Trainee runners had to shin up the 113 steps of the Templo Mayor
Vote for your favourite Aztec day sign!
To be moral was to follow the example of your ancestors
Aztec women painted their faces a beautiful yellow
Guess what English children think a Mexica chocolate whisk is...!
Where to turn for good introductions to Mexica writing
Basic Aztec facts: Aztec MUSIC...
Molluscs were both useful and symbolic in the Mexica empire
A Mexican codex in Oxford was thought to be Egyptian!
We compare Maya and Aztec creation myths
The Maya story of the creation of humankind
Chanting in Mesoamerica has ancient roots
Rituals in caves invoked the power of earth and underworld
Evidence for cacao drinks go back to 1600 BCE!
Pilgrimages to sacred locations - a tradition both ancient and modern
In Aztec poetry warriors die - to return again and again
For the Maya tattoos were signs of personal bravery
The ancient Voladores ceremony is still performed today
The story of the woman who interpreted for Cortes
What did the ancient Maya wear?
General Aztecs Maya Tocuaro Kids Contact 22 Sep 2019/13 Death
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Aztec stone lizard sculpture

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History of British and Mexican querns NEW
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The Concept of the Wheel in Ancient Mesoamerica Click the flag for a Spanish translation
The Mexica approach to alcohol
Mexica (Aztec) Human Sacrifice: New Perspectives Click the flag for a Spanish translation
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Households and Daily Life in Mesoamerica
The Voladores ceremony
Birth and death as metaphors (1)
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Chanting in Mesoamerica Click the flag for a Spanish translation
Witchcraft and Sorcery in Ancient Mexico
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The Aztecs, patolli and gambling
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Aztec running
The art of Aztec mourning
What lies underneath Aztec sculpture?
Caves as Sacred Space in Ancient Mesoamerica
Mesoamerican Copper
Lightning in Mesoamerica
Dr. H.B. Nicholson - ‘Grandfather’ of Aztecs Studies
Games and Other Amusements of the Ancient Mesoamericans
Especial Birds in the Americas
Aztec Masks
Nahua Moral Philosophy
The Aztecs and Lake Navigation Click the flag for a Spanish translation
The Ancient Secret of Pre-Hispanic Jewellery Click the flag for a Spanish translation
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Water in the Valley of Mexico
A modern Nahua pilgrimage
The Deep Roots of Aztec Sculpture
Mexica Weaponry Click the flag for a Spanish translation
Aztec Philosophy
Aztec Women
Vienna’s Mesoamerican Featherworks
Did Aztec rulers possess divine powers?
The skilled use of conch shell in mosaics
Mexico’s Faked Prehistory
Found! The pulque gods’ ‘golden section’...
How Aztec poetry works
How did Mesoamericans envision the cosmos?
Portrait of a Collection: National Museum of Mexico, 1865
Clean Aztecs, Dirty Spaniards
Templo Mayor animation
The Aztecs and the atlatl
Aztec Manners
The Aztecs have been called many things... Click the flag for a Spanish translation
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Hare vs Rabbit in mythology Click the flag for a Spanish translation
The Skywatchers of Cahokia
How ‘Eagle Man’ has changed Britain’s museums
Aztec Poetry (1): Intro Click the flag for a Spanish translation
Aztec Poetry (2): Three Poems
Reconstructing Aztec Super Glues
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Aztecs and the power of lament
Mexico’s long-distance running tradition
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Colossal serpent
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Frida Kahlo
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Tezcatlipoca Symposium Click the flag for a Spanish translation
Templo Mayor Education Service
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Bristol and the New World
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Article suitable for Top Juniors and above

3 Mexican football fans

Aztecs, ballgames and logos...

Mexico have come pretty close (quarter finals) to winning the World Cup, and were the first country to host the FIFA series twice - in 1970 and again in 1986, each time in the famous ‘Estadio Azteca’ or Aztec Stadium in Mexico City. (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

Official FIFA World Cup emblem, Mexico 1986
Official FIFA World Cup emblem, Mexico 1986

The Aztec Stadium, designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez (who also designed Mexico City’s celebrated National Anthropology Museum), was built in 1966, and is the second largest (capacity 114,000) football stadium in the world. It was in the stadium during the 1986 World Cup that the world famous ‘Mexican Wave’ first broke onto the international scene.

Mexico City’s Aztec Stadium
Mexico City’s Aztec Stadium (Click on image to enlarge)

For decades the Mexican team have sported a strip with a striking design based on the ultimate Aztec icon - the Sunstone or Calendar Stone. The ‘ghosted’ version in grey became very popular around the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Mexico’s 1998 World Cup shirt design based on the Calendar Stone
Mexico’s 1998 World Cup shirt design based on the Calendar Stone (Click on image to enlarge)
Mexicans learn to love football from before they’re born!
Mexicans learn to love football from before they’re born! (Click on image to enlarge)
More on the Aztec Calendar Stone
More on the ancient Mesoamerican ballgame
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Mexicolore replies: Thanks for asking, George. We’re afraid we don’t know, at present. We’ll try and find out for you...
Mexicolore replies: There is a link on this page, Alma, to a page on our site about the pre-Hispanic ballgame, ullamaliztli! Click on ‘More on the ancient Mesoamerican ballgame’...