THE AZTEC WAY OF LIFE.

Religion was extremely important in Aztec life and was part of all levels of their society. The word for priest was "Tlamac'Azqui " meaning "giver of things." The main responsibility of the priesthood was to make sure that the gods were given their due in the form of offerings, ceremonies, and sacrifices. They had a very strict training, and had to live very austere and ethical lives. Additionally they had classes of religious specialists not affiliated with the established priesthood. This included wandering curers, black magicians, and other occultists (most of which they feared) and hermits. Military orders, professions, and wards each operated their own lodge dedicated to their specific god. The heads of these lodges had some ritual and moral duties, that included annually obtaining and training a suitable slave or captive to represent and die as the "image" of their deity in a specific festival.
The Aztec world consisted of three main parts, the earth world on which humans lived, an underworld (Mic'Tlan) which belonged to the dead and the upper plane in the sky. Each world was associated with specific set of deities and astronomical objects.
The earth and the nether world were both open for humans to enter, whereas the upper plane in the sky was impenetrable to humans. Geographical features such as caves and mountains held symbolic value as places of crossing between worlds. Existence was envisioned as being cyclical, straddling the two worlds in a cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. The cardinal directions were connected to the layout of the spiritual world, each direction associated with specific colors and gods.
The upper and nether worlds were both layered. The underworld had 9 layers which were inhabited by different deities and mythical beings. The sky had 13 layers, the highest of which was called "place of duality"(Omey'Ocan) and which held the progenitor dual god Omet'Eotl.
Other places were "the place of Tlal'Oc"(Tlal'Ocan), a verdant spring-like place with abundant water where people who drowned had their afterlife, and a mythical "place of origin of the gods"(Tamoan-Chan).
The Aztecs believed that after death the soul went to one of these three places: Tlal'Ocan, Mic'Tlan, and the sun. For fallen warriors' souls and women who died in childbirth, they were transformed into hummingbirds that would follow the sun on its journey through the sky. Souls of people who died from less glorious causes would go to Mic'Tlan (place of the dead). And those who drowned would go to Tlal'Ocan.
According to tradition, the Major Temple (Templo Mayor) was one of the main temples of the Aztecs in their capital city of Ten'Och'Titlan, which is now Mexico City. It was dedicated simultaneously to two gods, Hui'Zilopoch'Tli, god of war and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture, each of which had a shrine at the top of the pyramid with separate staircases. The temple is located on the exact spot where the god Huit'Zilopoch'Tli was born. He emerged from his mother (Coat'Licue) fully grown and fully armed to battle his sister Coyol'Xauhqui and her brothers who intended to kill him and their mother.
Huit'Zilpoch'Tli was victorious, slaying and dismembering his sister. Her body was then thrown to the bottom of the hill. The various levels of the Temple represent the cosmology of the Aztec world. First of all, it is aligned with the cardinal directions with gates that connect to roads leading in these directions. This indicates the place where the plane of the human world in which the human race live in intersect the 13 levels of the heavens, called Topan, and the 9 levels of the underworld, called Mic'Tlan.
It was at the time the largest and most important active ceremonial center.