Download Act 7.9 Key pages 258-259 Creation Stories

Name __________________________________
Date ___________________________________ Activity 7.9 Key
How the Aztec Rise to Power Compares/Contrasts to that of the Spanish
Aztec
Spanish
Uniqueness
Uniqueness
Sameness
Aztec were building an empire.
Acamapichtli, a son of a Aztec noble
and Culhua princess, is the first direct
descendent to the Toltec. To further
the Aztec respect in V of M, he
marries another Culhua royal.
The Aztec, as the head of the Triple
Alliance, fought surrounding
altepetls for tribute and sacrifices
to further expand its empires
borders.
The power resides in the emperor and
his closest advisors.
Rise in power was
furthered by marriage
Both societies had
expansionist
worldviews
Both societies were
hierarchical.
Uniquen
The Spanish were trying to unite
kingdom.
King Ferdinand marries Que
and unites the kingdoms
Aragon and Castille.
After having gained con
Cortes and influence o
Church, the monarchy
changes that allowed
create a policy of exp
With Columbus’ disco
becomes the most po
wealthiest European na
expands its control of ov
the Caribbean, the Amer
and Africa.
The power rests in the monarchy
their chosen advisors.
Name __________________________________
Date ___________________________________ Activity 7.9 Key
What Aspects of Worldviews Are Reflected in Creation Stories
Instructions: Complete the following chart based on the reading from pages 258-259.
Define: Oral tradition
Customs, traditions and worldviews are past to the next
generation verbally rather than in writing.
Main Idea
The Aztecs believed they were
living in the 5th sun or world
and that it was their duty to
offer human sacrifice as a way
to nourish the gods in an effort
to keep their world in balance.
Supporting Detail
Most societies have creation stories to explain the origin of
the world and the existence of human beings.
Oral traditions would be used to spread morals and values of
the society.
The Aztec believed the world has been created and
destroyed 4 previous times and that they were living in the
5th world or 5th sun.
The Aztec believed their purpose was to keep the 5th sun
alive and prevent the destruction of the earth.
The Aztec oral tradition sheds some light on their motivations
for human sacrifice as it was necessary to keep the world in
balance.
Human blood was the greatest offering to the gods; the gods
would be nourished by such sacrifice.
Summary
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Many societies passed on their creation stories through oral traditions. These creation myths
often gave a society a purpose. The Aztec believed that the world had been destroyed four
previous times and that they were living in the fifth world. Moreover, they believed it was their
responsibility to keep the world in balance by offering humans’ most precious gift, their lives,
in an effort to nourish the gods.
Name __________________________________
Date ___________________________________ Activity 7.9 Key
Read and Reread Note-Taking Guide Chart for Expository Text
Title: What Aspects of Worldviews Are Reflected in Creation Stories?
Author: Levin, Moline and Redhead
Source: Our Worldviews: Explore, Understand, Connect Pages: 258-259
First Reading
Second Reading
Third Reading
Fourth Reading
Paraphrase of first and
last paragraph of “Aztec
Creation Stories”.
Choose 5 key words that
you need to understand
this section and define
them.
Paraphrase of the topic
sentence of each
paragraph.
Important information
from section
One variation…
Quetzalcoatl – a gentle
god who was a friend
to humans
The oral tradition has
seen many variations of
the Aztec creation myth.
Tezcatlipoca – an allpowerful being who
was god of darkness
and sorcery
Some Aztec believe the
world to be a flat disc
encircled by water.
One of the Aztec creation
stories believes that the
world is flat and is
sandwiched between 13
levels of heaven and nine
underworld levels. The planet
is divided in compass
coordinate quarters each
representing a creator god of
the first four worlds. These
gods lived within the layers
and could take many forms
on earth.
One story…
One variation holds that
humans are the result of the
bones their ancestors mixed
with the blood of the gods. In
this version, Quetzalcoatl went
to the underworld to collect the
bones of past generations and
shattered them upon the earth
and shed his blood upon them
to create humans. As the bones
were of different size, humans
would also be of different size.
Summary
Fifth sun – the version
of the world that the
Aztec currently live in.
Transformed – to
change into another
shape or figure.
Ometeotl – the lead
god of the Aztec at the
time of the fifth sun.
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The first god, Ometeotl,
had 4 sons.
Earth was separated from
heaven, and two gods
were picked to be the
sun and the moon.
How the Earth was
Created
Ometeotl, two sons
Quetzalcoatl and
Tezcatlipoca had to split
the heaven and earth
after the collapse of the
fourth sun.
To defeat the earth’s
goddess’ snapping
monster Quetzalcoatl
and Tezcatlipoca
transform themselves
into serpents and broke
the monster into two.
They raised one half to
become the heavens.
Fifth world humans were
created by the bones of past
world humans mixed with
the blood of the gods.
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