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Aztec01

                     Tezcatlipoca

that at the consecration of the chief national temple, in 1487, 6o,ooo persons were slain, and that in each of the great temples there was at least one human victim every day. The customary place of sacrifice was on the top of a temple pyramid, which was visible to a great number of persons. The victims were usually captive enemies, convicted criminals, slaves, and the children of slaves. The most common method of sacrifice was that the person was laid with his back on a convex stone, and while his legs, arms, and head were held by five priests, another cut open his breast, and took out his heart, held it up to the sun, rubbed the lips of the idol with it, and then threw it into a basin which stood on the altar. If the victim was a prisoner of war the corpse was thrown from the top of the temple pyra­mid to the ground, where the owner, the captor who took it to his house to be cooked and eaten, picked it up.

If the victim was not a captive, the corpse was carried down the steps and given to the person who had a right to it. The bodies of the victims were generally eaten at feasts in the private dwellings. Besides cutting the heart from the live person, other methods were used in human sacrifices, including drowning, starving to death, burning and flaying alive. When the maize began to sprout a boy and girl of noble blood were drowned; when it began to blossom, four children were starved to death in a cavern.

No sacrifice was more acceptable to the gods of the Aztecs than the life and blood of an enemy of their favorite nation. The offering of a human victim, espe­cially a noted warrior of a warlike nation, proved the devotion of the worshiper, who in taking the captive risked his life and proved his possession of military cour­age, the highest of all virtues.

The victim was secure of a happy life in the future. From the time when he was selected for sacrifice, he was fed with abundant and delicate food; and for one of the festivals he was instructed in flute-playing and in his demeanor, and during the last month of his life he had four young girls for his companions. On the fatal day he wore the dress of the god to whom he was to be sac­rificed, and while mounting the temple pyramid, he broke a flute on every step. At the occasion of the sacrifice, the chapel of the god was elaborately decorated with flowers and garlands, and there was singing, instrumental music, and dancing.

At the chief annual festival of Huitzilopochtli, a large cake mixed with the blood of a child, representing the divinity, was divided among the people, so that they might all eat the flesh and drink the blood of the god, in a holy communion. By participation in the feast, they assumed the obligation of fidelity and tribute. At this festival, water was consecrated, and preserved to be drunk by the commanders of important military expedi­tions before starting out on their campaigns.

The following is a copy of a prayer spoken at the be­ginning of a campaign: “Most kind and helpful Lord, invisible and intangible protector, by whose wisdom we are led and by whose power we live! Lord of battles! it is true and certain that a war draws near; the god of war opens his mouth; he is hungry; he wants to drink the blood of those who fall in battle. The sun and the god of the earth want to enjoy themselves. They want to regale the gods of heaven and hell with the flesh and blood of the mortals who will perish in the approaching contest. The gods of the upper and lower spheres are already looking to see who will conquer and who will be conquered, who will slay and who will be slain. They are watching those whose blood they will drink, whose flesh they will eat. But the noble fathers and mothers whose children shall die do not foreknow their misfortune, neither do their other relatives, nor the mothers who nursed them when they were infants, and suckled them with their own milk. Grant, 0 Lord, that those who fall shall be kindly accepted by the sun and the earth, the loving father and the mother of all. Thou hast not de­ceived them in requiring them to die in battle. Thou hast given them life that they might feed the sun and the earth with their flesh and blood! 0 most kind and helpful Tezcatlipoca, 0 invisible and intangible Lord, we pray that those who may fall in this war shall be received with love and honor in the dwelling of the sun, that they may be gathered to our heroes who have fallen in previous wars, and that, like all the brave who die gloriously on the battle-field, they may forever share the celestial delights, and the perfume of the flowers that never fade, and the intoxication of endless pleasure, and that they may for­ever sing the praises of our ruler, the sun.”’

 Aztec Priests._ The priests were organized in a hierarchy or disciplined body under a chief whose title was “Lord of Sacred Affairs.” They were divided into ranks, and laymen were admitted only into the low­est; and the higher grades could not be reached without a service of several years in each of those below. No amount of favor could obtain a violation of this rule. Promotions were made by imperial appointment. Most and probably all the priests were of noble and some were of princely blood. They wore a peculiar dress, smeared themselves all over every morning with black and red pigments, which they afterwards washed off; and they neither trimmed their finger nails nor cut nor combed their hair. Entrance into the sacerdotal profession did not bind them for life; they could at any time resume the character and occupations of laymen. Some of the priests lived a celibate life; others had wives.

Among their regular duties were the custody, cleans­ing, and decoration of the temples and temple grounds; the feeding of the sacred fire; the worship of the great gods with prayer, vocal and instrumental music, proces­sions and offerings of incense, flowers, cakes, beer, beasts, and men; the education of the young; the keeping of the temple records; the observation and interpretation of the omens for public and private life; the calcu­lation of nativities; the custody of the calendar; the announcement and supervision of the ecclesiastical festi­vals; the granting of absolution at confessions; the performance of sacred ceremonies at weddings, funerals, baptisms (at which children were sprinkled and named), and coronations; the practice of frequent penances; and abstinence from dissipation, from jovial amusements, and from a luxurious mode of life.

Among their regular penances were long vigils, a severe fast of eighty days every year, and frequent blood­letting from the tongue, lips, ears, and other organs, which were pierced with thorns. In the bloodletting, as in the sacrifices of animals and men, the main idea was that the gods wished to be fed, and especially with raw blood. At midnight as well as at sunrise, noon and sun­set, incense of copal was burned to the sun, the priests turning successively to the four cardinal points of the compass, beginning with the east. The usual sacerdotal dress was a white gown over which was worn a black cloak fastened on the right shoulder. Every priest was devoted to the worship of a special divinity, and on cer­tain occasions he might wear the dress and emblematic ornaments of his god. If a priest was smeared with blood from a sacrifice or grimed with smoke from incense, he did not wash off the smear or grime until nightfall.

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