Aztec Religion and Gods of the Ancient Mexica

Aztec Religion and Gods of the Ancient Mexica The Aztec religion was made up of a complex set of beliefs, rituals and gods that helped the Aztec/Mexica to make sense of their worlds physical reality, and the existence of life and death. The Aztecs believed in a multiple-deity universe, with different gods who reigned over different aspects of Aztec society, serving and responding to Aztec specific needs. That structure was deeply rooted in a widespread Mesoamerican tradition in which concepts of the cosmos, world, and nature were shared across most of the prehistoric societies in the southern third of North America. In general, the Aztecs perceived the world as divided into and balanced by a series of opposing states, binary oppositions such as hot and cold, dry and wet, day and night, light and dark. The role of humans was to maintain this balance by practicing appropriate ceremonies and sacrifices. The Aztec Universe The Aztecs believed that the universe was divided into three parts: the heavens above, the world in which they lived, and the underworld. The world, called Tlaltipac, was conceived as a disk located in the middle of the universe. The three levels, heaven, world, and underworld, were connected through a central axis, or axis mundi. For the Mexica, this central axis was represented on earth by the Templo Mayor, the Main Temple located at the center of the sacred precinct of Mexico- Tenochtitlan. The Multiple Diety UniverseThe Aztec Heaven and underworld were also conceived as divided into different levels, respectively thirteen and nine, and each of these was overlooked by a separate deity. Each human activity, as well as the natural elements, had their own patron deity who overlooked different aspect of human life: childbirth, commerce, agriculture, as well as the seasonal cycles, landscape features, rain, etc. The importance of connecting and controlling the cycles of nature, such as the sun and moon cycles, with human activities, resulted in the use, in the pan-Mesoamerican tradition of sophisticated calendars which were consulted by priests and specialists. Aztec Gods The prominent Aztec scholar Henry B. Nicholson classified the numerous Aztec gods in three groups: celestial and creator deities, gods of fertility, agriculture and water and deities of war and sacrifices. Click on the links to learn more of each of the main gods and goddesses. Celestial and Creator Gods Xiuhtecuhtli-Huehueteotl (Old Man, the cycle of seasons)Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror, god of night and sorcery)Quetzalcoatl (the god/hero, the once and future king figure) Gods of Water, Fertility, and Agriculture Tlaloc (rain god)Chalchiutlicue (She of the Jade Skirt, childbirth)Centeotl (Maize Cob Lord, maize)Xipe Totec Lord with the Flayed Skin, fertility) Gods of War and Sacrifice Tonatiuh (Aztec sun god)Huitzilopochtli (war god, patron god of Tenochtitlan)Tlaltecuhtli (earth goddess) Sources AA.VV, 2008, La Religià ³n Mexica, Arqueologà ­a Mexicana, vol. 16, num. 91 Nicholson, Henry B., 1971, Religion in Pre-Hispanic Central Mexico, en Robert Wauchope (ed.), Handbook of Middle American Indians, University of Texas Press, Austin, Vol. 10, pp 395-446. Smith Michael, 2003, The Aztecs, Second Edition, Blackwell Publishing Van Tuerenhout Dirk R., 2005, The Aztecs. New Perspectives, ABC-CLIO Inc. Santa Barbara, CA; Denver, CO and Oxford, England.

