Aztec Mythology- Deconstructing the Western Mindset towards Death

As the season of Hispanic Heritage Month comes to an end, it’s important to acknowledge the complicated history many of us hold. The colonial rule of Spain, with its obligatory traditions like flamenco and atriums for religious singing, is one that is often regarded as the destruction of indigenous practices; however, the roots–the beginning of our lives–of Hispanics often lie within pre-Columbian civilizations like the Aztec. 

And the big question many of us contemplate in our existential lives is: how will it end? For the Aztec, the answer lay in the context of your death and a journey that tested the desire for purification.

The 13 Mexica Heavens 

To understand the significance of Mictlan–the underworld of Aztec mythology–we must first divulge into the Heavens of this world. The 13 Heavens, collectively known as the Ilhuicatl, are arranged in a level of order that increases in power of divinity and cosmos. 

People were only sent to heaven as a temporary holding place; they were granted spiritual rest for the reasoning of their death–warriors, women who died during pregnancy, and people who were sacrificed during traditional rituals are some of the few who made it to these celestial dwelling spaces–but only for 4 years. 

Mictlan

The underworld of Aztec culture holds the people who die “unremarkable” deaths like common illnesses or old age. Similar to the duration spent in the 13 Heavens, Mictlan is a journey of 4 years. In order to make this trip easier, people were buried with water, a white dog, a jade bead to act as their heart, and other personal belongings.

The journey has 9 levels, leaving souls who failed to complete the expedition as a wandering entity. The first level is the “River Crossing,” where the deceased must cross the Apanohuaia River, seeking guidance from their white dog, in a completely dark scene. At the “Passage between Two Hills,” the deceased must journey across the hills while they could collapse on the deceased at any point. 

Then, they must walk through the “Obsidian Mound” which is so sharp and jagged that it leaves them with open wounds. After these trials and tribulations, the deceased are faced with a more reflective aspect of the afterlife. They walk through “Cehueloyán,” a place snowy and cold, where they remember their saddest memories in order to get rid of them. 

At “Pancuetlacaloyan,” strong winds tear away the flesh of the deceased and turn them into souls; it is here that many are completely blown away and do not continue their journey. At the sixth level–“Arrow Hands”–invisible hands throw arrows that must be dodged by the souls, each arrow representing a person who had an influence on the life of the departed. They then meet “Heart Eating Jaguars” which eat their heart, really a jade bead, losing the last of their human self and leaving any of the worldly possessions they still carried behind.

The deceased come to a “Black Pool,” seeing the life they lived in their reflection and diving into it once done; the souls finally meet the lords of the underworld in the “Eternal Fog.” 

Connection between the Heavens and the Underworld

Whether the deceased are going to the Heavens or the Underworld, the process is a non-moral one which aims only to vanish the deceased into Chicunamictlan, the place of Nine Waters and the lowest level of the underworld. Not because these people are being punished, but because it was their cosmic and spiritual duty to return to the world that birthed them. 

Viewing Mictlan as a Hell, specifically with Christian ideals, is a colonial misinterpretation that strips the Aztec of their established rule of society and death.

Modern-Day Significance of Indigenous Backgrounds

This cosmology allows us to culturally reclaim the overlap between indigenous roots and Hispanic background, but it is not a permission to blindly follow a history that is not yours. Next Hispanic Heritage Month, I encourage you to learn and acknowledge the philosophical principles of indigenous culture.