READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR "AZTEC HISTORY AND COSMOVISION"

WEEK 7

From "Untitled poem about the origins of the world" (pages 394-396, Reader):

1. According to the poem, how many worlds (creations) have existed before our own?

2. What does "Sun" mean in the context of the poem?

3. How were men created in the first world, and how were they transformed?

4. What provokes the end of the second world?

5. Why is the fifth world called "Sun of Movement"?

6. How is this world going to end?

7. Identify and comment on Quetzalcoatl’s participation in this poem.

From Sunstone (cover page of Reader):

8. Who is the central face in the stone?

9. What does the glyph on the tongue of the central image represent? Locate this same glyph in other parts of the stone.

10. What are the two (left and right) symbols next to (horizontally) the central image?

11. How many glyphs are represented in the next circle? To what do they refer? 

12. [From Reader, pages 397-398, 405-406] How does the calendar system work? How many calendars did the Aztecs have? How are they interrelated? To what does the "New Fire Ceremony" refer?

13. What is the glyph at the top of the Sunstone? Why is it placed on the tails of the serpents?

14. Who are inside of the serpents’ mouths (bottom of the stone)?

15. What are the red beads at the very edge of the stone?

From "Untitled poem about Huitzilopochtli's birth" (pages 407-413, Reader)

16. What does Coatepec (or Coatepetl) mean?

17. How does Coatlicue get pregnant?

18. Why does Coyolxauhqui and the Southerners want to kill her mother, Coalicue?

19. What weapon does Huitzilopochtli use to kill his sister?

20. What is the basic metaphor of this poem?

From "The Founding of Tenochtitlan" (pages 397-398, Reader)

21. What does Tenochtitlan mean?

22. How is this place described?

23. Who was the first ruler of the Aztecs?

From "The Founding of Tenochtitlan. Explanation" (pages 399-406, Reader)

24. What was the original place of the Aztecs called? Where was it?

25. When did the Aztecs migrate?

26. In the illustration on page 401, what does the glyph placed above the word "Tenochtitlan" mean?

27. In the illustration on page 401, why is there a square and a cross?

28. In the illustration on page 401, explain the scenes under the square.

29. How does the author of this "Explanation" arrive at the conclusion that the foundation of Tenochtitlan occurred in 1325?

30. Based on the last known "New Fire Ceremony" in 1507, figure out what year would be the end of our current cycle.

Discussion Questions

1. Analyze the interrelation between the catastrophic or ill-fated sense of the world, and the cyclical and regenerating view of time.

2. Explain oneness of men, nature, and the cosmos. Why can they not be viewed separately?

3. Analyze the geometrical figures in Aztec iconography: circle, spiral, triangle.

4. The most important animals used by the Aztecs are the serpent, the jaguar, and the eagle. Why do you think those animals were chosen? What do they symbolize?