National Geographic Documentary 2015 - The Aztec History channel bbc Documentary

The Calendar

We have two different calendars. One is used to keep track of our religious ceremonies and festivals. Its called the tonalpohualli, which means "day count". It is very sacred and used to divide time equally among the gods and keep the universe in balance. It has 260 days. Each day is represented by 21 day signs and 13 day signs.
The other calendar keeps track of time. Its called Xiuhpohualli, or "solar year". It has 365 days that are divided into 18 months with 20 in each of them. There are 5 days left over that are unlucky days.
Every 52 years the two calendars start on the same day. We are very scared that the world will end on that day. This is the day that we perform the New Fire Ceremony.

Aztec Science and Technology

MATH
Our math is very different then other civilizations. We count by 20s. The number 1-19 are expressed with dots or fingers. 20 is represented by a flag. 400 is a sign that looks like a feather or fir tree. 8,000 is a bag or tasseled pouch which is supposed to have 8,00 cocoa beans inside.

TOOLS AND WEAPONS
We don't have iron or bronze for tools and weapons, instead we use obsidian and chert. By the time the Spanish conquistadors came, our advances in technology was leading us to make tools with copper. Axe blades were made with stone or copper. We are even making drills out of reed or bone.
We have many different types of weaponry. A macuahuitl is a wooden club with sharp pieces of volcanic glass, or obsidian in it. We use it to disable an enemy without killing him. A living enemy can be used for sacrifice. We also use bows and arrows. Another weapon, called a theatlatl, makes it easier for someone to throw a spear. It also helps to fish.

TRANSPORTATION
We are pretty familiar with the wheel, but its only used in toys. We don't have horses or mules to aid us in transportation. Instead, we have developed canoes to transport ourselves and our good through canals, lakes, and waterways in the Valley of Mexico.

Art

Only the upper class may own art. Common people are not allowed. If you create or sell it, you might be an exception though.
There is a large variety of art in our empire. Richly colored and embroidered clothing, architecture, ceremonial knives, head dresses, jewelry, and adornment of jewels and feathers. Stories are written with pictures of conquests, sacrifices done by our priests, or even just daily life. We have statues made out of stone as well as things like masks, pottery, shields, knives, carvings, and paintings.
Some of the materials we use include gold, silver, copper, jewels, feathers, coral, clay, and stone. Not all of these things are native to us, and we bring a lot of it in from other places.
We like our art to be very lifelike. Our statues of people and animals are very realistic, with a lot of expression and even age.
Some common themes in our art is animals. These can be insects, birds, fish, jaguars, monkeys, snakes, deer, and dogs. Most of our art is religion related though. We often depict our god, who usually look like an animal form.

A brief History

Where our people originally came from is unknown. Some people believe we are from a northern tribe of hunter-gatherers and that our name comes from our homeland Aztlan, or "white land". We came to Mexico in the early 13th century. Our arrival came after, and maybe helped to bring about the fall of the Toltecs. They had been a previously dominant society. We wandered around Mexico before settling in The Vally of Mexico. Instead of starting war, we built our city  in the swampy land of Lake Texcoco.
In 1428 Itcoatl, our leader, formed an alliance with the Texcocans and Tacubans to defeat their powerful rivals, the Tepanec, over the region and conquer their capital of Azcapotzalco. Itzcoatl's successor Montezuma, who took over in 1440, was a great warrior who is remembered as the father of the Aztec Empire.
By the 16th century we had power over 500 small city-states with 5 to 6 million people in our population.
The city-states have to pay tribute either in the form of food, clothing, goods, or captives to feed to our hungry gods. Our tendency for human sacrifice brings fear to those we have concurred and keeps us above them.

Teotl

Teotl is the great unity that underlies the whole universe. Teotl forms, shapes, and is all things. It even forms opposites like light and dark. Priests see all the different gods as aspects or faces of the single and transcendent entity Teotl. However, the greater population of Aztecs are allowed to not completely understand the unified nature of all of the gods.
Aztec philosophers focus on morality as finding balance in the ever changing Teotl. The focus is to find the path to living a balanced life, which gives stability to the world.
The arts is seen as a way to express Teotl. Art is considered good if it can give you a better understanding of Teotl.

