When the Spanish began their conquest of Mexico in the sixteenth century, they encountered the Aztec Empire, a large and sophisticated civilization. The Aztec empire was not particularly ancient—the Aztecs, who called themselves Mexica, had entered the Valley of Mexico only two centuries prior to the Spanish. Like Spanish Christianity, Aztec religion described what would happen to the soul after death.
While many religious traditions have only vague ideas about that happens after death, the Aztecs, as scholars and philosophers, developed some detailed descriptions. In their Encyclopedia of Ancient Mesoamerica, Margaret Bunson and Stephen Bunson write:
“The Aztec created highly complex doctrines regarding the subject of death, involving a world beyond the grave that would be well ordered and could provide a place for each individual.”
Belief in an afterworld or afterlife is based on the concept of the soul, a spiritual entity which continues after death. According to Aztec religion, there are three souls. In his book with Scott Sessions, The Daily Life of the Aztecs: People of the Sun and Earth, David Carrasco reports:
“All three were gifts from the gods deposited in the human body, but they were also found in animals, plants, and objects.”
These three souls are: tonalli, located in the head, this is the soul of will and intelligence; teyolia, located in the heart, this is the soul of fondness and vitality, and does not leave the body until cremation; and ihiyotl, located in the liver, this is the soul of passion, aggression, and luminous gas.
In many religious traditions in which there is a belief in an afterlife (not all religions have this belief), the deceased face some kind of judgment based on their actions and thoughts during their lives. This is not true, however, of the Aztecs. What happens after death is not based on life, but rather on the manner of death. In his book Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind, Miguel León-Portilla writes:
“They believed that man’s final destiny was determined, not on the basis of his moral conduct in life, but by the nature of death.”
In his book The Complete Illustrated History: Aztec and Maya, Charles Phillips explains:
“What was decisive was not how individuals lived but how they died. Those who died a natural death were bound for the underworld, but warriors killed in battle, women who died in childbirth and even those who took their own lives were spared the lower realms.”
Following death, the soul would travel to one of four places. For people who died a natural death, the destination was mictlan. There were nine levels to this underworld dwelling place of the dead. Mictlan was the least desirable destiny. Miguel León-Portilla writes:
“Persons who died a natural death went there, but on the road the dead had to overcome a number of obstacles. The company of a little dog was granted to the dead person; it was cremated along with the corpse. The Nahuas believed that the tests ended after four years, and that this also concluded the wandering existence of the dead.”
Regarding the dog, David Carrasco writes:
“One very interesting belief was that a divine dog, who dwelled in the afterlife could assist in the journey of the teyolia soul.”
Margaret Bunson and Stephen Bunson explain:
“In some funerary rituals a vermillion-colored dog was provided for crossing deep waters, as the animal was believed to be capable of supporting its owner, who clung to it by holding on to a cord.”
People who died by drowning or a lightening strike were felt to have been called by Tlaloc, the god of rain, lightning, and fertility, and these souls would dwell in tlalocan which was described as an earthly paradise. In his book The Aztecs, Brian Fagan writes:
“Those who died by drowning were also interred with honor because they had been chosen by the water gods. They enjoyed a life of ease in the happy gardens of Tlalocan, a divine paradise.”
Tonatiuhilhuícac, the dwelling place of the sun, was the glorious destiny of warriors who died in battle, those who died on the sacrificial stone, and women who died in childbirth. Brian Fagan reports:
“The Aztecs believed that warriors and women who had died in childbirth would have the most glorious afterlife. Brave soldiers killed in battle or sacrificed were thought to journey with the sun from the moment it rose until it reached its zenith. They then rested. After they had travelled with the sun for four years, they returned to earth as hummingbirds.”
With regard to women, David Carrasco writes:
“A special destiny awaited the souls of women who died in childbirth. These women were considered equal to warriors who died in battle or on the sacrificial stone. They too had made a sacrifice of their own lives so that a new life could come into the world.”
Margaret Bunson and Stephen Bunson describe it this way:
“The act of childbirth was equated with the taking of an enemy, and a woman who died in such circumstances was given the rank of warrior, belonging to the House of the Sun. Such a woman was believed to accompany the sun from its zenith to its setting. These women were also feared, as it was thought that they could return in a special form in order to interfere in the lives of their relatives still living.”
Chichihuacuahco, a word meaning “in the wet-nurse tree”, was the destiny of children. Miguel León-Portilla writes:
“To this place went the children who died before attaining the age of reason. There they were nourished by the milk which fell in drops from the tree.”
Following death for commoners, the body was usually cremated. Brian Fagan reports:
“Dressed in their finest clothes, their bodies were carefully wrapped in a bundle of cloth and displayed for four days while the mourners feasted and chanted funeral dirges.”
In his book The Complete Illustrated History: Aztec and Maya, Charles Phillips describes it this way:
“The corpse was dressed in his or her best clothes, then tied in a squatting pose and wrapped in cloth before being set alight.”
The ashes, along with some possessions, were then interred in a container.
The bodies of people who had been called by Tlaloc were buried rather than being cremated. Rulers and prominent members of the nobility were buried in stone vaults.
Aztec religion was complex, having blended the ancient tribal concepts of the Mexica with those of the older Mesoamerican civilizations. Similarly, the concept of the afterlife was complex and composed of many layers. In the Aztec world, death was a part of daily life—people killed plants and animals in order to live. Death was viewed as an integral part of life.
More Ancient America
Ancient America: Some Artifacts from Teotihuacan
Ancient America: Tlatilco, an Ancient Site in the Valley of Mexico
Ancient America: Aztec and Other Mexican Artifacts (Photo Diary)
Ancient Mexico Some Aztec Gods
Ancient America: Aztec Agriculture
Ancient Mexico: Aztec Time
Ancient America: The Rise of the Aztec Empire
Ancient Religions: An Aztec Creation Story
