Human Blood Offerings

VocabularyThe Aztecs justified human sacrifice because of their beliefs. They believed the gods sacrifices themselves to create the world and sun, and they offered their own blood to create people. They believed that because of this, humans owed a huge debt to the gods, which could only be done through blood sacrifice. There were two kinds of blood sacrifice: autosacrifice and human sacrifice.

Justified: provide a logical reason.

Autosacrifice

The god Quetzalcoatl performed the first act of autosacrifice when he bled himself to give life to the bones of the ancients. Other gods also bled themselves, which is shown below (Fig. 9.6 A).

All people performed autosacrifice at some point in their lives, usually to petition the gods for agricultural or human fertility. Human blood was linked to fertility in all Mesoamerican cultures and blood was the most valuable substance one could offer to the gods.

Fertility: the ability to produce.Mesoamerican: A region inn South America including and surrounding Mexico.

The most common act of autosacrifice was to pierce one’s earlobes or upper ear with pointed maguey thorns. Sometimes other parts of the body were pierced. Friar Sahagun says there were four types of bloodletting that the priests practiced (some shown in the image above Fig. 9.6 B). Priests performed autosacrifice every night in a secluded spot after bathing and performing other preparations.

Maguey: a plant that is like a really thorny aloe plant.

Although autosacrifice was an important ritual it was only a substitute for the more powerful human sacrifice. It was used as a debt payment for continued life.

Heart Sacrifice

Friar Sahagun’s Nahua informants described a heart sacrifice as follows:

Thus was performed the sacrificial slaying of men, when captives and slaves died, who were called “Those who have died for the god.”

Thus they took [the captive] up [to the pyramid temple] before the devil, [the priests] going holding him by his hands. And he who was known as the arranger [of captives], this one laid him out upon the sacrificial stone.

And when he had laid him upon it, four men stretched him out, [grasping] his arms and legs. And already in the hand of the fire priest lay the [sacrificial] knife, with which he was to splash open the breast of the ceremonially bathed [captive].

And then, when he had split open his breast, he at once seized his heart. And those whose breast he laid open was quite alive. And when [the priest] had seized his heart, he dedicated it to the sun.

After the heart was removed, the victims were sent rolling down the temple steps and the steps were bathed in blood (shown above Fig 9.7). A priest then cut off the head for mounting on a skull rack next to the pyramid.The victims were not considered ordinary mortals but were viewed as godlike. This concept of ixiptla is often translated as deity impersonators. To be chosen as ixiptla was considered a great honour. The victims preparations were often a long process which could take up to a year in which they were transformed into this godlike persona. In the last few months they were treated as gods and went to meet their faith with honour.

Impersonators: someone who pretends to be someone or something else.Persona: someone’s character or how they are seen.

Most victims were enemy warriors captured in battle. The captors supported the victim, which gained them prestige. The higher the rank of the victim, the greater the honour. Victims were brought back from battle and underwent special ceremonies to prepare

Prestige: respect and admiration based on achievements.

them for sacrifice. These victims were carefully chosen to match the requirements of the god to be honoured. Most gods required warriors but others were satisfied with slaves, children, secondary offspring of nobles and women. Some were very picky, like Tezcatlipoca who required a handsome well-bred youth with no bodily imperfections, chosen a year in advance.Most of these sacrifices took place at the top of a pyramid, but some took place in other arenas. One example was the gladiator sacrifice, which was a mock battle where the victims were tied to a circular stone and forced to fight experienced warriors with very little armor and only one obsidian bladed sword. Another example was the arrow sacrifice where the victim was tied to an eagle figure and shot full of arrows so that the blood dripped to the ground. Other examples were burning in a fire pit or simply having their necks slit. These examples are from the cult of Xipe Totec whose priests dressed in the flayed skin of sacrificial victims.

Flayed: stripped of skin

Many sacrifices were followed by a ceremonial meal where the family of the captor or sponsor ate a portion of the victim’s body. This was a highly religious occasion designed to honour the victim’s memory. This was a sacred part of the whole ceremony, where only a small portion was eaten for symbolic, not nutritional, purposes. The blood was gathered in a bowl and given to the images of the gods.