Aztec Culture Vs Mayan Culture Essay

Superior Essays
The Aztecs and the Mayans had similar yet different ways to define the gender in their cultures. The Aztecs culture was divided into many classes and while it was hard for individuals to move up the ranks there was a few that had the opportunity. For the most part many of them started as farmers and remain in that position through out life. The ones that were into trade had a better opportunity to become affluent. Their parents did most of the education during the early years of life and school started in their late teens. The females were thought to do religious ceremonies and the boys were trained fighting techniques but both groups would learn the basics of public speaking, history, religion, morals and recital skills. The Mayan culture was very focused on religion but unlike the Aztecs they practiced sacrifices very …show more content…
The male dominance overpowered the women even if the cultures glorified class and religion. The Aztec culture was divided in classes and that made it easier for individuals to just focus on their personal life and their own success including their family. If women inherit wealth, that individual would be part of a high social group. On the other hand, the Mayan men were focus on providing for their women and not really interested in moving to a higher class but more of idolizing their gods. The Mayan Women didn’t really have the opportunity earn power because they were just suppose to provide for their men and if necessary make blood sacrifices for their husbands at war. The Aztec women would join the male’s family and she would either, defend her husband at war, become a farmer, join his trade or simply be part of her husbands social class. The Mayans made sure that both families contributed to the wedding because they more focus on the ritual and their gods rather than the idea of unity as a

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Camilla Townsend’s Malintzin’s Choices depicts the ways in which one young Indian woman’s bold decision impacted the outcome of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The master narrative is commonly told through the perspective of the conquistadors themselves, rendering the history largely biased and lacking the views of the indigenous communities that were conquered. The inclusion of indigenous experiences challenges white male authority by shedding light on the inaccuracies of the major accounts and proving that a significant portion of history is based on the outlook of the person who writes it. Malintzin’s story deconstructs the widely-accepted Eurocentric narrative of the Spanish conquest of Mexico while simultaneously demonstrating the importance…

    • 1368 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By having two distinct spheres of gender the Incas believed that there were sexual domains and sacred beings for each sphere. These two distinct spheres allow each gender to focus on specific roles and ultimately complement each other for the good of society creating a strong kinship (a goal of this society). Throughout the Pre-Columbian society, we will see the strong differences between male and female roles due to the clear sphere separation created by the Incas.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ancient Maya civilization was an exceptionally sophisticated society located in the Central American nations of Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Originating before the year 2000 BCE, Maya civilization thrived as a intelligent and powerful society for over four thousand years until the sixteenth century when Spanish explorers conquered the Maya kingdom and changed the lifestyle of ancient Maya civilization. Luckily, information about ancient Maya civilization can be obtained through archaeological research, ancient Maya documents and relics, and records of Spanish encounters with the Maya. The first European explorers began to colonize America around the same time that Spanish explorers conquered Mexico.…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Colonial Latin America is a very important time period that shows us where the roots of social and cultural prejudices were created. Women in particular have faced challenges fighting constraints and prejudices, like the preconceived notion that women are inferior to men; however, there are many women that fought against those normative ideas that grounded central themes in social rights that are still important today. In the hispanic culture, women learn how to cook, clean and are seen as more nurturing, even in earlier times we can see that women were seen as “gatherers” rather than “hunterers”. All of these ideas were preconceived to keep women doing feminine things and in a way characterize all women to be more passive towards power unlike…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women got themselves into marriages while still young, for example, Huarta was married at the age of twenty while Chavez got married one day shy of her twentieth birthday. What promoted this culture was because women did not engage themselves in some activities. The boy-child education was most favored. This situation is seen when parents take male children to school and leave the female at home. The women lacking option in life, they seek for marriages, not for love but just to end the frustration.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Family Family is a huge deal in Mexico. In Mexico, family comes first. Children are celebrated and are more sheltered than in the US. Family structure is more patriarchal as men are the head of the family and women are the caregivers and models of morality and religion. Men and women have a duty to help each other.…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    American and Hispanic Views on Gender Roles Throughout all of history men and women have always been told what roles they are supposed to play within their culture since a very young age. Whether it is the American or Hispanic culture, women have always had a much lower and weaker role than men have; this means that women are the weaker sex. Since they aren’t as independent as they should be, women aren’t always the head of the household. However, in the American culture women are able to become the head of the household even though they are still the weaker sex. Men in both cultures are the dominant sex because they are able to be a lot more independent than women and therefore are almost always the head of the household; in rare cases American men will not be the head of the household due to reasons such as not working.…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mexican Feminist Analysis

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout history throughout the world many men have developed a stereotype that has made women to be inferior to men. While women play vital roles in human life for the upbringing of a family and the well-being of them many times those jobs go unappreciated. In Mexico on the other hand, the roles of women not only have they been those of housewives nor of exploitation throughout history, but they had times where they played major roles like those of men. In many cases some of the roles that they played have been of landowners, skilled workers, and even soldiers in both sides of the revolution. Although women did participate in the revolution and many played key roles at the end women did not benefit since they ended up being oppressed at…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Native women of the Americas belonged to a culture that respected them. Their culture gave them autonomy, power and equality. Native societies were not founded on a hierarchical system. There was no such thing as major divisions between men and woman. During pre-Colombian times, men and women had different roles and their work often differed, but they did not place more value in one role over the other.…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gender Roles In Mexico

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Opportunities for women are very limited in Mexico. It is believed that there is no need for them to do anything but to take care of the house and the children. Some women even reportedly feel like they have no freedom while living in the household with their husbands. Since rules and cultures limit the things that they actually can do, women are basically trapped as housewives with no…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction Native American culture is matrilineal. Indigenous communities across the globe are matriarchal. Many Indigenous myths and stories of emergence depict woman as the creator and preserver of life and culture. It is woman centered where women are creators and teachers of tribal rituals and laws. Women are respected because they are life givers and the protectors of culture.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A feast would be held by the bride’s family prior to the marriage. On the day of the wedding ceremony, the groom would go to the home of the father of the bride. A priest would discuss the duties of the married couple to each other and bless the couple . After the marriage ceremony, the son in law would work for the bride’s family for a number of years while the mother of the bride would ensure her daughter was taking care of her husband properly . Like the Aztecs, polygamy by men was…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Mayan civilization had a remarkable culture and society in ancient Mesoamerica developed by the Mayan people. The advanced civilization encompasses modern day southern east of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and western segments of Honduras and El Salvador. The Mayan civilization had a written language system of hieroglyphs, created the Mayan calendar, constructed pyramid-like structures to cherish its gods, had a polytheistic belief in gods that constitute by images of animals, and advancement in the areas of astronomy and mathematics. (Last Name 136) However, the Mayan civilization state of decline when the Spanish conquistadors invaded and colonized the Mesoamerican region in the sixteenth century and entirely ended of what is left of…

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Essay On Mexican Culture

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Each society has its own culture beliefs and behaviors. Every person’s norms, roles and status vary from one society to another. One cultures norm can be distinct from another culture. For instance, the role being a daughter can be different in two different places. Depending on the culture the daughter must act a certain way and do what their parents asked them to do.…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Historically, women have been considered an oppressed minority group, with patterns of inequality constantly running rampant across the globe, shaping important aspects of society such as the media, politics, education, and family life. Sexism is built into the structure of society and therefore, men, in general, have greater opportunities and are given more resources than women are. This gender stratification affects how society functions in many aspects, including economically. Society’s differing levels of economic development around the world affect how women are viewed and what opportunities they could potentially have. Factors such as traditional values, lack of access to technology, lack of resources, and rigid gender roles affect women’s social standing in different ways.…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays