The underworld in Aztec mythology.

To the Aztecs the underworld was as real as the world in which they lived and breathed. The Aztecs believed that death was a part of the life cycle and that a person died only to be reborn again if the spirits of the underworld looked upon the deceased in a favorable way. The bones of the dead were believed to be seeds from which life sprang forth again. The Aztec underworld was separated from the world of the living only by a thin layer of earth making it a short journey from the underworld to the world of the living, however, the journey into the depths of the underworld took much longer.

The Aztec underworld consisted of nine layers which were thought to represent the nine hours of night and this underworld was collectively called Mictlan. The manner of one’s death not their life determined where the soul would end up in Aztec afterlife. Mictlan is the world of those who died by disease or accident. While warriors and women giving birth went to one of the thirteen levels of Aztec heaven known as Tonatiuhichan, the House of the Sun, the unfortunate souls of the average man or woman had to travel the long journey to the lowest level of the underworld. This journey would involve a torturous journey down through the first eight levels of the underworld and would last four years. Often a dog, believed to be the shape shifting god Xolotl, would be cremated and buried with the corpse to accompany the soul through the upper eight levels of Mictlan. Sometimes personal possessions such as bows, arrows, fishing nets, cloaks, fabrics, baskets, and sandals.

After a soul successfully traversed eight deserts, ascended eight hills, made it past a gigantic snake and gigantic lizard and suffered a wind full of sharp knives, they would be borne across the river, Chicunanhuapan, by their companion dog into the lowest level of the underworld where they would finally find eternal rest. It was in this lowest level of the underworld that Lord Mictlantecuhtli and Lady Mictlantecihuatl ruled the northernmost area of the underworld.

The Lord and King of the dead Miclantechuhtli was depicted as a blood spattered skeleton and rituals honoring him sometimes involved cannibalism which may have included the consumption of human flesh and blood in the temple area. Although in today’s world, the skeletal image of Michlantechuhtli would be considered a dark symbol of paganism; his skeletal imagery was a symbol of fertility, health and abundance in the Aztec world and would underscore the close link between death and life. He wore a necklace of human eyeballs and a headdress of owl feathers and paper banners. He was the most prominent of the gods of the underworld. He is associated with spiders, owls, bats, the eleventh hour, and the northern compass direction. His wife, Lady Mictlantecihuatl, lived with him in a house without windows in Mictlan.

Miclantechuhtli was also in possession of the bones of previous generations of Aztec gods. The creation of the different races stem from an Aztec legend wherein the god Quetzalcoatl and his shape shifting twin, Xolotl, were sent to steal the bones of previous gods from Miclantechuhtli. During this theft, Quetzalcoatl was forced to drop the bones, which broke and scattered them. When Quetzalcoatl retrieved the bones and returned them to the land of the living, they were transformed into various races of mankind.

Religions of today look at the Aztec beliefs regarding their underworld as pagan, yet the parallels between the Aztec underworld and some modern Christian beliefs are quite surprising. The nine levels of Mictlan closely resemble today’s Christian belief in Purgatory. The belief in life after death is primary in modern Christianity just as it was in Aztec religion. Modern religions also teach that there is a “heaven” and “hell” which correspond to the Aztec belief in Tonatiuhichan and Mictlan. And the consumption of the symbolic blood of Jesus and body of Jesus at communion could be compared to ancient Aztec rituals and sacrifices. Are our modern Christian beliefs so different than those of the ancient Aztecs beliefs regarding their underworld?