“The people of the empire had an
appreciation for a wide variety of [gods] insects, birds, fish and animals. A lot of their
art reflected this. Jaguars, ducks, monkeys, snakes, deer, dogs - all these
were common themes” (www.aztec-history.com). The Aztecs had a wide range of art they did, most of the work
being quite realistic for their time, the work seeming very life like and
showed expression. The Aztecs seemed to
favor the mineral Turquoise and mostly used bright colours for decoration on their
art work.
Aztecs are known for their incredible metal work (above), although
most of it was melted to be made into currency, some Spanish journals
tell a tale of glorious metal pieces. The
Aztecs worked with soft metals like gold, silver and copper, but had to get it
imported because the metal was not naturally sound around them. Most of
the work was for nobles only and the metalworkers were ranked as one of the
highest artisan guides. Some of the
metal work included piercings, masks and jewelry (rings, necklace, pendants). The Aztecs used an ancient metalworking
technique known by some as “the wax technique”.
This technique was done by taking clay and making a mold, then coating
it in beeswax followed by more clay in a shell around it. The mold would then be heated up and the wax
would melt out holes, molten metal would then go where the wax was and cooled. After the metal work was complete, the mold
was usually smashed to ensure that every piece was unique.
Aztecs did have writing, but not anything like we have
now. The Aztecs had pictorial
representations of the words they were trying to get across rather than written
letters to make words like we do today, the larger the symbol, the more
important it was. There were libraries
with books, manuscripts, rituals, astrological/calendrical records, tribute
accounts and maps as well as many stories on gods and rulers. These were written in a paper made out of fig
tree bark, the main colours they used to write in were red, yellow, green, blue
and outlined in black.
Music was a big part of the Aztec civilization; it brought
people together and sent them into battle.
Music was a way to pass on their culture and a way to enjoy and celebrate
their time. When the children reached
the age of 12-15 they would learn important songs to their culture and were
expected to have it memorized for the rest of their lives. Most of the songs were bases off of stories
of great rulers and telling the stories of their gods.
Most gods had their own songs dedicated to them. Sometimes the songs would be sung to the gods asking for help (rain, good crops, healthy year) and some songs asking for help in battle. There would even be songs played going into battle, these songs were called Cantores. Each song would have poetry to the lyrics and usually be accompanied by professional dancers and an array pf instruments. The most common instruments were the drum (mostly) rattels, flutes and trumpets (conch or snail shell). |