Did you know that March 12 is considered the Aztec New Year? The holiday is still celebrated by some in Mexico, and even if you don’t have another New Year’s celebration to mark the occasion, it’s a fine time to learn about the Aztec.
The Aztec were the dominant culture in Mesoamerica (that’s the land from Northwest Mexico to current day El Salvador) before the Spanish colonizers came. In their own time they were known as Mexica or Tenochca, with the name Aztec being popularized in the 1800s. About 300,000 people lived in the capital of Tenochtitlan at its peak, making it one of the biggest cities in the world at the time. Tenochtitlan was located where Mexico City is today.
Words like chocolate, tomato and avocado are all derived from the Aztec language of Nahuatl. Some of their farming techniques are still used in Mexico, and their legal system is similar to that still used today. The symbol of the eagle eating a snake while sitting on a cactus, which is on Mexico’s flag, is a symbol the Aztec said was sent from the gods.
You can learn more basic facts about them from this page at Primary Topic Shop, or from National Geographic Kids.
Woo Jr also has some good information about the Aztec, including a sun stone activity, worksheets to use for learning about important animals, how to make chocolate and more.
123 Homeschool 4 Me has lots of great resources on the Aztec, including a printable reader with pictures for kids to color, printable worksheets and notebooking pages and a banner activity where kids can share what they learn about temples, clothing and other facts.
Learn some basic Aztec vocabulary at Storyboard That, and learn about Aztec codices (symbols to represent numbers and letters) and practice translating them with this activity from Teaching Ideas.
And you can learn more about Aztec New Year from Calpulli Tonalehqueh, a group in San Jose, California, where the oldest and largest Mexica New Year celebration in the United States is held. There’s a video there to show you a bit of what their celebration looks like.
To download these coloring sheets right click and save the image.
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