Free Essays on Black Elk Speaks

Black Elk Speaks Greed is a large part of the American culture whether we realize it as a society or not. Many countries around the world view the United States as a selfish country that does what it wants on a global scale, and does not share or allocate its predominate wealth. I am very thankful and proud to be a citizen of this country. Even though I would risk my life to protect our country and its freedom, there are aspects about our civilization that I wish could be different. Black Elk, â€Å"a holy man and a warrior of the Lakota Nation Indians,† was a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe during the most horrific period for Native Americans in the Western part of the United States. In excerpts from the novel of his life story Black Elk Speaks, he is able to relate the differences in the ways of life from his people and the white settlers. Although he lived in the late 1800s, he is able to make reference to issues that are relevant to us today. His observations display issues such a s human bonds, ethics, economics, and politics. He describes how the excessive acquisitiveness of one society led to the cultural displacement of another. The Native American culture revolved around a circle, or what black Elk referrers to as their nation’s hoop. The flowering tree is the center of the hoop. The flowering tree is symbolic of growth and prosperity for all the people in the tribe. It is equally shared between all the members of the tribe. â€Å"Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round† (APT 315). The flowering tree at the center of the circle was nourished by the seasons, which also occur in a circular pattern. Black Elk also makes reference to the sky and the earth being round, the moon and the sun setting in a circle as well as both being round. The wind blows in circular whirls. A person’s life from childhood to dea... Free Essays on Black Elk Speaks Free Essays on Black Elk Speaks Black Elk Speaks Greed is a large part of the American culture whether we realize it as a society or not. Many countries around the world view the United States as a selfish country that does what it wants on a global scale, and does not share or allocate its predominate wealth. I am very thankful and proud to be a citizen of this country. Even though I would risk my life to protect our country and its freedom, there are aspects about our civilization that I wish could be different. Black Elk, â€Å"a holy man and a warrior of the Lakota Nation Indians,† was a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe during the most horrific period for Native Americans in the Western part of the United States. In excerpts from the novel of his life story Black Elk Speaks, he is able to relate the differences in the ways of life from his people and the white settlers. Although he lived in the late 1800s, he is able to make reference to issues that are relevant to us today. His observations display issues such a s human bonds, ethics, economics, and politics. He describes how the excessive acquisitiveness of one society led to the cultural displacement of another. The Native American culture revolved around a circle, or what black Elk referrers to as their nation’s hoop. The flowering tree is the center of the hoop. The flowering tree is symbolic of growth and prosperity for all the people in the tribe. It is equally shared between all the members of the tribe. â€Å"Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round† (APT 315). The flowering tree at the center of the circle was nourished by the seasons, which also occur in a circular pattern. Black Elk also makes reference to the sky and the earth being round, the moon and the sun setting in a circle as well as both being round. The wind blows in circular whirls. A person’s life from childhood to dea...

Creating a New Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Creating a New Society - Essay Example The cosmic architecture of the society should be based on some form of numerology since it seems that has interested philosophers such as the Pythagoreans and others who considered numbers to be important. For example, seven heavens, seven skies, seven important stars (brightest ones to represent seven important prophets) and other astronomical ideas which connect with the number seven can be used as the basis of the cosmic architecture. Of course, the number can even be five or eleven but it should be a prime number since that would give the philosophers of the realm plenty to think about and keep them busy for eons to come. The main Gods and Goddesses will not exist in this society since the society would be monotheistic. There is a very good reason for this and it is because a monotheistic society could be less likely to go to war based on religion if everyone believes in the same god. That god will only have one name and there will only be one holy city in that world while there could be other important monuments i.e. burial places of ancient prophets, memorials for great philosophers etc. However, the idea of a single god has to be a paramount concern since it is likely that different gods could lead to their followers trying to convert one another and thus start warring with each other. That god will not be like the god of the Old Testament which comes across as being angry, vengeful, or even jealous. In fact, that god will be a kind and merciful god who provides for the people with things such as rain which grow crops, fruits that grow on trees and animal that can be eaten when necessary. The god is not strictly vegetarian but s/he has ordered not to harm animals until there is no option except to eat meat. Further, the god likes things such as charity, caring for others, creating peace, development of knowledge and considers all of these to be positive things. On the other hand, being miserly, selfishness, offensive war, suppression

Perceptions of Different Cultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Perceptions of Different Cultures - Essay Example Globalization and civilization have made each community more aware of itself, its image, its reputation and its attitude towards its culture and the risk of trust or distrust in other people’s cultures. Some communicative behavior is comprehensive, others specific to a given society just as much as words that only have a much significant in a specific language. Different cultures have distinctive ways of assigning intention to common behaviors within informal verbal exchange such as the use of gaze and head –gestures (Saunders 118). Like in the Kazakhs culture they believe that the most powerful healer received the power from a tattoo that was not colored but it was a sign that she is one of the community healers while others believe tattoos are meant for beauty and body decorations. In the Kazakhs feast, Molina stares at Huston in a long unsmiling gaze to say that she was welcomed while she expected a jovial facial expression to show that she is accepted and welcomed i n the feast (Zaleski 101). The perceptions of the two cultures on the facial expressions vary in the sense that they have different concepts of the informal verbal communication. There are distinct opinions of the gender roles and cultures differ in setting the accepted roles of both females and males. More civilized cultures believe in gender equality and have the attitude that both male and female have the same capability of doing any given task. There is a clear picture of how the Kazakhs culture views the idea of gender equality... There are distinct opinions of the gender roles and cultures differ in setting the accepted roles of both females and males. More civilized cultures believe in gender equality and have the attitude that both male and female have the same capability of doing any given task. there is a clear picture of how the Kazakhs culture views the idea of gender equality and they still believe there are certain roles that should only be done by men thus they don’t approve that there can be equal states for both male and female . When the car breaks down on their way, Alina is unconcerned of what happened and says that Ivan will just think and fix the problem while on the other hand Huston has a different opinion and thinks that she can be of good help in trying to fix the problem (Zaleski 92). These acts as an important example that shows the disparity of ideas where the Kazakhs culture does not advocate nor promote gender equality and they still believe that there are separate roles for ea ch gender. It is clear that there is a vast number of spirits as it is in different cultures that believe in good and bad spirits as well as those who believe in only one supreme god. There are communities where people believe in darkness powers that bring harm and bad things to them. The cultures mostly rely on witch crafts and magicians who give them protection through charms, spiritual prayers and instructions that should be followed to stop the evil spirits that come to destroy or bring problems to them. On the other hand there are those who believe in only one god and justify that it is only the creator who can protect you. Huston and Alina seem to differ in this because Alina wants her to buy a charm that will protect his son so that

