Those Interesting Aztec Deities! Quiz

Answer: Hummingbird

Huitzilopochtli was the patron god of the Aztecs and his name means "Blue Hummingbird on the Left". The story of his birth is that he sprang from his mother fully grown with his weapons and killed his sister who was a villain. He threw her head into the sky and she became the moon while he became the sun and they vie for each other's powers daily.

He typically was shown carrying an atl-atl weapon and wearing hummingbird feathers in his helmet and on his torso. War captives were led to his temple in the capital city and sacrificed to him in continuous thanks for him leading the Aztecs to their home in Mexico.

Answer: Rain

Ruler of rain and lightning, Tlaloc brought fertility to crops. The people saw him as both a provider and one to be feared. If he was angered, he could produce lightning or withhold rain and cause a draught. He wore clothes made of clouds with a headdress of heron feathers.

He used a rattle to bring about thunderstorms. His shrines were decorated with blue, representing rain. The Aztecs believed that cries and tears of newborn babies were sacred to him, so many ceremonies involved sacrifices of children for his benefit.

Answer: The heart

Tonatiuh, or "Turquoise Lord", was the god of the sun. It was thought that only offerings of hearts from victims would give him the strength needed to battle the night and appear bright and sunny the next day. He is the main figure depicted on the Sun Stone, a famous Aztec art piece.
He is normally shown wearing red with eagle feathers as a headdress and carrying a sun disc.

Answer: Obsidian

Tezcatlipoca was the Aztec god of night and sorcery and was a chief deity for young warriors. He was known as "Lord of the Smoking Mirror" due to the fact he carried an obsidian mirror, made of volcanic glass and used during sacrifices. It also refers to the smoke found during a heavy battle.
Every year, around the draught that occurred in May, a young boy was chosen, and for one year he was feted and honored. The next year, he was sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca.
This god is usually depicted as having black stripes painted on him and wearing, or carrying, the obsidian mirror and a knife.

Answer: Whirlpool

Chalchiuhtlicue was associated with spring water, rivers, lakes, and with the process of childbirth. As a fertility goddess, she is often depicted as kneeling with her hair arranged in large tassels. Because she is identified with water, she is sometimes colored blue-green.

It is said she lived in the mountains and would release water through rivers that spring from the womb of the hill and flowed down to the Aztecs below. When angered, she could create large whirlpools and eddies that made navigation difficult. To prevent this, every year a young girl would be sacrificed by being drowned in Lake Texcoco where whirlpools occurred.

Answer: Corn

Centeotl was the god of maize, or corn. This vegetable was seen as an important source of life to the Aztec people. Festivals surrounded this god every year when corn was planted and when it was ripe. Five corn cobs were picked by older Aztec women and wrapped in swaddling clothes like a baby and put in a special basket to be revered until the following year.
Centeotl is usually shown as a young man with corn cobs sprouting from his head. He carries a scepter with green corn cobs on it. He also has a black line that goes through his eyebrow and down to his jaw.

Answer: False

Quetzalcoatl, as the name implies, was considered the "Feathered Serpent" and was a mix of both bird and snake. He was the patron god of priests, learning, science, books, crafts, and arts. Quetzalcoatl is believed to have helped create all of life by sacrificing some of his blood.

He was thought to have invented the calendar and helped bring the finding of corn to the Aztecs. The worship of him involved animal sacrifices. He was depicted as being a plumed serpent wearing shell jewelry and a conical shaped hat. An ancient leader, surrounded by myth, took on the god's name around AD 895.

The Spanish heard tales of Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl when they arrived in the early 1500s and word spread of both myth and god.

Answer: Human skin

Xipe Tote was the god of spring and new vegetation and the patron of goldsmiths. He wore the skin of human victims which symbolized the "new skin" that covered the world in the spring. He was honored by his priests each year by killing people, removing their hearts, flaying them, and adorning themselves with the skin.

They then sang and danced to him in order to encourage a bountiful spring. The depictions of him show he had a reddish hue to his own body and wore the victim's skin with special stitching where the heart had been removed.

Answer: Agave

Mayahuel was the goddess of maguey, an agave plant native to Mexico. She was also the goddess of pulque, which is the alcoholic drink made from agave. She is often depicted as breastfeeding, representing the milky juice produced from the maguey that was turned into a beverage.

She wears blue clothing and a headdress of maguey fibers. In the Aztec legends, she helped provide them pulque with which to drink in celebrations and feasts and they celebrated her every year with a 13 day festival highlighting a lack of moderation.

Answer: Venus

Tlahuizcalpanteuhtli was one of the four gods that held up the sky, and he was charged with the direction of East. The Aztecs used Venus, or the Morning Star, as an important part of the calendar and even many of their cities were laid out in accordance with Venus' appearance.

He was worshipped in his role with Venus and it was thought that if he were angered, he would shoot darts and cause great harm to people's health. He was depicted wearing feathers with a skull face and wore markings of white spots on a black field, symbolizing stars.