What happens when you die?

We Aztecs believe in a afterlife. Once you die you are assigned a job to help the gods. This job is not determined by how you lived but by how you died.
Warriors that die in battle will be turned into butterflies or hummingbirds to help the gods in charge of nature. This is why our warriors are so full of courage and not afraid of death. Their afterlife will be very nice, unlike people who die from a natural cause. Their job is to serve the Lord of the Dead in the gloomy underworld. It takes about 4 years of dangerous travel to get to the Land of the Dead and once you are there you will spend your afterlife in darkness. Some people ask if it is a punishment, but it isn't, its just what your job is.
Women who die in childbirth have to help the sun god push the sun everyday from being above us to its resting position at night. You only have to work from noon till sundown, so this isn't a bad job to have.
People who die from lighting, drowning, or a disease have been chosen to serve the rain or storm god. They get to spend their afterlife among flowers.

Religion

There are many gods. Some control nature, like plants and the harvest or rain, water, and wind. These gods all work together usually with Chicomicoatl, the god who produces food. Some of our most important gods include Tlaloc, god of rain, Huitzilopochtli the patron god of the Mexico tribe and god of war, Quetzalcoatl the god of culture, civilization, and order, and Tezcatlipoca the god of destiny and fortune, as well as war and sorcery.
The gods need rest just like us humans. This is why we have two war gods. One fights with us during the day, the other at night. Our warriors are ready to fight at any time because we know one of our gods will always be with us.
The gods have family, related either through blood or marriage. For example, Quetzalcoatl is brother to Tezcatlipoca, one of the war gods. The other, as mentioned, is Huitzilopochtli.
It is very important to worship the gods every day. You can be punished horribly for not doing so, in fact, you can be punished for worshiping them every day but not enough in their eyes. This is why worship is an important part of every Aztec person's daily life.
Priests help us to worship. They tell us how to behave so we wont bring the wrath of the gods upon us. This makes priests very important in our culture. They are religious leaders, but some are active in our government. They are also teachers, and create records written in hieroglyphics.
Priests also do human sacrifices to feed our gods and keep them happy. Men and women are both sacrificed, but usually it was men. This is because most sacrifices are enemy warriors captured during battle. However, if we run out of captured people or there is famines we will sacrifice our own people.
Sacrifices are done in temples, which are built to honour our gods. It is also a place for musical worship or for a private ceremony of personal bloodletting. Temples are super cool! They can be huge! The great temple of Tenochtitlan can fit 8,000 people in its plaza.

Journey of a Princess

This story is directly quoted from the website Aztec empire for Kids. Check out the rest of this website here! http://aztecs.mrdonn.org/princess.html

When the Aztecs settled down on the magical island that had appeared at "The Place of the Prickly Pear Cactus", they did not go to war, as they usually did. They still had to feed their hungry gods, but they used their own people instead of captives. That's what their god had told them to do. (Actually, according to Aztec legend, their god had told them not to go to war for a while, as they needed to built up their strength.)

After a while, the Aztec emperor sent a messenger to a nearby tribe, inviting the chief's daughter to visit the Aztec capital, and meet his son. His invitation was accepted. The princess of the nearby tribe arrived at the capital city, with many servants and many presents for the royal family. She was delighted to meet the emperor's son. They had a lovely dinner together. By the end of the evening, she was more than willing to become his bride.

A few days later, her father arrived in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital city. He expected to discuss would goods his daughter would bring to her marriage with the emperor's son. That's when he heard that his daughter and her many attendants had been sacrificed to feed the many hungry Aztec gods. In fact, he probably would have been sacrificed  himself, only fortunately for him, he had traveled to the city with many armed guards. The emperor tried to explain that it was an honor to be sacrificed. But the chief would have none of it. He hurried home to his people, and the very next day sent his army to destroy the awful Aztec people.

