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Earliest Knowledge of Religion & the Olmec
Before the major civilizations of what we now know as Mexico, there is evidence of people in nomadic groups dating as far back as 20,000BCE. There is not much known about nomadic culture and religion before major civilizations. The first major civilization was created by the Olmec people, whose empire flourished between 1500 and 400BCE, and is widely regarded as precursor to many elements of later Mesoamerican culture and life. While there are no written documents to turn to from the Olmec regarding religion, scholars turn to art, icons, and other cultures (pre-Colombian and contemporary) of the Americas to reconstruct some idea of what their practices may have looked like. It should be noted that this method implies continuity between these cultures without proof of such continuity, sometimes called the Continuity Hypothesis.
There were a variety of religious roles that people could hold in Olmec religious culture, including rulers, priests, and shamans. One of the most prominent deities was werejaguar (left: infant werejaguar being presented; right: werejaguar statue), once considered the main supernatural power, it is now understood that there were many deities. These gods are sometimes thought to be precursors to later gods, including those of the Aztec people. Unlike later religious traditions of the area, there is no gender depicted by gods from the Olmec.
Zapotec
The Zapotec created their civilization’s base close to Oaxaca called Monte Albán. Like all of the following religious practices until the colonial institution of Roman Catholicism by the Spaniards, the Zapotec religious practices were polytheistic. Some of the most prominent deities are Cocijo (rain god), Coquihani (god of light), Pitao Cozobi (god of maize, pictured left). Their gods are largely revered for their connection to fertility or agriculture. Zapotec religion is one of the first documented in the area to utilize human sacrifice for rituals. Like many religions, there are many origin stories, but one is used to understand the name “Be'ena' Za'a" (the Cloud People) that the Zapotec have for themselves. Items such as beads, blades, shells, stones, pearls, and animal bones are dedicated to the deities to respect the concepts of power and sacrifice.
Mixtec
The Mixtec occupied Monte Albán after the Zapotec and also built Mitla. Similarly to Zapotec and following religious practices, Mixtec religion is animist, meaning that all things (living and non-living are alive and possess spiritual value). Stories indicate a belief that the world has been created and destroyed many times. The Mixtec had a practice of worshipping mountains and caves due to stories that some beings survived being petrified by the Sun by hiding in caves, and these places were the destinations of some pilgrimages. Turquoise was important for both political and religious rituals and practices (pictured right: turquoise mask). Tradition was consolidated into the cult of rain, which followed the god of rain, Dzahui, which dates as far back as the 5th century BCE; this may have primarily been followed by highland Mixteca. Contrastingly, the cult of Huehuetéotl, the god of fire, coexisted with Dzahui’s cult from the 3rd to 7th centuries AD. Documented are human and animal sacrifices with the discovery of tzompantli (skull racks, pictured right) from this time period; specifically, some child sacrifices were performed to the god of rain during times of hardship or harvest. Structures of hierarchy were present, with high priests called yaha yahui, who were believed to be able to transform themselves into animals.
Maya
From 200BCE to 900AD, the powerful Maya occupied the area of what is now the modern states of Honduras, Guatemala, and southern Mexico. Contemporary knowledge about Mayan religious traditions is derived from the writings of Popol Vuh and Chilam Balam (pictured left, above), associated with highland and lowland Maya respectively. Some of the more prominent gods are Itzam Ná & Ix Chebel Yax, Huracán, and K'inich Ajaw, all of whom are fluid and diverse. There are three different realms, the upper, middle, and underworlds that each have multiple levels within themselves. Similarly to following traditions, the cardinal directions (sometimes including the center and up or down) are very important, with the Ceiba tree (pictured left, below) in the Mayan tradition being central to their understanding. Rituals in this tradition include bloodletting and human sacrifice. Bloodletting marked significant (but not life-altering) dates, such as births, anniversaries, etc., mostly done by royalty. Human sacrifice was completed for life-altering events such as ascension to the throne, and prisoners of war would be sacrificed by means of decapitation, removing their heart, or being thrown into a cenote (natural caves with water). Children, while not sacrificed, were asked to communicate with the deities while being placed into cenotes. Other rituals included marriage (where later divorce was accepted) and dance.
Toltec
Around 800AD, the Toltec founded their capital city in Tula, and they have been widely regarded as “master builders.” The Toltec worked on the Mayan’s past construction of Chichén Itza. While documentation of Toltec religious practices is sparse (at least from what my research indicated), the documentation of what is available comes form Aztec texts about the Toltec. Again, the Toltec were polytheistic but centered on the god Quetzalcoatl (pictured right). Human sacrifice was also practiced.
Video of Nahuatl being spoken
Aztec / Mexica
Largely regarded as “one of the greatest imperial powers of the New World,” the Mexica gave name to what we know as Mexico. Their spoken language, Nahuatl, was spoken throughout Spanish colonization and is still spoken in Mexico today. Teotl, a Nahuatl word, describes a god, saint, demon, or other sacred being. The Aztec were pluralistic in the sense that when they conquered other peoples, their gods or deities were meshed into the Aztec tradition but were not as accepting in the sense that they assumed those gods were just manifestations of their own gods; temples were even built for these deities. Along with this idea, iconography of other practices, including previous peoples (Toltec included). Like the Maya, the Aztec recognized the importance of the cardinal directions and grouped beings into categories in such regard. The relationship between humans and non-human life/nature was highly important to the Aztec, and they had an abundant calendar of festivities honoring that. The Aztec people and religion was the one most in contact with Spaniards when they arrived to colonize the continent in the 16th century.
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