty towards the family. Men were responsible for feel for food through hunting and gathering of wild fruits. Women were left to posit food and do the weaving jobs while they took care of children during the day. Children or little boys were trained on how to hunt and gather fruits and foods by their fathers and some went to school. On the other(a) hand, young girls were trained on how to do household chores by their mothers in addition to weaving. A family was started through tradition marriage that was conducted through ceremonies and was between young girls as young as fifteen days and men as young as eighteen years (Pennock, 2011). machination was one of the way of lifes the Aztec culture reco rded information on different beliefs, worship, and war fare. The recordings helped the spate to transfer their beliefs and cultiure to other generations so that they would be nonstop from one generation to the other. Since in the early Aztec culture few engineering on recording and preserving information were available, they recorded their information inform of paintings and publications on the bark of trees. The writings and paintings were then stored in the temple and the great unwashed could read and use the paintings to learn their history and they warfare encounter (Smith, 2008). The art works was done using various themes such as insects, animals, fish, and plants. Moreover, others reflected religion beliefs and gods that were majorly placed in temples. Hence, art was important in the Aztec culture as it was used to record their activities and events that could be passed from one generation to the other. Religion was translucent in Aztec culture. The Aztec people worshi pped different gods and goddess that were categorised according to their responsibilities. Since Aztec people were mainly farmers, they conducted rituals in form of ceremonies every year before plant so that they could ensure that they could get a tidy crop and harvest. The ceremonies snarly human sacrifices that were dedicated to gods, Tezcatlipoca (Hassig, 2013). The human sacrifices were obtained from children or prisoners that were captured during war with the neighbouring societies. They believed that human fall and heart was important so as to strengthened the gods and goddesses and bless them with good harvests in addition to their protection and conquering other societies to get to a greater extent prisoners for human sacrifices. Moreover, they build large temples that were meant for performing the human sacrifices (Smith, 2008). The Aztec empire likewise had a odd dress that was used to key them with their culture that was scatter of art. The clobber of the dressing was mainly a beautiful fabric of glary colours that was intertwined and tailored to different designs. The bright colours and design were crotchety to Aztec people and helped them to identify with their culture. The dressing colours were to a fault used to identify social class as the quality and the design were unique to social class (Dwyer, Stout, & Stout, 2013). The wealthy class were characterised with the best qualities and designs as the commoner material quality was low. Dance was performed in line with religious and social activities in the society. In some instances, dancing was performed as a religious ritual that was meant to please gods so that they could give blessings to the people and protect them from evil (Dwyer et al, 2013). Moreover, the dance was also done to colour ceremonies that varied from entertainment to ritual ceremonies. The dances were performed in accompaniment with music. The music was sang and played as a form of rituals or players to gods. Differe nt music had different themes. Some music was rigorously for entertainment while others were purely dedicated to gods. Moreover music was performed ground on seasons. Various instruments such as drums, flutes, and rattles were used to play music as well as chanting as a way to worship gods. Therefore, dancing and music were used by the Aztec to preserve their cultures from one generation to the other. The culture has various games and sports that were important in their culture. The games provided entertainment to leadership and other people distinguished in the social class. The entertainment was also done during ceremonies in the society. Moreover, the games could also be performed to portray religious meaning. For religious ceremonies, games were performed during human or other sacrifice to appease the gods so that they could engage the sacrifice and do as the people had played. The Aztec empire had different kinds and unique food that were rich and concentrated with spices. T he dishes that were common and popular among the Aztec were tortillas, tacos, and tamales. There were other foods that were gathered by men like seeds of sage plants that were common as cereal, eggs, dogs, turkey, and rabbits (Culture and Arts, 2013). Unlike other cultures, most of Aztec food was made with chilli peppers as the main spice. Delicacies that were common among the Aztec people were green slime. The food was obtained from Lake Texococo and its taste was compared to that of cheese. closely of the time enjoyed water as a form of refreshments and in additional occasions or ceremonies beer was the main form of drinks. The Aztecs also enjoyed drinks such as hot sweetened chocolate and sometimes octilli. The latter was common among the alarming people and other people of a higher social class. Aztec people day to day life manifold husbandry as a form of socioeconomic practices. Their main type of crop that they cultivated was corn. The people were hard working and dedicat ed farming to their gods and they were able to have crops in surplus. Few practiced irrigation on the dry lands while the majority locomote on school lakes. Farmers transferred mud and soil from dry land to the shallow lakes thus forming islands, chinampas that they in turn used as land for agriculture (Cohn, 2013). The islands were very fertile and productive, which resulted in food surplus. The surplus food and other crops were sold to the other communities and neighbouring empires through Tlateolco market that united various communities. Although Aztecs lacked pecuniary system, they used barter trade of exchange of goods and services. The Aztecs were most of the time involved in wars where they capture prisoners for human sacrifice and slaves for their economic purposes. They used ineffective weapons to fight other tribes and neighbouring communities (Clendinnen, 2010). Some of the weapons that were common among them were wooden clubs. The clubs were edged with pieces of obsidi ans that were nappy forming a tool that they commonly referred to as macuahuitl. The weapon was used to demobilise the enemies without killing them so that they could be captured as slaves and prisoners for human sacrifice. Other weapons prevailing among the Aztecs were spears and arrow that could either disable or kill the enemies.Conclusion Aztec culture was rich in art works such as carvings of different images. They believed family as unit of life and marriage was between a man and women. In family, men were hunters and gatherers while women cooked food and weaved clothes. The people had different types of foods such as eggs, cereals, meat, and fish. Spicy pepper was common among the community. The people had religious beliefs and worshiped many an(prenominal) gods and goddess that were categorised based on events or season. They sacrificed human beings for the gods in allege to be protected and their land to be blessed. In addition, they had different games that could be p layed in times of ceremonies or religious rituals. Dance was common among the people in combination with music. Similarly, dance and music was done as a way of worship or entertainment in ceremonies. The people had a unique dress that identified them with their culture.ReferencesClendinnen, I. (2010). The cost of courage in Aztec society essays on Mesoamerican society and culture. Cambridge University Press.Cohn, J. (2013). The Aztecs. New York Gareth Stevens Pub.Culture and Arts. (2013). Mexico rude Review, 178-184.Dwyer, H., Stout, M., & Stout, M. (2013). Aztec history and culture. New York, NY Gareth Stevens Pub.Hassig, R. (2013). Time, History, and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico. University of Texas Press.Pennock, C. (2011). A unusually Patterned Life Domestic and Public in the Aztec Household City. gender & History, 23(3), 528-546.Smith, M. E. (2008). The Aztec Empire. The Aztec World. Ed. Brumfiel, E., M. and Gary M. F. New York Abrams, 2008. 121-136.Source document