The greatest
benefit of the many gods of the people of Latin America was the emotional
satisfaction of the people. They were emotionally satisfying in the sense that
they served as explanations of normal everyday occurrences. In the case of the
Aztecs, a goddess named
Tlazolteotl, was considered by the Aztecs as being the mother of all the gods.
It was believed in the Aztec culture that Tlazolteotl consumed the sins of the
Aztecs, leaving them pure. She was also the goddess of childbirth and was
extensively worshiped. The squatting position for childbirth was, at that time,
common all over the world. All known cultures have evidence of worshipping a
higher power, whether it was a god or other supernatural being. Gods were
worshipped because they symbolize answers for the uncontrollable fate of
humans.
Between the Mayans and the Aztecs many similar
gods can be
found. For instance, in Mayan culture,
the god of rain was named Mensabek. The word Mensabek translates to mean the
maker of powder. This relates to the mythical method of how he makes rain. The
belief is that Mensabek makes black powder, which he provides to his
assistants. His underlings, in turn, pour the powder over the clouds and
creates dark, rain enveloped, clouds. The Aztec equivalent to Mensabek was
Tlaloc. Another of these similarities was the Aztec earth and death goddess
called Coatlicue. Coatlicues equivalent in Mayan culture was Tezcatlipoca, the
god of fate and destiny. Tezcatlipoca was translated as the smoking mirror and
was both beneficial and destructive. Quetzacoatl was the feathered serpent,
being the ancient wind and storm deity. Many rulers of the time would take his
name as a title as a way to show power.
At the time of the Spanish Conquest, this cult was seated in Cholula. Xipe Totec is the Aztec god of vegetation translated as the flayed lord. Xipe Totec was depicted as having a mask which represents the dry, infertile, barren surface under which is the lively seed of growth. Great pride in the worshiping of the gods of "life" were undertaken by all cultures. Many painstaking pursuits have been held in order to give homage to the gods.
In the Lacandon city, located within the Mayan
culture, a religious structure had been built called a god house. A god house
is built in a clearing away from the village. This particular god house was
thought of by
the Mayans as the actual house of the Lacandon god.
It has a thatched roof, wood walls and a dirt floor. This house is designed as
a meeting place of humans and gods. The purpose of the sitting room was to have
a place where the gods listened to the prayers of the people.
These are just a few of the thousands of gods throughout Ancient Latin America. Religion has always been a prominent factor for social structure. Religion is a common belief of a community and serves as the backbone of a culture.