Huvrr Sacnfice Among the Adecs an

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in practice <tfhuman saclhe A:tecs areJ'amou.s historyfor their bloodrrffice. The killing of human beings to please div,initiesor natural fon,-es is nol uncontmonin human hi.storv, including the civilizationsof the Mava probably no developed and other antient Mexicancultures,'but civilization Even the sixteenth-century carried the prcctice to Azlec extremes. Spanish ol in'",aders Mexico, who tlrcmselves had no compunction ubout shedding innocent human blood, were revoltedbv"the Az.tecceremonie.r they w,itne.ssed-and useclthe gory prac'tice to justif; their own brfial conquests. contemporam In thcfitllou,ing selec'tion, American historian Brian Fagan the demonstrote.c centrulitytsfhunransacrificeto the Aztec wav- lifb. of

lhe oitering of human blood was perhapsthe mostprolbundof religiousacts.Humansacrifice of was the touchstone all Aztec virtue,the key to of thcir understanding thc spiritual world. The gods thernselves had originatedthe rite of sacrito fice by imrnolatingthemselves nourish the Fifth Sun.Humankindhad an equalresponsibility to feed the sun.The Aztecsbclievedthat they had acquired the custom from the gods thema selves, lincagesufficientto clotheit with powerful divine sanction. not renewed only the god to whom it Sacrificc was of'lered,it provided an ultirnatetest of manhood for the victims. Human beings countedin the cosmic order only insofar as their offerings the nourished gods.The more valorousthe offer' ing, the more the gods were nourished.lt followed that the blood or the heart of an elite warrior was much more nutritious than that of a slave.Every captive was the propefiy not of his captorbut of the god to whom he was destinedto be sacriflced.Often the victim was painted antl dressed the god's regaliaso that he or she bein camea symbolicgod sacrificed the god himto self or herself. Elaboraterituals surroundedthe more imponant of these sacritices.The flawless young man chosen to impersonateTezcatlipoca assumedthe role of the god for a full year. He walked around in divine regalia, playing the flute. A month before his death,he was married to four young priestesses *,h<limpersonated goddesses and who sangand dancedwith him as he walked around the capital. On the day of sacrrfice, the young man climbedwillingty and alone to his dateon the sacrificial stone.His decapitated head was displayed on the skull rack that stood in the plaza below the temple.On occasionslike this, hunransacrifice was not an earthly, but a divine,drama. The Aztecs knew of many varietiesof human sacrifice,including deathby arrows,burning,and beheading. Then there was autosacrifice, form a

of blood olfering involving self-mutilation, the piercingof limbs and otherpansof the body with maguey thorns and/or sharp pointed boncs and collcctingthe blood on slips of paperthat were presented the god. Sometimes entirecomto the munity indulgedin sr,rch blood-letting rites in a collectiveorgy of self-offering. was the extraction The mostcommonsacrifice of the heart,a practiceuniqueto Mexican civilization.The priestspaintedthe sacrificialvictims with red and white stripes. then reddened their mouthsand drew black circlesaroundthem. They glued white down on the victim:s heads. The prieststhen marshaled victims at the fbot the of the temple pyramid steps before escorting thcm up the staircase by one.At the summir, one eachprisonerwas thrust backwardsover thetechcatl, the sacrificial stone. . Some authorities speculate that the entire sacrificial rite was sym_ botic. The climbing prisoner was rhe young sun rising to his zenith at the moment of sacrifice. The tumbling body was the setringsun returning to the earth. No one knows exactly how many human victims thc Aztecs sacrificed.Cones estimatedthat fifty peoplewere killed at every temple annually, which would meanthat sometwentythousand per_ sonsdied for the gods throughoutAztec domains every year- Several early chroniclers agree that Tlaxcalasacrificed eight hundredcaptives most in yearsand a lhousandevery fourth year,the divine year. But the highest numbers were counted in Tenochtitlan, whereas many aseight hundredvic_ tims for one festivalalonehavebeenspokenof.

l. 2. 3.

Brian M. Fagan.'fhe A:t<'tt (Nnr York: W.H. Freeman, 1984). pp t29. L

What was the purposeof the Aztecs' human sacrifices? Why would Aztec individuals willingly acceptthe role of sacrificial victim? Imagine there was a modern day civilization that performed this type of sacrifice. How do you think this practice would be viewed by the world today? What would you think of such a practice-especially if it is done as an essential part oftheir relieion?