Aztec Vs Mayan Mythology - Whats the Difference¿

This is an Aztec warrior. This is a Mayan warrior. They both come from an area known as Mesoamerica, which spans modern Mexico, Guatemala, and other parts of Central America. The Maya are a much older civilization than their Aztec neighbors, beginning in around 1800 BC and spreading from the Yucatan Peninsula to what is now part of Guatemala and Belize. The Aztecs came much later with their capital, Tenochtitlan, around present day Mexico City. Most of us know that both the Aztec and the Maya took part in human sacrifices, and both had feathered serpent gods. But what differences were there in their mythologies? And what, if anything, did they believe happened after death? The Aztec creation myth of the five suns. Both the Aztecs and the Maya believed that the universe existed in cycles of creation, destruction, and rebirth that continuously looped. The Aztec creation myth surrounds five suns, with each of these suns representing a new age or era. In the beginning, there was only the primordial god Ometacutli, his wife, Omesihuatl, and the giant earth crocodile, Chipacli. The two gods gave birth to four suns, Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Xipe-Totec. Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl decided to kill the earth crocodile, Chipacli, dividing its body to form the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. This first world was filled with vegetarian giants who grazed on berries, but they needed a sun to survive. So Tezcatlipoca was given this role and crowned the first sun. Quetzalcoatl became jealous, so he knocked Tezcatlipoca out of the sky, usurping and replacing him as the sun. In anger, Tezcatlipoca came back and destroyed the first sun with jaguars. Quetzalcoatl created the second sun. This world was again destroyed by Tezcatlipoca, who this time used strong hurricanes. The third sun was created by Tlaloc, the rain and thunder god which he destroyed in a rain of fire. Tlaloc's second wife, Chalchi-Huitlique, created the fourth sun, but this was destroyed by floods. That brings us to the fifth sun, ruled by the war and sun god, Huitzilopochtli, which the Aztecs believed we currently live under. However, the Aztecs believed that this world will end too with massive earthquakes. The Mayan creation story, Popol Vuh. We know about the K'iche' Maya creation myth because of an ancient text called the Popol Vuh, which was written by a group of anonymous K'iche' Maya nobles. In the Popol Vuh, the destruction and rebirth cycle surrounds the creation of humans. After the world was created by several deities, including Huracan, or heart of sky, Shmukane, or the patriarch, and Shpiakak, or the midwife, the gods sought to make creations that could populate it. There were four attempts at human creation, as detailed in the Popol Vuh. For the first attempt, the gods spawned animals and provided them with homes to live in. But the animals couldn't speak, and that meant they couldn't worship the Maya gods. So they cast them out of their homes and banished them to forever live in the wilderness and forests. On the second attempt, they foolishly tried sculpting humans from mud and earth. But these muddy beings crumbled when wet and disappeared before their eyes. Next, for their third attempt at creating humans, they came closer to success when they made people out of wood. These wooden mannequins could walk just like humans, and they could talk just like humans. But still, they weren't deemed human enough. So the gods decided to destroy them all with great bloods. For the fourth and final attempt at humans, the hero twins brought maize back from the underworld and created the first true humans, the Aztec underworld, Miklan. We know what the Aztecs believed the realm of the dead and the afterlife was like because of the story of Quetzalcoatl's journey into the underworld to retrieve bones from the fourth sun after its destruction. Aztecs believed the underworld was known as Miklan after its ruler, the god of the dead, Miklantecuhtli. This skeletal figure wore a necklace of eyeballs around his neck and ruled over the nine levels of the underworld. The first of these levels was known as the place where the dog lives, where deceased souls had to cross a river guarded by a giant iguana. Only those who had been buried with a sacred dog were guided to safety by their loyal canine. The second level feels like it came right out of a Tomb Raider game. The dead had to pass through mountains that would constantly open and crash together. Once past this, the soul entered the third level where they had to cross a giant mountain covered with razor-sharp obsidian spikes. The next level was known as Itzajikayan or place with much snow. Here, souls