Polytheism

• Aztecs were polytheistic, that is, they believed in more than one god. In fact, they believed in hundreds of gods. There is evidence of their belief in so many gods that experts have trouble accounting for them all. To make their categorization even more difficult, it appears some gods were worshiped as slightly altered manifestations as other gods. In any case, Aztec mythology revolves around the interactions, influences and stories of these gods.
  
  

Afterlife

• The Aztec religion features a sophisticated tradition of afterlife beliefs. The final resting place of the soul depends on how the person died and how the person spent his life. Women who died in childbirth, for example, may return as bad omens, whereas warriors killed in battle ended in the "House of the Sun" paradise. The "House of the Sun" paradise is only one of four such resting places of the soul that were based on the points of a compass. The House of the Sun was associated with the eastern pole. The other three were the House of Corn (west), the House of Tlaloc (south), and the House of Mictlan (north).
  
  

Agriculture

• Agriculture was a critical component in Aztec culture because their livelihoods relied on productive and profitable harvests. Their gods, therefore, were worshiped in conjunction with the value and output of the crops, and human life was conceptualized in symbols similar to the seasons and the natural, ecological cycle of life.
  
  

Sacrifice

• Just as agriculture provided a connection for the Aztecs between society and religion, so too was sacrifice a religious custom whose influence was as much social and political as it was spiritual. Human sacrifice was seen as paying a debt to the gods for their influence on a successful crop, for example. Since Aztecs believed that the gods could control their agriculture, and therefore their livelihoods, it was seen as only logical to repay the gods and incentivize their continued positive influence. Sacrifice ceremonies were ornate ordeals, organized by many priests and lasting for days, in which social and cultural traditions were established.