Rituals and human sacrifice
We now get to the difficult subject of human sacrifice. That's indeed not an easy subject, for several reasons.
First, and perhaps foremost, it's not for the faint of heart. Most of the descriptions are indeed pretty nightmarish.
For that reason I'm issuing a blanket content warning on the whole post.
The other reason is that we're faced with an intriguing paradox. The Mexica were in many ways admirable. Some will represent them as an utterly immoral people. But the evidence is that they had a strongly developed sense of moral and ethics -- and a very conventional one. Sahagun devotes two books to the Mexica's idea of morals -- and nothing is there feels alien or surprising. With the crucial exception of sacrifice, the Mexica saw as evil what we would see as evil, and as good what we would see as good.
The Franciscan friars that worked at converting them found them engaging -- and deplored senseless destruction on the conquistadores' parts. And in fact, the conquistadores themselves expressed sympathy and admiration, for the Mesoamericans. (Which, however, didn't stop them from raping everyone in sight and enslaving the survivors.)
And yet the Mexica engaged in fairly horrific rituals. It's tempting to assume they followed a Religion of Evil and leave at that... But, to be honest, the Mexica religion feels strange, foreign, unfamiliar... and yet, often very similar to other religions.
There are in fact, unmistakable resemblances with Christianity: it was widely assumed in the 16th century that the Mesoamericans had somehow been converted before being 'turned' by the devil.'
It's all very puzzling when you think about it.
You'll find plenty of people willing to demonize the Mexica; but there is, I feel, an opposite temptation to minimize, dismiss or excuse human sacrifice.
The painter Diego Rivera expressed outright admiration for human sacrifice. (He was Frida Kahlo's husband -- the shit that poor woman had to go through -- and possibly involved in Trotski's assassination.) Less dramatically, the number of victims has been largely minimized (while some figures are exaggerated, it was definitely as bad as they say it was).
In 1492, Charles C. Mann draws a comparison with our own history: yes, the Mexica had human sacrifice, we had the Holocaust, witch hunts and the inquisition. That's a fair rebuttal -- but we should keep in mind that the Mexica perpetrated massacres too (they would not balk at killing half a defeated city's population), had religious trials too. (They were more divided on the topic of witches. But they definitely killed the bad ones.)
Why sacrifice humans?
So we're left with the paradox of a culture, admirable in many respect that engaged in very regular bloody ritual. Why is that?
There can be no answer to that question. What we have is descriptive: we know the main gods, how they were represented, and a description of the sacrifices themselves. What we can't have is theology, or what sacrifice meant or represented. The Mexica priests were able to mount a very eloquent defense; it's very likely they had very elaborate theology. All of this was, of course, lost. We don't know what sacrifice meant to them.
We can offer some hypotheses though.
Everyone does it
The first thing to note is that pretty all cultures engaged in human sacrifice at one point or another in their history. The Egyptians did it, the Romans did it, the Greeks did it, the Chinese did it.. You get the idea.
Two forms seem to me to be especially common: human sacrifice in the foundation of new buildings (this is attested in Europe at very late date) and retainer sacrifice (the king's dependant join him in the afterlife). Both were practiced by the Mexica, btw. Child sacrifices was practiced in Carthage; the Romans insisted they would nothing so barbarous as sacrifice humans (except when they did, in which case it didn't count.) If you have any Germanic or Celtic ancestry, your ancestors definitely sacrificed humans.
Yet, the Mexica stand out, first because they never abandoned the practice, more importantly because of the importance of the ritual (check the calendar above; a month never goes by without sacrifice of some kind) and the sheer number of victims.
Ecological reasons
In 1977, Michael Harner looked into the subject and proposed ecological factors were at work. This was popularized soon after by Marvin Harris, notably in
Cannibals and Kings.
A key point: the sacrificial victims weren't just killed. The head was exposed on a skull rack; the trunk fed to the animals in the zoo. The heart was kept in a vase, the blood sprinkled over the temple. But the limbs were butchered, cooked and eaten.
On another note, there was a general dearth of animal protein in the Mexico valley. The valley boasted a very large population, and yet the Mesoamericans had no large domesticated animals. They were constantly short on meat. Animal protein isn't strictly necessary; but human beings tend to crave it (among other reasons, it's very nutritious, packing a lot of calories in a very small volume.) At some point, people who crave meat -- and who are generally hungry all the time -- will tend to look at their neighbours in a certain manner.
