Human Sacrifice in Aztec Art

Human Sacrifice in Aztec Art

The Aztec people were famous for their artistic nature. They were mostly into drawings, pottery and sculpting. They also created many creative drawings, which would be used by the warriors as tattoos on their bodies as an honor for their achievements. One of the most known theories about the Aztec people is that they practiced human sacrifice as a way of executing rituals to their heathen gods. Archeological findings state that the Aztecs, like most Mesoamerican ancient cultures, sacrificed people, a practice that was very wide spread in Mexico. This can be seen from some of the Aztec drawings. It is estimated that the Aztecs sacrificed over twenty thousand people each year. The practice of human sacrifice and bloodletting was highly practiced to appease the gods and to gain favor. The practice was so much glorified to an extent that they would wage special battles in a bid to capture people whom they would use for future sacrifices.

Aguilar-Moreno (2007), states that the rite of human sacrifice was a part of a difficult tapestry of beliefs that have been debated by many specialists. The main conceptions about human sacrifice revolve around the sacred nature of the human blood, the notion that people owed debts to the gods that had to be paid with either human blood or lives and the impression of a secure relationship between life and death. The Aztecs believed that in creation, some of the gods had given their lives while others had auto sacrificed so it was upon them to repay this debt with blood or human lives and if they did not, the result would not be pleasant.

The Aztecs had a two hundred and sixty day calendar per year with eighteen months per year and a sacrifice had to be made in every month. The sacrificial person would be taken to the top of the temple where was laid on a tab. Four priests would hold him down while the fifth one would deeply slice open his abdomen all the way to the diaphragm. He would then rip his heart out. The heart, still beating, would be placed in a bowl apprehended by the specific god that the sacrifice was dedicated. The rest of his body would be thrown down the pyramid stairs. The body would be fed to animals and people, thus showing cannibalism. The head of the individual would be cut off and laid out on display. Before every sacrifice, the people gathered to watch would auto sacrifice first by piercing or stabbing themselves. Other forms of human sacrifice included burning people, mutilating them, drowning, killing in fights or shooting with arrows. Cannibalism was considered religious and spiritual enough because the families of the sacrificed person would be invited to share in the meal to honor him. They believed that the gods were taking the sacrifice through the human bodies and this was thus considered a chance to share a meal with the gods.

Making sacrifices to the gods was a big part in the lives of every Aztec. Auto sacrifice was a ritual, which everyone had to practice to pay their debts to the gods. The sacrifice was done by an individual through pricking with a thorn or cutting with a blade in order to bleed. The cuts would be made on parts of the body with flesh such as the tongue, earlobes, lips and chests. This practice was said to be a personal act of atonement to the gods. They considered the human body sacred because they believed it consisted of three souls. They believed that it could obtain divine powers and the souls could increase a person’s power in a life span (Aguilar-Moreno, 2007). The Aztec temples were made of tall podiums or pyramids with one or more sect rooms adjoined by stairs going up on one side of the pyramid. These pyramids were where the human sacrifices were performed. Stones were used as altars placed on the stairs and this enabled anyone observing from below the pyramid to see.

The extraction of hearts was said to be way of unifying it with the sun, as they believed the slain heart flies towards the sun in a blood trail. The sacrificed persons were referred to as the god dead and were believed to go in a pure state to live in the sun. They believed that the situation in which a person died determined the kind of afterlife they would have. They had certain levels of deaths that led to particular heaven or hell levels. They reckoned that if a person died peacefully at home, he had the lowest level of death and that he would go through extensive torturing passages to end up in a dull hell. They believed that a good way to die was through sacrifice or war for men and while bearing child for women, as this meant they would be in the second highest level in heaven. Death of children held the highest level in heaven.

The Aztecs believed that the universe could cave in after a fifty-two year cycle if the gods were not physically powerful. Therefore, they held a ceremony named the new fire ceremony where all fires were put out at midnight. They then would sacrifice a human being and wait until morning. If the sun came out, they would celebrate in the belief that the sacrifices for the cycle had been enough. They would light a fire on a victim’s body, which would be taken around to every household in the cities or towns. They would celebrate that the end of the world had been postponed and this was a beginning of another fifty-two year cycle.

The arts of the Aztecs that represented human sacrifice included the sunstone or the calendar stone that represents human sacrifice in relation to the Tonatiuh cult or the sun god. The Ocelotl-Cuauhxicalli was where the human hearts of the sacrificed people were stored. The Cuauhtli-Cuauhxicalli shaped like an eagle was another vessel that stored the blood of the sacrificed humans so that the gods could come down and drink them. The Coatlicue of Coxcatlan, believed to be the representation of the earth, is viewed with hands with claws with a skull head claiming the human beings bodies. Its head is believed to have holes where human hair was fitted to make it appear almost human (Aguilar-Moreno, 2007). Excavations date human sacrifice in Mexico as early as the classics period of between 100 and 600 AD. Sacrificial ritual offerings have been found at the Templo Mayor, nearby imperial provinces in the east and south of the basin and other major places in the Mexico Basin. Archeologists have found beheaded bones with major cuts. Some of the items used in the sacrifices have also been found, some including ritual knives, bowls and boxes, which are later taken to museums for preservation. These excavation findings support indeed that human sacrifice was practiced.

 

Reference

Aguilar-Moreno, M. (2007). Handbook to life in the Aztec world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

 

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