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Jewelry in Aztec culture.
INTRODUCTION
The Aztec culture
Social culture takes into account the ideas, customs, and social behavior of an ethnic group. Moreover, the way people live and interact clearly defines culture. A high cure can get established as an excellent taste from the fine arts and the humanities. When communities interact, there is a change in lifestyle (Root, N. p). In this paper, we will discuss the Aztec culture, which included; agriculture, introduction to irrigation, draining the swampy area, and also cultivation. Moreover, we will discuss the work of the arts as practiced in their culture and the people’s perceptions of the same.
Aztec civilization had fifteen million people living in an average of five hundred communities in their territories. The Aztecs developed in cultures that included the music, arts, crafts, and the sciences. The music and the human sacrifice practiced by the Aztec people helped them in building their religion and the culture at large and also use jewelry for decoration. Moreover, through their music, they got to believe in their gods as an essential role in the Aztec rituals.
The Aztec culture has been existing since the 15th and 16th centuries when they had organized themselves in a better way. Many people have gained the Aztec culture after the experience of interactions they had together. Agriculture significantly developed due to their religion, which enabled its high productivity and boosted the morale of the rest of the communities to keep working with them and end up adopting their culture. Persistence in farming improved the economic status of the city, and culture enhancement in society. Their social learning kept diversifying due to their passion for shining different practices.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The cultural influence of art
The culture influences the art in several ways while the art reflects what an individual perceives in culture. Art cultures try to bring into the understanding of the world and also the fantasies we create towards the earth. Art has several categories, which include architecture, designs, filmmaking, printing, painting, and literature, among others. However, the freedom of art can be sometimes be misunderstood by individuals just according to their personality, especially the way that individual perceives it (Ganeri, N. p).
In Aztecs, there was a continuous growth in the history running in their arts. However, the emergence artifacts influenced the Aztecs culture through their perpetuation of artists to exhibit the love of sculptures and imposing the architecture and high decorated jewelry and other forms of arts, which became less meaningful to them and their culture.
Jewelry
Lip plus was given to girls and boys during the young. Stages. Boys wore them during a captive in war and whereas girls wore them during the marriage period. Considering life achievements, usage of lip plus jewelry became elaborated and diversity in application. A type of glass-like volcanic rock gets used to making this jewelry ornament. Some of these finely carved obsidian lip plugs were called noble. The samples are below.
Earplugs also are part of jewelry worn by this community. They created them in different shapes and materials, which include; wood, shell, obsidian, leather, polished stone, and more precious metal and stones. The mother’s white earplug gets made from bone or polished stone. Aztec jewelry got used to symbolize important themes and events. E.g., cotton symbolizes feminine periods. They wore cotton cloth to honor their protector, who was the great mother of their society. See the pictures below.
Nose ornaments like the lip and earplugs, nose ornaments had a variety of materials from where they came. Some of the nose plugs were of the traditional round shaped figures. More ornamental types got worn by lords, great warriors, and priests. Individual people won the gold ornament. This gold makes also got won by a priest when undertaking the role to impersonate a god. See the pictures below.
Necklaces, bracelets, beads came from precious stones. Precious stones also serve as symbols. Jade stones were from the rivers. Therefore jade symbolized the presence of water. Feather bracelets get made from gold and jade strings from beads. Wearing of shells by the seasonal warriors was done to honor the gods. Three types of warrior’s necklace were:
• Gold Shell Necklace
• Golden Beetle Necklace
• Shell Necklace
Warriors and participants of religious events and festivals wore wrist bracelets, which also served as musical instruments for entertainment purposes. Copper bells models formed part of this jewelry, and it imitates the sound of a rattlesnake’s tail in their homestead. The dancing team wore them during music festivals and moved in rhythm, whereas others played the drums, whistles, and clay flutes. See the pictures below.
Pendants and chest ornaments were the most impressive among all of the Aztec ornaments, and some got taken to a display in British Museum. Some have funny shapes like double-headed serpent pendant decorated with turquoise. A necklace-type got won by hanging down onto the chest. A priest probably wore it during a meaningful religious event.
Aztec art creation was from a wide variety of artworks. That is massive stone sculptures, small carved gemstone, insects like stylized handcrafted pottery, fine gold, and silver jewelry—breathtaking feather work garments made from that variety. The Aztec community artisan made the images of gods from their artwork. Much of gold and silver jewelry vanished, conquering Spanish, who used it to make their currency. Feather works, unfortunately, didn’t last for an extended period, but some few samples remain. Energetic stone carvings, however, continue to show the great artistry of the Aztecs community during the ancient period.
