Download Aztec sacrifice rituals for head and hearts - Sh. M Hassan Ali

By: Shady Al-Zayat
Hamza Ali
Khalid Bulhan
 Definition
 Origins
 Purposes
 Types of sacrifice
 Selection & Preparations
 Ceremonies & Death
 The Aztec civilization flourished in Mesoamerica between 1345
and 1521.
 Their sacrifices were of different types such as: Decapitation,
skinning, dismemberment, and ripping the heart from the stillconscious victim.
 All of these sacrifices were important to the Aztec.
 It was a strictly ritualised process which gave the highest possible
honour to the gods and was regarded as a necessity to ensure
mankind’s continued prosperity.
 The Aztecs were not the first civilization in Mesoamerica to
practise human sacrifice.
 The Olmec civilization (1200-300 BCE) were the first to begin
such rituals on top of their sacred pyramids.
 The Aztecs did, however, take sacrifice to an unprecedented
scale, although that scale was undoubtedly exaggerated by early
chroniclers during the Spanish Conquest.
 Nevertheless, it is thought that hundreds, perhaps even
thousands, of victims were sacrificed each year at the
great Aztec religious sites.
 In Mesoamerican culture human sacrifices were
viewed as a repayment for the sacrifices the gods had
themselves made in creating the world and the sun.
 This idea of repayment was especially true regarding
the myth of the reptilian monster Cipactli .
 They believed that two ancient gods called
Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca ripped Cipactli to
create the universe.
 To console the spirit of Cipactli the gods promised her
human hearts and blood in appeasement.
 Blood-letting and self-harm: - for example, from the ears
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and legs using bone or maguey spines - and the burning of
blood-soaked paper strips were a common form of
sacrifice, as was the burning of tobacco and incense.
Other types of sacrifice included the offering of other living
creatures such as, deer, butterflies and snakes.
In this category were foodstuffs and objects of precious
metals, jade and shells which could be ritually buried.
Dough images of gods Tzoalli were distributed.
These were made from ground amaranth mixed with
human blood and honey, with the effigy being burnt or
eaten after the ritual.
 With human sacrifices the sacrificial victims were
most often selected from captive warriors.
 Warfare was often conducted for the sole purpose of
furnishing candidates for sacrifice. This was the socalled ‘flowery war’ Xochiyaoyotl
 Those who had fought the most bravely or were the
most handsome were considered the best candidates
for sacrifice and more likely to please the gods.
 God impersonators were amongst the most honoured
sacrificial victims .
 In the case of the Tezcatlipoca impersonator in the
ritual during Tóxcatl (the 6th or 5th month of the
Aztec solar year) the victim was treated like royalty for
one year prior to the sacrificial ceremony.
 Victims would be tutored by priests, given a female
entourage and honoured with dances and flowers, the
victim was the god’s manifestation on earth until that
final brutal moment when he met his maker.
 Sacrifices conducted at specially dedicated temples on
the top of large pyramids.
 Sacrifices were most often carried out by stretching the
victim over a special stone, cutting open the chest and
removing the heart using an obsidian or flint knife.
 The heart was then placed in a stone vessel
Cuauhxicalli or in a Chacmool (a stone figure carved
with a recipient on their midriff) and burnt in offering
to the god being sacrificed to.
 Alternatively, the victim could be decapitated and or
dismembered, but these methods were reserved for
female victims.
 After the sacrifice, the heads of victims could be
displayed in racks Tzompantli
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