As their god had told them to do, the Aztecs had taken time to grow in strength before they had contacted this nearby king. Their young men had become capable warriors. They had many weapons. They won easily. The Aztecs demanded tribute in the form of jewels, food, clothing, and of course captives to feed their hungry gods. That made the Aztecs very happy. The Aztecs went on to conquer other tribes in the area. That made them very rich.

Economy

The Aztec economy is divided into a political sector, which is controlled by nobles and kings, and a commercial sector which is independent. The Political sector is focused on the control of land and labor by kings and nobles. Nobles own all the land and commoners get to us farmland and other fields by payments. These payments support the lavish lifestyles of the upper class and help finance the city-states as well. Luxury items, like featherwork, sculptures, and jewelry are made by full-time commoner specialists who work for noble patrons.

Markets are extremely important to our economy. It is the center of trade, profit and the commercial sector. Your average town will probably have a weekly market, in the center of town, every 5 days, but larger cities have markets every day. In Tlatelolco, another large city close to Tenochtitlan, 60,000 people visit the market. Even though our economy is commercialized by using money, markets, and vendors, we aren't capitalists because our land and labor aren't for sale.
What can you find in a market? We some sellers are just small vendors, but each profession sells their wares; farmers sell their produce and potters sell their pottery. You can find tools, food like agriculture and wild game, gold, silver, precious stones, cloth, cotton, animal skins, and woodwork. Some people are professional merchants called pochteca, like my late father, who travel from marketplace to marketplace and manage long distance trade. These merchants have a high status in our society, being just below the noble class.
The highest officials of the pochteca are called the pochtecatlatoqe. They are elders who don't travel anymore, but instead are administrators and oversee the younger pochteca. The second group of pochteca are slave traders, called tlatlani. They are the richest of the merchants and are important in capturing slaves for sacrifice. The 3rd group are long distance traders called tencuenenque. My father was one and helped the rulers by carrying out personal trades. The last group are naualoztomeca. They are trader spies and search for rare items. Because of this they must disguise themselves so they can get information in markets and report it to higher pochteca.

What do you pay with?

There are several types of money that we use. Small purchases are made with cacao beans. These have to be imported from lowland areas. In an Aztec market place, a small rabbit is 30 beans, a turkey egg is 3 beans, and a tamal is one bean. A larger purchase is made with standardized lengths of cotton cloth, called quachtli. Different qualities of quachtli can be 65 to 300 cacao beans. To put this in perspective, about 20 quachtli can support your average commoner for a year in Tenochtitlan. If your running low on cash, a man can always sell his daughter as a sex slave or for religious sacrifice. She would be worth about 500 to 700 beans.

Geography

The Aztec Empire is located in the central and southern regions of Mexico. It grew during the 15th and 16th centuries to stretch from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The empire was made up of separate city-states. The capital city is Tenochtitlan, which is located on Lake Texcoco.
When the Aztecs were trying to find a place to build their city they saw an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its talons. They took that as a sign to build their city in the marshy lands near there. The city of Tenochtitlan is suurrounded by two of Mexico's highest mountains, Iztaccihuatl, and an active volcano, Popcatepetl. Lake Texcoco is made up of fresh water and swampy lands, so to create their city the Aztecs dug up through the swampy fresh lakes and placed mud on top of itself to create islands, canals, and drained fields called chinampas. This created really fertile land to plant gardens and create foundations for the city.
The climate is very hot and humid. To keep the city clean, the Aztecs kept the canals full of fresh water from the mountain springs. Sometimes there were periods of low rain and water so Tenochtitlan would ask neighboring city-states, like Tlaxcala and Huejotzingo to open their canals and let fresh water flow. This could be dangerous. Once when my mother was young the canals and lake systems were unpredictable and filled with water. the while city flooded and everyone had to evacuate.

