Cosmology & Structure
Aztec cosmology is built around the doctrine of the Five Suns. There have been four previous worlds, each presided over by a different sun-deity, each ended in a different cosmic catastrophe:
- First Sun (Nahui Ocelotl, “Four Jaguar”) — ruled by Tezcatlipoca, ended when jaguars devoured the inhabitants
- Second Sun (Nahui Ehecatl, “Four Wind”) — ruled by Quetzalcoatl as Ehecatl, ended in great winds that turned humans into monkeys
- Third Sun (Nahui Quiahuitl, “Four Rain”) — ruled by Tlaloc, ended in fiery rain
- Fourth Sun (Nahui Atl, “Four Water”) — ruled by Chalchiuhtlicue, ended in flood that turned humans into fish
- Fifth Sun (Nahui Ollin, “Four Movement”) — ruled by Tonatiuh, the present age, destined to end in earthquakes and darkness when the Tzitzimime descend
The cosmos is structured vertically. Thirteen heavens ascend above the earth, each a layer of celestial activity, the highest being Omeyocan (the Place of Duality) where the supreme god Ometeotl — both male and female, beyond gender, the source of all — abides. Nine underworlds descend below, each a region of Mictlan, the realm of the dead, ruled by Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl. The dead must journey four years through these layers to reach Mictlan’s deepest level and final dissolution.
Horizontally, the world is divided into four cardinal quadrants, each with its color, its tree, its bird, its god, its destiny: East (red, dawn, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli), North (black, the dead, Tezcatlipoca’s domain), West (white, sunset, the realm of the Cihuateteo), South (blue, Huitzilopochtli’s quadrant). The center is the Templo Mayor itself.
Time runs on two interlocking calendars: the 365-day solar year (Xiuhpohualli) and the 260-day ritual calendar (Tonalpohualli). They mesh into a 52-year cycle — the Xiuhmolpilli (Bundle of Years) — at the end of which the New Fire Ceremony was held to determine whether the Fifth Sun would continue. Priests extinguished every fire in the empire, then kindled a new flame on the chest of a sacrificial victim atop Huixachtlan (the Hill of the Star). When the new fire caught, the world had earned another 52 years.
