Lesson video

Hello there, and welcome back to History with me, Mrs. Badhan.

This is our third lesson out of a four-part inquiry, looking at how far did fear allow the Aztecs to control their empire? Today, in our third lesson, we will be focusing upon Aztec beliefs.

For this lesson, you will need a piece of paper and a pen.

If you don't have any, press pause now and go and get some.

Great, let's make a start.

To start the lesson today, we're going to listen to a short story.

Whilst we're listening to this story, if you'd like to make some notes on any key words or key events or key things that really stand out to you in this story, then feel free to make some.

If you'd like to close your eyes whilst listening to this story, that's fine.

Otherwise, you can just sit and listen and think about what's going on in this story that I'm about to tell you.

One day, two gods met on a wild and windy plain.

One was Tezcatlipoca, the sky god and one was Quetzalcoatl, the wind god.

They were both very powerful.

Sometimes they fought each other.

But sometimes, like this time, they helped each other.

Tezcatlipoca spoke first.

"What took you so long?" he said.

"It's the hurricane season", says Quetzalcoatl.

"I've been busy.

"I've been whipping up the waves.

"This is more important than hurricanes." "I'll be the judge of that", said the wind god.

"Stop huffing for a moment and listen", said Tezcatlipoca, "what do you hear?" Quetzalcoatl listened.

"Nothing", he said.

"Exactly, nothing, no one sings.

"No one plays a note.

"The only sound to be heard is "the sound of your roaring.

"We need to wake up the world, Wind, "and I don't mean hurricanes.

"We need music." "Music?" said Quetzalcoatl, "what does that have to do with me? "I have no music." "I know", said the sky god, "but I'll tell you who does have it: the sun.

"He surrounds himself with singers "and music makers, who play "and sing for him all day long.

"And he won't share his music with us." "Won't share?" said Quetzalcoatl, "that's not fair." "I know", said Tezcatlipoca, "so listen, Wind, "I want you to travel to the house "of the sun.

"I want you to bring back the best singers "and the best musicians.

"We need to wake up the world.

"We need music." Quetzalcoatl hurled himself into the air.

He flew over land and sea, searching the endless coastline for a single beach.

He knew there was only one way he could travel to the house of the sun.

Spying the beach at last, he landed and called out the names of the sky god's three servants: Cane and Conch, Water-woman, and Water-monster.

When they were all before him, he ordered them to make a bridge.

The servants grabbed hold of each other.

They began to grow tall and thin and to twine together like a rope.

They turned into a strong rope bridge that disappeared into the sky.

Quetzalcoatl climbed the bridge, following it higher and higher as the Earth grew smaller and smaller below.

Finally, he came to the house of the sun.

He could see its towers shimmering in the distance.

Getting to them was not easy though.

He had to find his way through a maze of streets with high walls.

He kept getting lost and going round in circles.

Nearly ready to give up, he heard a beautiful sound that he'd never heard before.

It was cool and bright.

It was sweet and light.

It was music.

Quetzalcoatl followed the sound until it led him out of the maze.

Suddenly, the sun saw Quetzalcoatl.

"Stop playing," he cried, "Stop singing, it's that terrible wind.

"Don't even speak to him "or he will take you back "to that silent planet of his." Quetzalcoatl lifted his wing and called, "Musicians, come with me." None of them said a word.

Again, the wind god cried out, "Singers, musicians, the lord of the sky commands you." The musicians remain silent.

Quetzalcoatl did not like to be ignored.

He exploded with anger, like 100 hurricanes going off at once.

Lightning cracked and thunder boomed and clouds swelled around the house of the sun, turning the daylight into darkness.

The wind god roared, as if there was no end to his voice.

Everything fell down.

The sun flickered like a tiny flame and the musicians ran to the wind and huddled in his lap, trembling with fear.

Instantly, the wind's anger passed, the thunder faded, and the clouds vanished.

Quetzalcoatl took the musicians in his arms and left the house of sun, moving through the maze as if it were not there.

The wind god was filled with great happiness as he followed the sky bridge back to Earth.

He felt like a father carrying his children home.

The Earth could also feel that something new was coming, something it needed and had been secretly wishing for.

As the wind god came nearer, the Earth let out a slow sigh of relief.

Its fruit began to ripen and its flowers began to bloom with new, deeper colours.

The whole planet seemed to be waking up from a long sleep.

Finally, Quetzalcoatl touched down on the Earth with the musicians and singers.

They looked around curiously at the silent, waiting planet.

Then, they began to play through forests and valleys, deserts and oceans they wandered, filling the air with music.

Soon, people learned to sing and play and so did the trees and birds, the whales and wolves, the running streams, the crickets and frogs, and every other creature.

From dawn till dusk, the melodies spread until music covered the Earth.

The wind god was so pleased.

So was the sky god.

The musicians were happy with their new home and ever since that day, the Earth has been filled with music.

Wow, what a story, hey? You may want to now press pause here for a moment and just collect your thoughts and maybe write down a few key things or important things that stood out for you about this story, if you haven't done so already.