Morrisons Supermarket Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Morrisons Supermarket - Essay Example These are backed up by hundreds of special offers each time (Morrison's, 2006 and Wikipedia, 2006) from discounts to "buy one take one" topped by the wide range of goods offered from their own label "Bettabuy" and "Farmer Boy" to branded ones such as the overtaken and now defunct Safeway (BBC News, 2005) upmarket group products called "The Best." Morrison's is generally acknowledged to cater to "the lower end of the mainstream supermarket sector, offering value above choice and premium quality," of which executive chairman Sir Ken Morrison was quoted as saying "I don't know what a middle class shopper is," (Wikipedia, 2006). Morrison's manages its own commercial operation in-house from buying, packing, to distributing its fresh fruits and vegetables, meat products and fish, with their own temperature controlled warehouses, meat processing and fleet of transport. The company now employs about 130,000 members of staff in stores, factories, distribution centres, and head office administrative functions. They also enjoy a chunk of about 10 million weekly shoppers with their 360 stores across the nation. Morrison was founded in 1899 with a stall in Bradford Market selling egg and butter with its founder William Morrison inspired at innovating to lead the way in supermarket retailing. In 1958, the first town centre shop was opened, followed in 1961 by "Victoria" the first supermarket with 5,000 sq/ft of retail space selling fresh meat, green grocery, among other provisions, with a free parking. By 1967, it went public, with the shares over-subscribed at 174 times. 80,000 investors cashed in. In 1971, the Hilmore House head office was opened and by 1976, new produce Cutler Heights depot became operational after taking over Whelan Stores. By 1980, Morrison opened its "Farmer Boy" factory and in 1988, the Wakefield distribution centre opens. In 1988, Erith Greater London store opened and by 1999, the centennial store at 100th opens at Nelson. In 2001, Morrison Supermarket joined the FTSE 100 and by March 2004, it merged with Safeway (Morrison, 2006). Marketing and Communications: Employing the Market Street format that presents skilled butchers, bakers, fishmongers, pizza makers, among other well-versed staff to address its clientele, Morrison have successfully integrated among other marketing strategies a home-based service to its customers. Other stand-out marketing offers include returns for volume orders, and bell ringing announcement of newly baked goodies. Morrison's maintain its own website for the internet-using consumers, clients and the public that can be viewed at

