Central American Religion

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Mexico and Central American Religion The main presence of religions in Mexico and Central America was Christianity and the Maya and Nahua (otherwise known as the Aztec) religions. Fernando Cortes introduced Christianity to the Mesoamericans when he overtook Tenochtitlan in the 16th century. These two religions were similar in some aspects. They were extremely barbaric in the way they worship and they also worshipped the same God. They held very elaborate ceremonies to celebrate their gods. There were many sacrifices that were done during celebrations, but were often time’s animals and not humans as most thought. The cosmos consisted of four main planes that were represented by various gods. The Nahua of San Martin called the underworld…show more content…
In Christianity, the underworld is a hot, fiery domain and not wet and cool. The Earth’s surface (ran from North to South) is called a comal, which is a flat pan that the Mexicans used to roast tortillas. The sun would produce corn with its heat and the sun beneath the comal is the fire that cooks tortillas that were made from the corn. The Cakchiquel Maya said that the watery sea spreads out to the horizon until it joins with the sky. The Nahua would build temples according to these cosmic planes. The Templo Mayor, Great Temple was built so that it hid the underworld. In the underworld, there were buried sacrificial bodies of animals. Sacrifice was done when dedicating new temples, harvests, to satisfy the Earth Monster and others in the underworld, festivals, and other times of celebration. The Maya and Nahua believed the tongue to be a sacrificial blade. It thirsted for blood and flesh. Most people were under the impression that sacrifice was almost always carried out on humans. Little did they know, the sacrifice was often on animals (quails, jaguars, crocodiles, ducks, fish, snakes, salamanders) and even cakes that were shaped as gods. The animal, food, or human sacrificed was determined…show more content…
Case in point, the way they held some of their sacrifice festivities. It is described in the Popol Vuh that two Maya Hero Twins sacrificed themselves in the underworld and then simultaneously, the two corn stalks that were growing at their parents house, died as well. Their bones were then ground like cornmeal and the corn stalks then grew again. A Nahua woodcutter would ask a tree that he was about to chop down not to “eat him” in order to prevent it from falling on him. The Nahua said that Marigolds have power linking the people to the sun. The flowers are also said to represent the hearts of the deceased and are used during Dia De Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. These representations show how the human cycle is directly linked to the cycle of

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