Harner and Harris don't propose that the entire population of the Valley of Mexico would feed on human meat. The problems with that approach are obvious. On the other hand, human meat would work very well as redistribution: the leaders of the community using it to reward key members of the community.
Indeed, human sacrifice was always sanctioned by the state, or the local lord in smaller community. The spoils of it went to warriors, important merchants, as redistributive banquets, under state/chiefdom patronage. It all makes sense.
So it seems we have a solid explanation. Except all scholarly works about the Mexica dismiss it.
It's too simplistic, the argument goes. They couldn't have fed everyone on it. And besides the Mexica had plenty of protein.
I'd like to speak in favor of the Harris-Harner thesis, though. It seems very convincing to me. A few points:
- The Mexica didn't have plenty of protein. They could rely on turkey and dogs -- but these compete with human beings for food. (Cattle is more efficient: we can't digest what they eat.) There was game: deer and rabbits -- but population density in the valley of Mexico exceeded 1,000 people per square mile! There were fish, frogs and other amphibians from the lake -- again, not nearly enough compared to the density.
- And indeed the Mexica went through terrible famines. One of these provided the initial impulse for the Flower Wars -- more ritual sacrifice. Prayers to Tezcatlipoca include ghastly descriptions of famine, an hint that the memory of famine was quite vivid. People were still going hungry at the end of the dry season. It even looks at times like the Mexica taught themselves, deliberately to endure hunger. The fasts were frequents and arduous, small children were taught to make do with one (1!) tortilla a day.
- Human flesh was evidently the main perk of the warrior, at least if the conquistadores' reports is to be trusted. Cortéz' allies were very eager to eat the defeated, to the understandable dismay of the Spaniards. The Mexica taunted their enemies about it.
Political reasons and, by the way, was it the Mexica who came up with human sacrifice?
Human sacrifice is as old as civilization in Mesoamerica. It does look like the Mexica brought the practice to an unprecedented scale.
To some extent this is a factor of the power and wealth of the Mexica state -- human sacrifice is expensive, not something a small community or a minor
altepetl could engage in large-scale. The Mexica, on the other hand, had the resources for mass-scale sacrifice.
There is a political, empire-building aspect to it, though.
First: it's a very efficient terror tactic. The pyramids were built so that what took place on top of them could be seen from afar. The Spaniards could testify to it; Bernal Diaz del Castillo has an harrowing chapter where he watched Spanish soldiers being sacrificed, from the lakeshores.
In addition, the Mexica would invite rival and vassal kings to witness the ceremonies; these presumably returned home suitably chastened. The Flower Wars were "only" ritual wars, waged only for religious reasons... and served the very practical purpose of bleeding the Mexica's rivals dry. Vassal states were required to provide captives for sacrifice, as part of their tribute; again, weakening them. And of course many of the rituals were designed to impress, from the dispatching of the captives on top of the temples to the exposure of their skulls on dedicated skull racks.
The personal enjoyment of the rulers mustn't be ruled out either. The Mexica went through heavy religious reforms under the direction of the
cihuacoatl Tlacaelel, who greatly expanded the cult of Huitzilopochtli and introduced the Flower Wars... and is said to have had a taste for human flesh.
Religious and symbolic reasons.
In Mexica thought, the sacrifices were a necessary part of running the universe. The sun required to be fed with blood; in any case the sacrifices were necessary to have it run its course. This is not necessarily a case of the gods being blood-thirsty (though they can be portrayed that way) but more a matter of the universe running on sacrifice, and everything requiring a price.
The gods aren't exempt either. The mythological monster Cipactli has to be sacrificed and shapen as the earth; to soothe its pains victims must be provided. As we've seen earlier, two gods must sacrifice themselves to become the Sun and the Moon, but all of the other gods must be sacrificed for the Sun to run its course.
There's a kind of supernatual one-upmanship about human sacrifice. In one myth, Quetzalcoatl is required to offer a sacrifice; he's expected to offer something suitable, a jaguar, maybe. Quetzalcoatl subverts all expectations by offering humans instead.
An interesting theme is that the Mexica gods have sacrificed themselves so that mankind could exist. As we've seen, Quetzalcoatl recreated the human race from blood: this was accompanied by self-sacrificed, as the god spilled its blood so that humans could be revived.
Other justification include the payment of a cosmic debt, or even redemption from sin. Sometimes it's presented as a trade of sorts: human victims versus rain, sustenance or victory. People who escaped from a disaster, or who recovered from a disease, vowed to offer a sacrifice as thanksgiving.
