Aztec symbol
Aztec Symbol’s ancient meaning: The ancient Aztecs were a tribe of people who lived in Mexico in the 15th and the 16th century. They used to call themselves Mexicans or Nahus, and their capital was Tenochtitlan. It was built on islands in a lake. Tenochititlan was one of the greatest ancient cities of the world during that time. Most present day Mexicans have Aztec and other Native American forefathers. People still use Aztec symbols in Mexico. For example, the picture of an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its mouth, which the Mexican flag has, is from an Aztec symbol. ‘Mexico’ is also an Aztec word. The Aztecs were a flourishing and thriving tribe before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.
Aztec Calendar Symbol: The Aztecs gave lot of importance to time, which they registered in two types of calendars: 1) Xihuitl, 2) Tonolpohualli. The Aztecs divided the solar calendar into 5 periods of 73 days, according to seasons. For example, the cocji cocij cogaa period represented the rain and wind, which was symbolized by the crocodile. The next period, cocij col lapa, represented the time of harvest, which was symbolized by corn. Cocji piye chij was considered the holy time or the holiday time, which was represented by the symbol of an eagle or the warrior. Cocij was the time of droughts, and the beginning of the calendar, cocij yoocho, was the time of sickness and miseries, which was represented by the symbol of a tiger. This shows that symbols formed an integral part of representing thought in the Aztec culture.
Tattoos in the Aztec culture: Tattoos played a very important role in Aztec culture. Tattoos were used in rituals, which were dedicated to the god, Uitzilopochtle. These tattoos were drawn on the bodies of children (specifically on the wrist, chest and the stomach) in order to portray their devotion to this god. Every Aztec tattoo was devised using a particular symbolic pattern to project their devotion to the specific god being venerated. Therefore, most Aztec tattoos are usually based around the theme of the various gods they worshipped. The sun was of particular importance to the Aztec people. The Aztec calendar was also based around the sun. Their writing consisted of symbols or ‘glyphs’. They wrote their history and religious ceremony details using these symbols. Some people based their tattoo design on their birth symbol according to the Aztec calendar.
The priests of the Aztec empire murdered many people by ripping out their hearts, which they offered as sacrifice to their gods. Children were their favorites. According to the Aztec culture, nothing pleased the gods more than the tears of the children who were being killed. To the Aztec people, the celestial images in their paintings had a very direct and personal meaning. For example, the black crescent moon was a prime symbol in the Aztec religion. Aztec symbols are very similar to the characters that are used by the Japanese and Chinese. The Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl, is represented as a serpent with feathers. The symbols can be thought of as ideograms in which objects express the underlying ideas and the concepts associated with them. The idea of death can be represented by a symbol of a corpse wrapped for burial, with a black sky, and war, by a shield and a club.
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