Feel free to pause and press play when you're ready to start the lesson again.

Super, some of the things I thought may be helpful to point out in this story were that this was a story about the Aztec gods and how they bought sound to Earth.

Aztecs believe this story to be true and this was the reason behind why we have the lovely sounds from the birds to other natural creatures.

So what does this story actually teach us about the Aztecs? What can we learn about them? What can we learn about the way that they lived, their empire, their beliefs? If you'd like to press pause now, you can just to have a little think about that, and feel free to press play once you're ready again.

Super, some of the things that I think it shows us about the Aztecs were that the Aztecs were highly religious and they believed that the gods were responsible for the world in the way in which it is.

So this really teaches us that the Aztecs have these beliefs, and quite strongly too.

They were trying to make sense of the world around them and they came up with these stories to explain the world and the way in which they live and the way in which the world works.

Do you think you could now have a go at putting some of your ideas down in the following structure? Remember to say what you've learnt from the story and then what this suggests about the Aztecs.

Press pause now, write your answer, and then press play once you're ready to start again.

Great, you may have said something like this: from this story, I can learn that the Aztecs believed in many different gods.

This story suggests that they believed in a supernatural world and that the gods were responsible for what happens here on Earth.

I think it's a really good point now to just press pause in our lesson and just revisit what we've already learnt so far.

So in our first lesson of this inquiry, we were considering how warfare and violence was used as a way of controlling the empire.

In our second lesson, we started looking at the different social structures within the Aztec Empire and how those social structures allowed the emperors to control their empire.

Moving forward into this lesson, we'll be considering the factor of religion and Aztec beliefs, and how religion and beliefs were such a central part and played a focal role in allowing the emperors to control their empire.

Right, before we go any further, let's take a look at this word and what this key word, polytheistic, means.

So polytheistic means worshipping more than one god and this is going to be an important word for you to remember because we've already seen how the Aztecs believed in more than one god and believed in many different gods.

Let's have a look at some of the gods that they believed in.

So here, we have one of the most important Aztec gods, Huitzilopochtli.

Now he's the sun god and the god of war and also the god of sacrifice.

His name meant the left-handed hummingbird and, often, he was drawn with feathers.

The second god that we can see here, in the middle, is Tlaloc.

He's the god of rain and water, and they believed that he helped plants to grow but he would also get angry and send thunderstorms and hail at times.

The last god, we've already met in our story.

This is Quetzalcoatl.

He's the god of life and wind and, often, he's drawn as a flying serpent.

The Aztec gods show how religious they were, and religion was really important and the vein of their existence.

They believed that, if they did not pray to the gods and keep them happy with sacrifices, then life and Earth itself would be over.

So you can imagine that this must have made many Aztecs feel fearful.

Linking back to lesson one, the Aztec calendar played a really important role in religion as a large number of the religious ceremonies were held throughout the year and the calendar would help them keep track of these and be able to identify them.

One of these festivals, in particular, was the festival of new fire which they held every 52 years in order to prevent the world coming to an end.

As we found out in lesson two, the Aztecs also went to war often and they would keep their captives so that they could use these captives for sacrificial and religious ceremonies.

So what you can see already is that a lot of Aztec life, which we've already looked at in lesson one and two, were heavily based around religion and their beliefs, so it infiltrated every aspect of their life, every part of their existence, everything they did was based around these religious beliefs.

Let's pause now and see what you can remember about who the Aztecs gods were.

So what you need to do is you need to be able to match up the answer to the question.

So the first question is: who was the god of life and wind? Was it option one, two, three, or four? Great, it was option three.

The next question: who was the god of sun, war, and sacrifice? Was it option one, two, three, or four? It was option four.

Who was the god of rain and water? Option one, two, three, or four? It was option one.

Brilliant, now you know who the gods are, it's time for you to go away and find out a little bit more about them, religion, and how this played a role and a part in people's everyday lives.

So I'd like you to go away and read the following information sheet and answer the comprehension questions.

You can pause the video now, read through the information page, and answer the comprehension questions.

Once you're done, resume once you're finished, and we can go through the answers together.

Superb, let's go through the questions and the answers together.

Question number one: what did Coatlicue's children want to do when they found out she was pregnant? An acceptable answer would have been that they wanted to kill her, and if you want to extend that a little bit more, you could have said they wanted to kill her because they were suspicious of who the father of her son was.

Question number two: what did Huitzilopochtli do to his siblings? You could have said Huitzilopochtili defeated his brothers and killed his half sister.

A good answer could have been Huitzilopochtli defeated most of his brothers, who became the stars.

He also killed his half sister by tearing out her heart, using a blue snake, and throwing her body down the mountain.

And this is really where the idea of human sacrifice comes from.

Question number three: how did time begin, according to the Aztecs? You may have put something like: according to the Aztecs, time began with the sacrifice of Nanahuatl.