Aztec Government

Our government started out as a warrior ruler who gained authority over a region through battle. Once we had gained territory our society started a system kind of similar to European monarchy. The rules of each region, called tlatoani, determined the major rituals, guided warfare, protect the rights of commoners and nobility, and were patron to the poor. The governments were devoted and focused on their city-states, or altepetl. These city-states were communities created by territory gained through battles.  This system did not exert supreme authority on their territories,only expecting tributes to be paid and allowing those who proved themselves fit to rule in a warrior society to be seen as equal to the regions deity. Under a Kings rule there were many minor rulers, called Tlatoque, who owned private land and had wealth that ranked them as lower nobility. They controlled the tributes that had to be payed to the king.
The empire is discontinuous because not all of their territories were connected. Local rulers were given their positions once their city-states were conquered and the Aztec people didn't interfere with local issues. They just expected their tribute payments to be made.
The city-states created alliances with each other, depending on each other for military and political protection. Rulers governed their domain independently and throughout the 14th and 15th century they would shift their alliances with different states. By the 16th century the Aztecs created the Triple Alliance which brought them together as a community.

Poor vs Rich

Our society is highly structured. At the top are the rich and at the bottom are the poor and slaves.

The rich: live in homes built of sun dried brick and sometimes stone. Their homes have a white wash coating that make them sparkle in the sunshine. They have a separate area for bathing. Water is poured over hot stones to make steam. Bathing is really important and done everyday. Their clothes are colourfully decorated with embroidery and feathers. I've seen many of them carry fans made out of feathers. As you can tell, feathers are a sign of status.

The poor: They are mostly farmers . They live in huts with thatched roofs with scarce furniture. They weave their own mats for the floor and caskets for belongings. They also have blankets and pots to cook with. Each home has a little garden to grow food to eat. Their clothes are very simple and can never be decorated with feathers. Its actually against the law for a commoner to carry anything made of or decorated with feathers, and if this law is broken its punishable with death.

Marriage, family, and child birth

Marriage marks the beginning of independence and adulthood. Men get married around their early 20's while women get married in their mid-teens. I am married to Tupac. He has another wife, which is very common. However as I am the primary wife only my children will be the inheritors. This does not mean Tupac doesn't treat us both well. Any man with multiple wives is expected to treat them equally in daily life. As families can grow very large, the poor usually only have one wife.
Marriages are arranged by your relatives. My parents had to talk with the religious leaders and make sure our signs matched. The day of the wedding was also chosen for religious reasons.
The new family is given a piece of land to build their own home. Both the men and women can be involved with working the land. The women are also in charge of household stuff while a man will probably become a warrior. There are other occupations, like farmer, priest, doctor, etc., but being a warrior brings special honor.
In a lot of ways, our society is dominated by men, however women have power too. We are able to run a business out of our homes and we have a lot of influence in our family and when raising children. Older widows, like my mother, are very respected and many people listen to them for advice. Divorce is allowed in certain situations, presented by man or woman, and property is divided equally.
War is very important to our society, and it is even used as a symbol for childbirth. The baby is captive in the womb and the mother is in battle as well. Women who die in childbirth are glorified in the same way as warriors who die in battle and honored for her courage.
This is a hymn for a newborn the the goddess of child birth:

Down there, where Ayopechcatl lives, the jewel is born, a child has come into the world.

It is down there, in her own place, that the children are born.

Come, come here, new-born child, come here.

Come, come here, jewel-child, come here.

Fashion :P

                              

What a person wears is directly related to your social class. However there are some common fashions. All clothing is mostly loose fitting and doesn't cover all of the body. Our clothes are usually made out of cotton or ayate fiber, made from the Maguey Cactus. My mother taught me how to weave the fibers into clothing. Most girls are taught to when they are teenagers. I also know how to dye the cloth to make beautiful colours and patterns. The dyes come from our great trading network.

Women: They wear long skirts and a sleeveless or short sleeved blouse. Sometimes the skirt is tied at the waist. As women move up the social scale, their clothing becomes more decorated and dyed to show status.

Children: Wear what their parents wear.

Men: They wear a loincloth made from a long strip of cloth tied in the front. If a man has a higher social standing it might be embroidered or have fringes. Men also wear a cloak made from a triangular cloth called a tilmatli or tilma. It can be used like an apron to carry things or worn as a cloak. It has to be tied on the right shoulder.