Social culture
Social group also influenced Aztecs from the nearby communities, for instance, the artists from Oaxaca, and the Gulf Coast in the Hurst region as they had strong traditions which entailed the three dimensions of the sculpture. The eclectic taste from the Aztecs and the other diverse influence of ancient art greatly facilitated their ancient culture (Ganeri, N. p). However, the Aztecs had sculptures of the gruesome gods with the imagery of the same workshop as naturalistic works that represented the animal and human form of beauty and grace.
The Aztecs also introduced other forms of arts like the use of pieces of jewelry and the feather works, which intended to set the nobility Aztecs apart from the commoners. Wearing the pieces of silver was also very attractive and exciting as it made them more beautiful, enjoyable, and appealing to the other individuals that they were in a position to copy their culture. Further, they used metaphors and poetry throughout their artworks, making it more interesting. This approach made them more attractive to the extent of the norm getting copied by the neighboring groups. In the current generation, the internet has just influenced the artwork and also the cultural practices from different communities.
Majorly, the group was nomadism and practices cultivation after they entered Mesoamerica, where they formed an Aztec empire. Socially, the Aztec society relied on a strict division between the nobles and the free commoners, which got grouped into sub-tribes of communal status, the obligation, and the control of power. On the other hand, the economic situation of the Aztec dependent on agriculture and the large extend warfare. Their nomadic life influenced the artifact’s work. (Nash, N. p). Practicing agriculture was greatly affected by the climate changes in the area, and they majored in it, improving their economic status.
The Aztecs adopted many other forms of culture, like architecture and literature. Coming from Mexican helped them take new cultures as they started cultivation as they did their nomadic life. These multi-culture practices facilitated them in many of their today’s success and historical recalls. Some of the arts achieved from the other communities were of significant impact on them as it improved their economic and social status (Lizama, p. 7264). Moreover, the adoption of literature was of great importance as they changed the way of interaction and communication hence assisting each other. Through this, they were able to relate and understand other communities, and socially they borrowed cultural ideologies that helped them for comparisons and improvement. Music was also a significant and exciting adoption as the Aztecs learned new methods of presenting their artwork and perfected it. The art fact work was therefore used as decoration during musical events and also other cultural ceremonies.
The arts claims that the people who made the Aztec’s culture ventured on nomadic life and later started doing agriculture, which was also convenient to the area they then set their empire. The Aztec’s people were civilized and liked leadership as they had led a more extensive community before they moved from the Mexico area after the coming of the Spanish conquest. They organized themselves into simpler leaderships that ensured their governance get attained and no civil wars against themselves. Moreover, the Aztecs people believed to have been worshipping gods and goddesses; hence they were more of religion (Lizama, p. 7264). Additionally, they considered having been incorporated with deities severally as their cuts were from the other geographical region and also the people they shared religious practices.
Culture can get transmitted from one group of individuals to another; for instance, the Aztec group improved the form of sculptures after interacting with other groups like the Zapotec. Interacting with them was of great help as they developed their ideas and were more encouraged in their artworks. Many people do not understand how interaction is essential, as most of them are a bit ignorant of the same. An interaction changes the usual thinking of an individual and later has a better perception of life than before. Borrowing an idea from a friend or community and improving it brings about innovation and invention hence increased economic and social status.
CONCLUSION
Interacting with a new community or a group of people will make one adopt a new culture. An individual may gain positive or negative culture after interaction with another group of individuals. The Aztecs interacted with other groups attaining more for their artwork. However, the different communities have the potential to learn from you hence a mutual benefit. Aztecs also had the potential to improve their economic status, and they worked hard to ensure they have a better living for their people. They were, therefore, learning from different cultures can models one’s musical and art career; for example, the costumes that one needs to perform in a theatre. Aztec being the culture of different cultural norms and practices, they are therefore more advanced in jewelry industries. Various types get used for different reasons, and consequently, they can easily pass communications depending on the model under wore.
Work cited
Root, Deborah. Cannibal Culture: Art, appropriation, and the commodification of difference. Routledge, 2018.
Ganeri, Anita. Mesoamerican Myth: A Treasury of Central American Legends, Art, and History: A Treasury of Central American Legends, Art, and History. Routledge, 2016.
Nash, Susan Smith. “LATIN AMERICAN CULTURE–Post-Classical Period.”
Lizama Aranda, Lilia. “Tenochtitlan (Aztec): Geography and Culture.” Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology (2014): 7262-7266.