The Aztec journey to Mictlan after death

Record summary

Mexica sources describe the dead traveling through Mictlan, often across difficult stages and dangerous landscapes, before reaching Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl. The tradition is especially useful for comparison because death is represented as a process of passage rather than a single moral destination. Evidence comes through colonial-era texts and images, including Sahagún’s documentation and pictorial manuscripts, with substantial variation between accounts. Researchers must distinguish Indigenous concepts from Spanish editorial framing and avoid assuming that every later popular description of “nine levels” reflects one standardized precolonial doctrine.