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Ritual sacrifice and self bloodletting were key offerings to Huitzilopochtli. The Aztecs performed ritual self-sacrifice (also called autosacrifice or blood-letting) on a daily basis. [ 17 ] The Aztecs believed that Huitzilopochtli needed daily nourishment ( tlaxcaltiliztli ) in the form of human blood and hearts and that they, as “people of ...
Huitzilopochtli was victorious, slaying and dismembering his sister. Her body was then thrown to the bottom of the hill. As the southern half of the Great Temple represented Coatepec (on the side dedicated to Huitzilopochtli), the great stone disk with Coyolxauhqui's dismembered body was found at the foot of this side of the temple.
The feast takes place in the 15th month of the Aztec calendar and is dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. [14] During the ceremony, captives’ hearts were cut out and their bodies were thrown down the temple stairs to the Coyolxauhqui stone. There, they were decapitated and dismembered, just as Coyolxauhqui was by Huitzilopochtli on Coatepec. [6]
Sacrifice was a common theme in the Aztec culture. In the Aztec "Legend of the Five Suns", all the gods sacrificed themselves so that mankind could live.Some years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, a body of the Franciscans confronted the remaining Aztec priesthood and demanded, under threat of death, that they desist from this traditional practice.
The Coyolxāuhqui stone sat at the base of the stairs of the Huēyi Teōcalli, the primary temple of the Mexica in Tenochtitlan, on the side dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. [14] The stone laid in the center of a platform that extended from the foot of the stairway. The temple is dedicated to Huītzilōpōchtli and the rain deity Tlāloc. [7]
According to legend, Huitzilopochtli had to kill his nephew, Cópil, and throw his heart on the lake. But, since Cópil was his relative, Huitzilopochtli decided to honor him, and caused a cactus to grow over Cópil's heart which became a sacred place. Legend has it that this is the site on which the Mexicas built their capital city of ...
The deity Huitzilopochtli in particular had a devoted blood cult, as it was believed that without his continued sustenance the cosmos would be plunged into darkness. Less violent rituals were calculatedly suppressed as well, with the Spanish authorities deeming them anathema in light of their own spiritual preconceptions.
The rest of the gods present: Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, Nochpalliicue, Yapallicue and Xochiquetzal sacrifice themselves in Teotihuacan to make the Sun move across the sky, starting the contemporary era. [7] Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is also viewed as one of the four gods who kept the sky up and was associated with the cardinal direction East. [8]