The Aztec people were a Native American Indian people who ruled much of what is now Mexico from about 1427 until 1521, until when the Spaniards conquered the empire. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of these people was there very complex religious system. Their religious beliefs were polytheistic in nature, meaning in the belief of many gods and goddesses. Many of these religious beliefs were adopted from earlier cultures, that the Aztec army defeated and conquered based on their religious beliefs, though it amazing to the extreme that Aztec culture practiced these rituals. Aztec religion was centered around the many temple complexes throughout the cities as well as the elaborate rituals performed in order to please their gods.
In order to better understand the religious beliefs of the Aztec's, we must first look at the world in which they viewed themselves. The Aztecs believed that the world was a flat surface divided into five sections north, south, east, west, and center were their capital of Tenochtitlan was located. Departing from Tenochtitlan and there were thirteen layers of heaven and nine layers of the underworld, each of which had an accompanying god. The heart of the Aztec religion lay in the belief that the world had been created and destroyed four times, believing that they were living in the fifth world. They believed that the sun was destroyed at the end of each of these eras where all life was destroyed. The Aztecs believed that this fifth world they were living in was created at the ancient site of Teotihuacan through the sacrifice of a god who flung himself into a fire in order to reappear in the sky as the sun. For this reason, the primary focal point of the Aztec religion is to please the gods for the sacrifices they made. .
The Aztecs performed various ceremonies, rituals, and sacrifices as a means of communicating with the supernatural based on their ritual calendar.