What is the Aztec legend of the snake and the eagle?
What is the Aztec legend of the snake and the eagle?
The legend says that one day, the god of the sun spoke to the people. The god told the Aztec people to look for a sign-an eagle with a snake in its beak perched on a cactus. On the spot where the eagle perched, the Aztec were to build a great city.
What does the eagle represent to the Aztecs?
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.
Where did the Aztecs find the eagle eating a snake?
According to legend, they were told by one of their gods to settle where they saw an eagle perched on a cactus, eating a snake. After a hundred years of wandering, they finally found this sign. They saw the eagle, the cactus, and the snake on a small reed-covered island in the shallow waters of Lake Texcoco.
What did the snake mean to the Aztecs?
Snakes were sacred to the Aztecs as they were the symbol of the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl. The Aztec Empire consisted of many subject territories, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. Frequently they had to provide gifts as tribute to demonstrate their allegiance to the Aztec emperor.
Why was the eagle important to Aztecs?
The Aztecs were a warrior society, and the eagle was commonly associated with warriors. The bird was considered brave, daring, and fearless. The Aztecs engaged in wars to obtain sacrifices for their gods and expand their empire. Therefore the eagle’s traits were integral to their survival as a people.
Why were the Aztecs so hated?
They were generally disliked by other groups who found the Mexica uncivilized or unrefined, largely because they were foreigners who worked initially as mercenaries for other people living around Lake Texcoco.
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.
Why is the eagle eating a snake on the Mexican flag?
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. Why is the eagle eating a snake on the Mexican flag?
Where did the Eagle and the serpent come from?
It goes back to an Aztec legend. In ancient times, the gods told the Aztecs that they would find the perfect place to build their city where they saw an eagle on a cactus, eating a serpent. They spotted such an eagle – right in the spot that is now the main plaza in Mexico City.
Where did the eagle land on the cactus?
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. The eagle stands on a nopal (cactus plant).