Sacrifices would be offered as penance, for thanksgiving after a victory, to placate the gods after defeat.
Serving the gods -- other forms of sacrifice.
Human sacrifice was important. But maybe it wasn't the most important to serve the gods.
My own opinion is that the most important act in Mexica religion was a different kind of sacrifice: self-sacrifice, or penance.
All rituals -- including offering a victims -- required penance and mortification of some kind.
One kind of penance was
offering your own blood: cutting a part of your body (often, the ears, sometimes, more painful places) with small blades or cactus spines to draw blood, to offer to the gods. This could be done in spectacular and painful ways.
Fasting was of the utmost importance. They were sometimes long and arduous. We know some of the specifics, but not in detail. A fast meant abstaining from food (what the exact rules were, I do not know. But sometimes a fast could last for a year, so evidently penants didn't abstain from food entirely.) and sexual intercourse. Penants would cover themselves with soot or rubber.
Fasting was often not done at home; instead people undergoing fasts would go to a dedicated house.
(This was especially true of the sovereign. Mexica kings, and especially Motecuhzoma are depicted as extremely pious. Motecuhzoma II was constantly fasting, doing penances and spending time in prayer. The royal
nezahualcalli 'house of fasting' could be palatial and luxurious!)
When undergoing fasts, penants would either refrain from bathing entirely, or on the contrary bathe ritually. Bathing at midnight was apparently a very pious and important act.
Everyone was expected to participate in penances -- including babies, from whom blood was drawn on some occasions. But the professional penants were of course the priests, constantly cutting themselves and undertaking severe fasts.
Again the meaning of all the cutting and fasting is lost to us. It's perhaps not great mystery: both were practiced in many religions -- harsh penances and cutting were once practiced in Europe too.
Amaranth substitutes
We've compared sacrifice to communion in this thread; and we aren't the first ones to do so! But there are closer analogues.
Several ceremonies involved fashioning images of amaranth paste. These 'cakes' were then ritually killed and eaten, as a subsitute.
In particular, the god Huiztilopochtli was eaten that way. Eating the god required severe preparation, including one year of fasting.
During other ceremonies, images of the 'mountains' (symbolic of the gods) were made out of amaranth paste and eaten.
The image, or representation of the god is his or her
īxiptlah, his representatives, his substitute. Keep this notion in mind; it will come up again and seems essential to the Mexica notion of sacrifice.
Song and dance
Possibly the kind of offering you were most likely to make -- and one of the aspects of Nahua religion that the Spaniards found hardest to eradicates.
All the ceremonies were accompanied by songs and dances. Some lyrics have been preserved; one of these mention the song is an offering to 'Him by whom we live.'
Incense and flowers
Both were offered to the gods: Flowers were highly prized in Mexica culture; the incense used include copal (a fossilized resin) or even tobacco. In Mexica codices, priests can be represented by their incense bag.
Animal sacrifice
Animal sacrifice was acceptable and at times necessary. The most common victims were quails. Deer were also sacrificed and, on occasion, jaguars.
Who were the human victims?
War captives. We know about these. These offer us an interesting clue:
'The captor could not eat the flesh of his captive. He said “Shall I perchance eat my very self?” For when he took the captive, he had said: “He is my beloved son.” And the captive had said: “He is my beloved father.”’
The war captive is assimilated to his captor, somehow (to what extent? we do not know.)
Captives were killed atop the pyramid; sometimes they were engaged in mock battles. During Tlācaxīpēhualiztli ('Flaying of Human beings') captives were killed in gladiatoral combat.
Typically captive warriors had mock weapons, their opponents wielded the real thing.
Supposedly a captive, one Tlahuicoleh actually won the mock battle. The king offered to set him free; instead Tlahuicoleh demanded he be sacrificed anyway.
Women
Many rituals demanded that women be sacrificed. Roughly, goddesses got female victims, gods got male ones -- but there are exceptions.
These could be war captives (the Mexica could be cruel to defeated civilians) or slaves.
Children
Sacrifices to Tlaloc required children. They were chosen according to certain signs; in particular, having two locks of hair on the head. Generally it seems they were often bought for their parents. Pretty sickeningly, it seems there always were plenty of children on offer. (Perhaps an other sign that everyone was really hungry?)
Apparently recent research suggests the sacrificed children were probably already very sick. (I don't know if that's very conclusive.)
Slaves
The other main sources of victims were slaves. Offering a victim was essentially done by two main categories: soldiers and merchants. The latter would offer slaves. These were bought for the purpose and ritually bathed.
