Mictlan was the underworld

Underworld

The Underworld is a region which is thought to be under the surface of the earth in some religions and in mythologies. It could be a place where the souls of the recently departed go, and in some traditions it is identified with Hell or the realm of death...

 of Aztec mythology

Aztec mythology

The aztec civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many deities and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs. "orlando"- History :...

. Most people who died went to Mictlan, although other possibilities existed (see "Other Destinations," below). Mictlan was located far to the north, and consisted of nine distinct levels.

The journey from the first level to the ninth was difficult and took four years, but the dead were aided by the psychopomp

Psychopomp

Psychopomps are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply provide safe passage...

, Xolotl

Xolotl

In Aztec mythology, Xolotl was the god with associations to both lightning and death.Although often depicted in relation to the underworld, Xolotl was not a psychopomp in the Western sense. Xolotl did, however, aid the dead on their journey to Mictlan, the afterlife in some myths.Xolotl was also...

. The dead had to pass many challenges, such as crossing a mountain range where the mountains crashed into each other, a field with wind that blew flesh-scraping knives, and a river of blood with fearsome jaguars.

Mictlan was ruled by a king, Mictlantecuhtli

Mictlantecuhtli

Mictlantecuhtli , in Aztec mythology, was a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan , the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. He was one of the principal gods of the Aztecs and was the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld...

 ("Lord of the Underworld") and his wife, Mictecacihuatl

Mictecacihuatl

In Aztec mythology, Mictecacihuatl is Queen of Mictlan, the underworld, ruling over the afterlife with Mictlantecuhtli, another deity who is designated as her husband.Her role is to keep watch over the bones of the dead...

 ("Lady of the Underworld").

Other deities in Mictlan included Cihuacoatl (who commanded Mictlan spirits called Cihuateteo

Cihuateteo

In Aztec mythology, the Cihuateteo were the spirits of human women who died in childbirth . Childbirth was considered a form of battle, and its victims were honored as fallen warriors...

), Acolmiztli, Chalmecacihuilt, Chalmecatl

Chalmecatl

Chalmecatl is one of the lords of the Aztec realm of the dead, Mictlan....

 and Acolnahuacatl.

Other destinations

In addition to Mictlan, the dead could also go to a number of other destinations:

• Warriors who died in battle and those who died as a sacrifice went east and accompanied the sun during the morning.
• Women who died in childbirth
  Childbirth
  Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
  
   went to the west and accompanied the sun when it set in the evening.
• People who died of drowning — or from other causes that were seen as linked to the rain god Tlaloc
  Tlaloc
  Tlaloc was an important deity in Aztec religion, a god of rain, fertility, and water. He was a beneficent god who gave life and sustenance, but he was also feared for his ability to send hail, thunder and lightning, and for being the lord of the powerful element of water. In Aztec iconography he...
  
  , such as certain diseases and lightning — went to a paradise called Tlalocan
  Tlalocan
  Tlalocan is the first level of the upper worlds, or the Aztecs' thirteen heavens, that has four compartments according to the mythic cosmographies of the Nahuatl-speaking peoples of pre-Columbian central Mexico, noted particularly in Conquest-era accounts of Aztec mythology...
  
  .