Gods and Myths were very important to the Aztec society and
culture. The myths that the Aztecs believed in shaped how their
society was structured and how they went about everyday life. By
studying the myths and the gods, people can learn a lot about the
Aztec people.
According to Aztec myths, there were five ages, and in each of
these ages there was a different sun. The first four ages ended in
disaster. During the first age, Tezcatlipoca was the sun god.
Quetzacoatl was jealous of Tezcatlipoca and knocked him out of the
sky. Tezcatlipoca became a jaguar and destroyed the world out of
revenge.
Quetzacoatl became the next god, but Tezcatlipoca was still
mad from being knocked from his position of sun god, and he knocked
Quetzacoatl from the sky. The world was destroyed by a huge wind
after Quetzacoatl fell from the sky.
The gods chose Tlaloc to be the next sun god. Tlaloc was the
god of rain. It angered Quetzacoatl that Tlaloc had been chosen, and
he made fire rain down from the sky. This destroyed the earth for the
third time and ended the age.
Tlaloc's sister, Chalchiuhtlicue, became the next god. She was
chosen by Quetzalcoatl. Chalchiuhtlicue was the goddess of lakes and
streams. The gods continued to fight over who would be the god, and
this once again lead to the destruction of the world. The world was
destroyed by floods this time.
After all of these ages and periods of destruction, no other
gods wanted to be the sun because of all the fighting. In order to
keep the cycle from continuing, a council of gods decided that the
next sun god would have to offer their life so that the people of
earth would be saved from all the destruction. Tecciztecatl, a
wealthy god, and Nanauatl, the god of humbleness, were chosen. The
gods made a fire, and the god who jumped in would be the sun god.
Tecciztecatl tried to jump in, but he was too afraid of the fire.
Nanauatl jumped into the fire. After watching Nanauatl jump in,
Tecciztecatl was embarrassed that he did not jump in first, and he
jumped in after Nanauatl!
The gods wouldn't allow there to be two suns at one time, so
they threw a rabbit at the face of Tecciztecatl. This caused him to
dim, and he became the moon. Tecciztecatl would be in the sky, but he
would never be as bright as the sun would be. Nanauatl became the new
sun god, and he was renamed Tonatuih.
The Aztecs were very religious, and their myths and gods were
very important to them. The myths that they believed in were not
simple stories; they had many parts and could be told differently
depending on what part of the Aztec empire someone was from. The myth
of the sun god is a good example of the complex legends of the gods.
There wasn't one sun god, but many over the history of the world.