Advertising strategies of the fashion accessories

Advertising strategies of the fashion accessories 1. Working Title The advertising strategies of the fashion accessories retailer Accessorize and Claire for the UK market. 2. Introduction According to Levitts points, the needs and desires of consumers around the world are becoming ever more homogenized. Consequently, consumers around the world would become quite alike and can be satisfied with similar products (Muller, 1996). Hence, they can be persuaded by similar advertising message. Moreover, it also can be argued that consistent brand images can enormously influence consumers. Also, every target market is unique and consumers do vary, thus adopting the same advertising strategy will not be appropriate for all market segments. Traditionally, advertising was considered as an afterthought, used primarily to promote companies name to the consumer (Burnett, 1993). No matter how innovative a designers new collection might be, how the collection is positioned for the new season, or how successful a new innovative fabric or material will be, none of these targets are achievable without consumer awareness. For this purpose advertising is used to quickly and succinctly deliver these messages to specific target group around the world (Burnett, 1993). 2.1 Justification Advertising is the most important means for developing a brand (Mooij, 1997). Advertising has been conventionally regarded as one element of promotional mix, differentiated from other marketing communication elements such as public relation, personal selling, corporate communication, sales promotion, etc. (Hackley, 2005). Advertising can be defined through many perspectives such as from consumer perspective, businesses perspective, social perspective and in general. But a definition serving all these perspectives can be defined as non personal communication of marketing related information to a target market, usually paid for by the advertiser and delivered through mass media in order to reach the specific objective of the sponsor (Burnett, 1993). Advertising has also traditionally been the principle method of communicating a brand image, thus communication plays an important role in advertising (Jackson and Shaw, 2009). Marketing departments of companies need to use advertising strategies and communication methods to benefit the company.   Communications is at the heart of good marketing strategies providing an interface between firms and its publics. Strategic communications is also referred as a recipe; ingredients must be added at the right time and in right quantities to gain comparative advantage (Blythe, 2003). In order to achieve these, the understanding of advertising and what it can and cannot accomplish is a necessity for the marketers (Burnett, 1993). Even with such benefits the role of advertising has not satisfied everyone related to it. Advertising has faced criticisms in the way it is used by companies to achieve their targets. Few of these criticisms are advertising persuades people to buy against their will, artificially differentiate products and creates brand loyalty, prevents new firms to enter the market and enables advertisers to raise prices in comparison to those of un advertised products. However, these criticisms about advertising are the causes of one another for example; consumer loyalty can pose a threat to new brands entering the market (Tellis, 1998). 3. Aim Analyzing advertising strategies used by fashion accessories retailers and their impact on sales. 4. Objectives To discuss how different advertising strategies can have an effect on consumer decisions to purchase. Analyze and comparing the advertising strategies used by fashion accessory retailers with a focus on Accessorize and Claire. To discuss the effect of the advertising strategies used by Accessorize and Claire on the consumer. 5. Literature review For the purpose of this project literature review will focus on three main categories which will reflect the aims and objectives. Advertising, consumer behavior and effects of advertising strategies on consumers will be discussed while maintaining the main focus on the chosen companies Claire and accessorize. Over the years, many brands have faced the problem of conveying their message to consumers even with the availability of different communication elements such as public relations, personal selling, word of mouth, advertising etc (Jackson and Shaw, 2009). In recent years, businesses has wildly used advertising, as being costly it serves the purpose of sending message to a mass in shortest time (Wu, 2001). The delivery of the message not only serves the needs of designers, retailers, but also plays an important role for the recipients of the message. The primary goal of fashion advertising is to bring prominence to a particular company and to increase its profits (Diamond and Diamond, 1996). Advertising can be classified in three ways which is by audience, by advertiser and by intention (product and institutional).   Audience is the most obvious way of advertising as it examines the audience intended for the purpose of advertising (Burnet, 1993). Advertiser is referred in terms of who is advertising. A retailer does not get affected by what brand consumer buy as long as they buy it in their store (Burnet, 1993). Intentional advertising is further sub classified into product advertising and institutional advertising. Product advertising aim to inform or to stimulate the market where as institutional advertising creates a positive attitude towards the seller. Product advertising can provide quick response or stimulate demand over a longer period. Institutional advertising aims to establish a high level of goodwill rather than selling a particular good or service. According to vignali (2009), the purpose of advertising is to inform, persuade and remind. Advertising is also observed according to the media by which it is used to send message to the consumers. The media used for the purposes of advertising are press (magazines, daily papers), TV, Radio, external advertising, direct mail and the internet. Advertising in magazines have been regarded as one of the most effective methods, because it can be finally tuned to the target market of the magazine. In specific magazine, fashion brand/ retailers advertising can match their target market with the magazine target market effectively and inexpensively (Lea-Greenwood, 2002) e.g. accessorize have been targeting their customers especially through magazines. Generally advertising is assumed to have the potential to shape consumers beliefs and behaviors. Researchers have demonstrated that hierarchical effects of advertising have impacts on purchase intention (Mitchell and Olson, 1981). Consumer attitudes toward advertisements and their attitudes toward brands may shape their purchase intentions (see De Pelsmacker and Van Den Bergh, 1996; Mackenzie et al., 1986; Mitchell and Olson, 1981; Percy and Rossiter, 1992; Shimp, 1981). Advertisers reliance upon the use of sexual imagery and text to attract consumer attention is increasingly common in todays saturated media culture (LaTour and Henthorne, 1994; Reichert, 2007; Reichert and Carpenter, 2004; Severn et al., 1990; Streitmatter, 2004). This approach to advertising in which sexually explicit messages are purposefully invoked to challenge social mores is an example of provocative or â€Å"shock† advertising and its not surprising that many of the studies examining the impact of sexual content in advertisements upon consumer behavior have focused upon apparel as a product category (Andersson et al., 2004; De Pelsmacker and Van Den Bergh, 1996; Ve ´zina and Paul, 1997) (e.g., Grazer and Keesling, 1995; LaTour and Henthorne, 1994; Severn et al., 1990; Ve ´zina and Paul, 1997). Although Bailey and Hall (1992, p. 15) have identified shock advertising as â€Å"one of the most effective† approaches to selling commodities in the contemporary marketplace, empirical evidence about the efficacy of sex appeal as an approach to promoting consumer goods. Advertisements featuring lower levels of sexual intensity may fail to attract consumers attention, whereas those featuring higher levels of sexual int ensity may distract the consumer from focusing upon the product being promoted (Alexander and Judd, 1978). Fashion opinion leaders have been recognised as important to the spread of new clothing fashions for a long time. Sometimes consumers become especially interested in and preoccupied with clothing and fashion so that their interest, experience, and knowledge and are then referred as opinion leaders for others (Goldsmith, 2000). The tendency of consumers to pursue dissimilarity from others in the marketplace via product and brand acquisition and usage for the enhancement of the individuals self and social image is referred to as consumer need for uniqueness or CNFU (Tian et al., 2001). Consumer need for uniqueness is a multidimensional construct consisting of three factors which are Creative choice counterconformity, Unpopular choice counterconformity and Avoidance of similarity. The advertising industry is held responsible for creating fashion norms such as â€Å"tweens†, and marketers exploit the tendency of children to look forward to growing up, choosing slightly older children as role models (Linn, 2004). Accessories have been proven to be the most resilient sector of fashion retailing in recession with growth of 3.2% in 2009 and have added nearly  £0.5bn to sales value between 2005 and 2009 (Verdict, 2009). The accessories sector of fashion has always been woman dominant and accounts nearly for 73% of all accessories expenditure. Within the last decade, clothing specialists have used accessories as a vehicle for growth and discovered accessories to be a necessity for fashion followers. Accessorize remain leading specialist despite facing tough competition from clothing specialists, Accessorize has managed to hold on to a share of 7.4% in 2009 (Verdict, 2009).

