Aztec Tattoo Designs Part III Fire, Quetzalcoatl, Two headed serpent

The Aztecs were accomplished farmers and lovers of beauty. It was natural for them to grow many plants and use them for many different purposes. Some plants were used for religious reasons.

The flower glyph represents one of the days of the Aztec Cosmos or calendar. It is a day named for some type of plant or flower.

The capitol city of the Aztecs was surrounded by an unbelievable collection of floating gardens in the lake. The Spaniards were amazed by this huge garden and it was often cited as one of the wonders of the mesoamerican world.

Serpents and snakes were also worshiped by the Aztecs as well as other mesoamerican natives. They even thought Cortes was a re-incarnation of their god Quetzalcoatl.

A glyph of fire was the symbol of the New Fire Ceremony.

The Aztecs measured the years by a fifty-two year cycle using four periods of thirteen years each. Each thirteen year period had a god, a color, and a direction associated with it.

The Aztec gods took turns carrying the thirteen year periods. At the end of each thirteen year period, that god's glyph was symbolized by tying the years together with a knot. After four knots, or 52 years, the new fire ceremony was performed.

All home fires were put out, all old pots were broken, and all homes were swept clean. The Aztecs waited for the Pleiades constellation to cross the mid heaven mark and then the New Fire Ceremony would be celebrated by lighting all new fires everywhere. Kind of like fireworks are lit today for New Year.

The Aztec calendar combines three cycles: the sacred year consisting of 260 days; the solar year of 365 days, and the Venus year consisting of 584 days.

If you visit my website linked above, I have a page dedicated to the Aztec Cosmos where you can purchase framed or unframed posters of the Cosmos from All Posters.com.  I bought one myself a few years ago and it is absolutely stunning!

Or even better - buy one of my original canvas colorizations of the Aztec gods that I have listed at Etsy.com!