Lower class: They wear simple clothes usually made from maguey leaf fibers which are woven together. These woven pieces are sewn or tied together to make a very soft material. Cotton was reserved for higher classes. Their clothing is not embroidered and they can't wear feathers.

Merchants: We are a little more independent then the lower class. We can wear cotton and decorate our clothing a bit. We can have a little fringe on loincloths or maybe a small amount of embroidery. This makes us superior to the normal peasant.

Upper class: They wear beautiful clothes made of cotton. Their clothing is brightly died and decorated with embroidery and feathers. Gold is often used as well as pendants and furs. They also wear jewlry like necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.

Military: they have clothing based on what military group they belong to, for example- the eagle or the jaguar. The hierarchy is reflected by how decorated your clothing is. War heros are allowed more embroidery and jewels. Their clothing offeres some protection and their head dresses are helmets. Some chiefs wear a layer of gold.
Warriors carry a decorated shield and use bows, spears, and the maquahuitl (a sword and club combination)

                          

Priests: Along with whatever else they are wearing, priests wear a special sleeveless waistcoat that stops at their knees. They always carry an incense burner and have an incense bag on their back (like a backpack) and keep a container holding tobacco. 

Rulers: They wear the most extravagant and beautifully decorated clothing. They wear a long heavily embroidered cotton cloak tied at the front instead of on the right shoulder. Since the cloaks are a sign of status, the ruler must have the most beautiful one. 

I LOVE FOOD

We don't have creatures like cows, sheep, or goats like some other places do. Instead we hunt for ducks, turkey and other water birds. We also eat alot of fish from our lake. We collect eggs and flowers, insects, like grasshoppers and ants, lizards, frogs, and salamanders. We grow many different things on our floating gardends like chili peppers, corn, tomatoes, beans, and squash. We put chili into almost everything, so our food is usually very spicy, but I love spicy food. We have beans with every meal because beans are really good for you. My favourite thing to drink is a chocolate drink made our of cocoa bean. I don't get it very often.
My diet is pretty various, as I am a Merchant but poor people don't get to eat much more then vegtables and grains.
Corn is super important to everyone's diet and is used in every meal, for commoners and rich alike. We have a God dedicated just to corn.

Check out this super awesome recipe for Champurrado! This website does lots of other recipes too, so have fun trying out some new foods and favourites.  http://bebidas.saxtor.com/2012/03/16/champurrado/

Education

I think we Aztecs are pretty awesome, because despite your social class, every child goes to school. Even slaves! However, there are different school for the rich and poor. Boys and girls also go to separate schools.
Young children are educated at home. Your education starts from birth. Up until the age of 8, the preferred method of discipline is simply verbal. But harsher punishments are used as the child grows older. This is to prepare for the harsh realities of life. Part of this education at home involves learning a collection of sayings, called huehuetlatolli (sayings of the old), that teach you the Aztec ideals. 
When you are 15 you are sent to schools. There are 2 types: the telpochcalli, for practical and military studies, and the calmecac, for advanced learning in writing, astronomy, statesmadship, theology, and other areas. As a merchant's daughter, I go to the tepochcalli in my neighborhood. There is one in every community because they are for the children of common families. Here we learn about history, myths, religion, and ceremonial songs. Boys get intense military training and also learn about agriculture and the trades. Girls are taught how to form a family, and we get to be trained in the arts and trades that will ensure the welfare of our future families, like cooking, sewing, etc. The calmecac is for kids of nobility. They will become new military and religious leaders. Teachers are really harsh. Punishments are an integral part of our education. But that's good, because school teaches you proper behavior that is expected throughout your life. This behavior is law and if you break it you can be killed. 
Another great thing about our education system is that if you show prowess in a certain topic, you will be put into special classes to develop those skills even more. I had a friend who was really talented in math and he was moved into the engineering classes. Another of my friends really liked plants and making medicines so they were moved into the school that trained doctors.