Slaves could be war captives, or people who sold themselves off in slavery (it was, often, debt slavery.)
Criminals
We know a practice of sacrificing certain criminals existed in Mesoamerica. It's quite possible the Mexica did too, but I haven't got much on that topic.
I should also mention volunteers. There were apparently a few of these.
īxiptlah
What stands out from the description of the ceremonies is that, often, the god -- or goddess -- would be sacrificed herself/himself. Of course the one who died was a human substitute (īxiptlah.)
These were treated very well; the substitute of Tezacatlipocah lived, essentially, as a king for a year. He would walk the streets, be cheered as a god incarnate, smoke cigars and play the flute, be granted four concubines (each bearing the name of a goddess until the month of Toxcatl (the most important of the holidays.)
Sometimes substitutes begged for and received alms. (We don't know what became of the alms.)
Apparently, divine substitute had to be natives -- foreign slaves or captives would not do.
A great honor; facing death with dignity
You may have heard the idea that being a sacrificial victim was a great honor. Yes and no. On one hand, it was not a dishonorable fate; the victim gained access to the more enviable afterlife.
One the other hand, being sacrificed was listed as an unfortunate fate, associated to the days of ill-omen in the descriptions of the ritual calendar. It seems your average Mexica was happy with someone else getting the honor.
It seems victims would generally face their fate with fatalism and dignity. It wasn't necessarily the case: we know victims sometimes had to be prevented from fainting. Others essentially wasted away with worry while in detention.
Victims could generally expect to be well treated. 'Treated like a bathed slaves' is used in the sense of 'spoiled, pampered'. The victims could also be helped with drugs or alcohol. In one case, some kind of anaesthetic was used.
That said, on large occasions (thousands were sacrificed for the dedication of the Templo Mayor) it's probable the victims were handled pretty roughly.
The scene
Religious ceremonies were designed with an eye to the spectacular. It was a square, fortified complex, some 400 meters by 300, near the centre of Tenochtitlan.
The main building was the great pyramid: composed of four sloped terraces with a passage between each level, topped by a great platform; two stairways reached the top. On the top platform were two temples: the temple of Huitzilopochtli and the one of Tlaloc.
Both were, the Spaniards report, caked with blood. Out of politeness, Motecuhzomah offered to add a Christian sanctuary, to the considerable consternation of his guests. (I don't remember if they accepted the proposition. They did on similar occasions, believe it or not.)
Victims would be sacrificed on one of the two sacrificial stones. The victim would lie down; a stone collar made sure victims wouldn't move or cry out. The priest would open the chest with a flint knife; an obsidian knife would be used to cut the head. (The head was probably cut awkwardly.) Then the body would be rolled down the stairs, and taken to be butchered.
Who officiated? A priest of course. Priest would train on dummies for the occasion; they would at least on occasion be drunk, or taking drunk: novice priests could be understandably hesitant.
On certain occasion we know the king officiated himself, as well as the cihuacoatl. (Motecuhzoma officiated himself while hosting/taken hostage by Cortéz, to the considerable embarassment of both parties.)
The Mesoamerican pyramid is, essentially, a platform for ceremonies, writ large, with everything designed so that everyone could have a good look.
(As we saw, Diaz del Castillo could witness sacrifices by the lakeshore.)
Depending on the occasion, the priest could himself be a representative of the god, and wear divine regalia. Sometimes ritual dances were performed with the head of the victim.
The skull ended on display on a large, impressive, tree-like, skull rack called a
tzompantli (the etymology is unclear. it could have been named for a tree, or possibly for the shrike.)
It's not clear what the meaning of the rack was. It could have been a memento mori of a kind, reminding everyone that life was fleeting. The tree shape could hint as reborn. Or, you know, it was just there to impress. (In any case, it wasn't a Mexica invention. There already were some at Teotihuacan).
The pyramid also represents a mountain. (Maybe you remember that 'city' in Nahuatl is
in atl, in tepetl 'the water, the mountain': the 'mountain' here is the pyramid.)
The ceremonial complex of the Templo Mayor included 73 buildings: shrine, sanctuaries, religious colleges, a ritual basin, even a garden.
Sacrifices could take place in other temples in the city, or outside city limits. Some children were sacrificed on Mount Tlaloc. The death of a victim wasn't always public: for instance, Tezactlipoca's impersonator took a long trek outside the city, breaking his flutes along the way, and was killed in a secluded place.