Compare and contrast the variety of attitudes to marriage as expressed

Compare and contrast the variety of attitudes to marriage as expressed by different characters in Pride and Prejudice. Pride and Prejudice is one of the most famous novels in the history of English Literature. Written in the year of 1813 by the very well known author, Jane Austen, whose novels all examine the nature of love. The general tone of the novel is light, but serious. Pride and Prejudice is a story that focuses on the life of marriage, it is full of love. Money and wealth is also a main aspect of the book. Marriage in Pride and Prejudice is acknowledged in that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. The first sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice could not have better prepared the reader for the rest of the novel. The thread that sews together the lives of all the characters in the novel is the establishment of marriage. Jane Austen uses the Bennet family of Longbourn to illustrate the good and bad reasons behind marriage. Mrs. Bennet is an irritating woman whose main goal in life is to get her five daughters married. It might be correct in assuming that she felt social and financial pressure to do so. Her husband's estate was entailed to his nephew, Mr. Collins, when Mr. Bennet was to pass away. Therefore, Mrs. Bennet wanted her daughters to have financial stability elsewhere in case of their father's death. In the time period of this story there was very little social acceptance of women who were single their whole lives. For the most part, women could not acquire money on their own without inheriting or marrying into good fortune. Women who could not find a husband were often referred to as â€Å"old maids† and lived their whole lives with their p... ...daughters were pleasant and appear to be ideal. Jane had longed for Mr. Bingley for quite a while. Bingley was handsome, rich, kind, and well liked. He and Jane shared many conversations and had complimentary personalities. They were pleasantly matched and I believe that they shared a happy life together. Elizabeth (the main character in the novel) and Darcy's marriage was an excellent match. Though she thought him a cold, aloof snobbish man at first, this soon evolved into something else, it was love. They were equal in intellect, had physical attraction and deep love for one another, financial security, romance, and companionship. They are the two I believe would be most happy in life. Jane Austen wanted the reader to know that marriage should be approached as a package deal - a package of love, financial stability, physical attraction, and happiness.