had to battle with huge blizzards, strong winds, and freezing temperatures. At the fifth level, souls had to contend with a windy desert with huge gusts that blew people around. Temiminaloyan, or the arrow-shooting place, came after this, where arrows rained down upon the departed on their way to Miklan. The seventh realm was filled with hungry jaguars that tried to eat the hearts of the dead. The final level before reaching Miklan was the Place of Nine Rivers, where the dead had to cross and navigate nine large waterways. Finally, the dead would then reach Miklan and be welcomed by Miklan Tekutli and his queen, Miktakatsihuatl, and achieve eternal rest. The Mayan underworld, Xibalba. The entry to the Maya underworld known as Xibalba was even more complicated and structured than the Aztec Miklan. Many paths and challenges had to be overcome before arriving at the innermost level, called Mitnal. First, the dead had to cross three rivers, one filled with scorpions, one with blood, and one filled with pus. Next, they had to navigate through four crossroads before they reached the fearsome Council of the Death Gods, who ruled over Xibalba. The domain of the dead was ruled over by 12 fearsome death gods, each bearing ominous names such as Jaundice Demon and Flying Scab. Interpretations varied among the Maya communities, but many thought of Apuh as the leader of these demons who dwelled in Mitnal. Once out of the Council of Death Gods, the real challenge started. The dead had to pass six challenging houses, the House of Darkness, the Shivering House, the Jaguar House, the Bat House, the Blade House, and finally, the Flame House. They then made it to the mysterious Mitnal, which was referred to ominously by the Maya as the Place of Fright. Feathered Serpents, Quetzalcoatl versus Kukulcan. Across most Mesoamerican societies, the feathered serpent god was a prominent figure, known as Quetzalcoatl to the Aztecs and Kukulcan among the Yucatec Maya. For the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl was among the most revered gods, associated with knowledge, craftsmanship, the sun, and was even seen as a creator god because of his help in the creation of the current sun. To the Yucatec Maya, Kukulcan held a similar role, but was also seen as a god of rain and storms. Aztec sacrifice, keeping the sun burning. Human sacrifice was common in Mesoamerica. The Aztecs didn't start this gruesome trend, but they were certainly the most prolific with it. The Aztecs had other reasons for sacrifice than their mythology. For example, some believe they might have dabbled in cannibalism after a sacrifice to survive during a famine. But we'll be focusing on the religious reasoning for Aztec sacrifice in this video. The Aztecs believed that if they didn't sustain the current sun with sacrifices, the world would come to an end more quickly. For this reason, the god they offered most of their sacrifices to was their most important god, the sun god and current sun, Huitzilopochtli. Legend has it that Huitzilopochtli was born fully armed from his mother's head when he immediately went to fight his sister, Coyolxauqui, the moon goddess, and hundreds of their brothers who sought to kill their mother. He defeated and killed them at Serpent Mountain and beheaded his sister, throwing her headless body down the mountain. In one ritual, Aztecs would reenact this myth in honor of the sun god, removing the heads of captured warriors and tossing them down the pyramid. They even had a social calendar of sorts for these brutal events. In the Aztec year, there were 18 months, each with a sacrificial ritual associated with it. Five of these rituals were dedicated to the rain god and ruler of the third sun, Tlaloc. They believed sacrificed youths would become Tlalocays, rain dwarves who served Tlaloc and brought rain. Maya sacrifice, nourishing the gods. Although ritual sacrifice wasn't a part of everyday life like the Aztecs, the Maya more than dabbled in it. For the Maya, sacrifice was all about the blood. They saw it as a potent source of nourishment for their gods. Human sacrifices were considered the ultimate form of this blood sacrifice. They had some pretty intense rituals. They'd open up wounds in a way to cause maximum blood loss. Then, they'd collect that blood, drop it on paper, and burn it so the smoke could carry their prayers to the gods. Like the Aztecs, the Maya also had a rain god, Choc, that they would sacrifice to. Four attendants would paint themselves blue and dress as Choc and then perform the ultimate sacrifice to the Maya, the removal of the still beating heart of the sacrificial victim. Thanks for watching Darkness and Lore. If you have any mythology or history requests or anything else to add, please leave a comment below.