The ancient Aztecs believed in many gods and goddesses. Each god had
a job to do. The sun god, for example, brought the sun up every day. The
Aztecs believed it was important to keep the sun god happy. They truly believed
if the sun god was not happy, he would refuse to bring up the sun, and the
world would end. Since the Aztecs believed in a great many gods and goddesses,
and each had an important job to do, the ancient Aztecs spent most of their
time trying to keep their many gods happy and well fed.
The Aztecs believed that human sacrifice was necessary. They used people
to feed their hungry gods. Some of the people sacrificed were Aztecs. But
most of the people they sacrificed to keep their gods happy were people captured
from neighboring tribes. This did not make them popular with their neighbors!
Each time the Aztecs tried to settle down and build a city of their
own, other tribes in the area would band together to chase them away. No
one wanted the Aztecs for a neighbor. The Aztecs were very sad
about this. They did so want a city of their own.
One day, the Aztecs were visited by their main god. He promised
his people that they would have a city of their own some day. To find it,
they were to look for an eagle, perched on a cactus, holding a snake. When
the Aztecs found the magical place of the eagle, snake, and cactus, they
were not to make war with their neighbors. Instead, they were settle down
peacefully until they had gained strength. They were to use that time to
build a glorious Aztec city, a city of their own.
For the next 200 years, the Aztecs wandered in the Valley of Mexico.
They never doubted their god. They never gave up. They were always on the
lookout for an eagle, perched on a cactus, holding a snake in his mouth.
One morning, an Aztec priest was standing on the swampy shore of Lake Texcoco.
He yawned and looked out across the lake. He could not believe his eyes.
On one of the many small islands that dotted the lake, he saw an eagle, perched
on a cactus, with a snake wiggling in its mouth.
The Aztecs had found their home at last. Aztec legend says the cactus
grew immediately into an island. It was on that island that the Aztecs founded
their civilization. They named the island Tenochtitlan, "the Place of the
Prickly Pear Cactus".
Journey of a
Princess