What is the Aztec legend of the snake and the eagle?

In legend, the Aztec built their capital on the spot where they saw an eagle perched on a cactus while holding a snake in its beak. Between the years of 1325 and 1521 CE, a great civilization arose and thrived. They were the Aztec people, who lived in what is today central Mexico.

What is the relationship between the eagle and the Aztec worldview?

Because the Aztec worldview was based in the concept of duality, the Aztecs paired the daytime eagle with the nocturnal eagle. This eagle had a malevolent side and was associated with death. It only hunted at night and thus eliminated the powerful correlation with the sun.

What did the eagle represent in Aztec art?

In ancient Mexico, the cuauhtli (eagle) symbolized both the sun and a strong warrior who fought the powers of the night under the direction of his patron deity Huitzilopochtli, the god of war.

What does the snake and eagle represent on the Mexican flag?

The emblem-shield symbolizes the Aztec heritage. According to legend, the gods had advised the Aztecs that the place where they should establish their city was to be identified when they saw an eagle, perched on a prickly pear tree, devouring a serpent.

Did Aztecs eat nopales?

Nopal was one of the original super fruits; the Aztecs boiled the juice of its pads to cure fevers, used its slime as lip balm, its pulp to remedy diarrhea, its spines to combat infections, and its fruit to lessen anger.

What was the Aztec city called?

Tenochtitlan
The Aztec built their capital city, Tenochtitlan, on Lake Texcoco.

What are the 5 virtues of an ideal Aztec citizen?

Farmers, Fishers, and Women

• Courage.
• Self-Sacrifice.
• Modesty.
• Clean Living.
• Obedience.

What does the Aztec Eagle Warrior represent?

In current culture, the eagle warrior is a representation of the Aztec culture, and therefore the Mexican tradition. Some companies use the eagle warrior as a symbol that denotes strength, aggressiveness, competitiveness, and remembrance of the ancient cultures of Mexico.

What does the eagle eating the snake mean?

The emblem shows an eagle devouring a serpent, which actually is in conflict with Mesoamerican belief. The eagle is a symbol of the sun and a representation of the victorious god Huitzilopochtli, in which form, according to legend, bowed to the arriving Aztecs.

What animal does Mexico represent?

Golden Eagle
Many Mexicans honor the caracara as their national symbol, although a Golden Eagle actually appears on the flag of Mexico. The bird was sacred to the Aztecs.

Why are prickly pears prickly?

Opuntia, the prickly pear cactus, is something you wouldn’t want to take a bite out of. To prevent them being eaten – or more specifically, to prevent the water stored inside the fleshy cactus pads they grow on being stolen. The spines are modified leaves surrounded by irritating hairs called glochids.

Where did the Aztecs find the Eagle and the Snake?

They saw the eagle, the cactus, and the snake on a small reed-covered island in the shallow waters of Lake Texcoco. In obedience to the god’s instruction, they started to build there the city of Tenochtitlan.

What is in the beak of the eagle on the Mexican flag?

The bird found in the center of Mexico’s flag is an eagle. According to the legend, Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec’s supreme deity, instructed the Aztec people to seek a place where an eagle landed on a prickly-pear cactus, eating a snake. What is in the beak of the eagle on the Mexican flag? The national emblem is an eagle holding a snake in its beak.

Why was the Eagle important to the Mexicas?

The eagle was a representation of the sun god Huitzilopochtli, who was very important, as the Mexicas referred to themselves as the “People of the Sun”. Based on this, Father Diego Durán reinterpreted the legend so that the eagle represents all that is good and right, while the snake represents evil and sin.

What did the Eagle and the Snake symbolize?

In this capacity he was symbolically associated with the sky, the sun, and great birds of prey, especially the eagle. He was complemented by the internal affairs chief, known as the ‘cihuacóatl’ (‘woman serpent’), responsible for matters concerning agriculture, defence and administration.