For a good answer, you may have extended your answer a little bit further and may have put something like: According to the Aztecs, time began when Nanahuatl sacrificed himself.

This came about as the strongest of the gods, Tecuciztecatl, was supposed to sacrifice himself.

However, when it came time to self-immolate, he could not jump into the fire.

Instead, Nanahuatl, the smallest and humblest of the gods, sacrificed himself first and jumped into the flames.

Thus, the sun was set into motion with his sacrifice and time began.

Question number four: how did the Aztecs repay the gods? An acceptable answer would have been: the Aztecs repaid the gods by ensuring they made sacrifices.

To extend this a little bit further, you may have said: the Aztecs repaid the gods by ensuring they made sacrifices as they believed that this would keep the sun moving.

And the challenge question: do you think the Aztecs carried out human sacrifices out of fear or loyalty to the gods? An acceptable answer could have been: the Aztecs carried out human sacrifices as they felt this was what the gods wanted and therefore, they had to be loyal to the gods.

A good answer may have taken it a little bit further: the Aztecs may have carried out human sacrifices due to both fear and loyalty.

With a long established tradition of human sacrifice, many may have felt loyal to the gods for their own sacrifices.

However, it is more likely that the sacrifices were carried out of fear, that the sun would stop and the world would therefore end.

This could be suggested from the fact that most sacrifices were of criminals and not those of importance; had the latter been sacrificed, this would suggest there was an element of loyalty and devotion.

So, let's see if you can remember, who was the sun god? Option one, two, three, or four? Great, it was option two.

And who was the god of the moon? Option one, two, three, or four? Good, it was option four.

Great, now for the last challenge of the lesson, I would like you to sort the following cards into two categories, category A, things that would have kept Aztec people loyal through fear, and category B, things that would have kept Aztec people loyal through devotion and adoration.

Press pause now, go through the cards, sort them into your two groups, and press play once you're ready to start again.

Let's go through the answers together.

Consuming the flesh of a person offered to the gods was like communing with the gods themselves.

As off-putting as it sounds, some argue that ritual cannibalism most likely existed among the Aztecs and would have been considered not only normal, but actually a great honour.

So this went into category B because this would have shown that the Aztec people were loyal through devotion and adoration to the gods.

Card number two: the rationale for Aztec human sacrifice was a matter of survival.

According to Aztec cosmology, the sun, Huitzilopochtli, was waging a constant war against darkness, and if the darkness won, the world would end.

To keep the sun moving across the sky and preserve their very lives, the Aztecs had to feed Huitzilopochtli with human hearts and blood.

So this was category A, things that would have kept the Aztec people loyal through fear.

Card number three: some battles provided an important venue for young Aztec warriors to gain social status.

By bringing home a gaggle of captives, some of whom would ultimately be sacrificed, they would be bringing home honour and they would be seen as having been victorious in helping their empire.

This fitted into category number B because this would have kept the Aztec people loyal through devotion and adoration.

Card number four: DNA tests of recovered victims who had been sacrificed, from the Templo Mayor site, show that the vast majority of those sacrificed were outsiders, likely enemy soldiers or slaves.

This belonged to category number A as these things would have kept the Aztecs loyal through fear.

The next card: to give your heart to Huitzilopochtli was a tremendous honour and a guaranteed ticket to a blessed afterlife, fighting in the sun god's army against the forces of darkness.

Now this went into category B because it shows that people were actually loyal through devotion and adoration to this god.

The next card: Human sacrifice also served another purpose in expanding the Aztec empire of the 15th and 16th century, intimidation.

The ritual killing of war captives and the large scale displaying of skulls were reminders of the strength of the empire and the extent of its power.

Now this went into category A as it would kept people loyal through fear.

Can you imagine seeing these skulls? Of course they would place fear in anybody.

Conquered city-states were allowed to maintain their current rulers and religion so long as they met several requirements such as supporting the Aztec Empire, paying tribute to Tenochtitlan, and including the Aztec sun god in their own religious beliefs.

This fit in category B as it would have shown the Aztec people being loyal through devotion and adoration.

This could be argued to have gone into category A as well as some people were supporting Tenochtitlan just to be able to keep their freedom and their independent, and that may have also been out of fear.

So you could have actually put this card into either category.

This next card: The Tepanec used the Aztecs to help with their battles and campaigns in the region against other rival societies.

For their help, the Aztecs received portions of the wealth that the Tepanec gathered from the societies that they had defeated.

Later, the Aztecs joined an alliance to overthrow the Tepanec and become more powerful than them.

This went into category A as it would shown the Aztec people being loyal through fear.

And the last card: although the expansion of the empire was often good for the conquered people as it gave them better trade and infrastructure, the conquered people still obeyed in fear.

Their hatred would cause many of them to turn on the empire when the Spanish gave them the chance.

This went into category A as it showed that the Aztec people were loyal through fear.

Thank you for taking part in lesson three today on the Aztecs.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnWithOak.

Thank you very much and I look forward to seeing you in lesson four on the Aztecs.