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As a result, if children did not cry, the priests would sometimes tear off the children's nails before the ritual sacrifice. [7] Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl, an Aztec descendant and the author of the Codex Ixtlilxochitl, claimed that one in five children of the Mexica subjects was killed annually. These high figures have not been ...
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.
When an Aztec woman experienced childbirth, it was seen as a violent and laborious effort likened to the intensity of battle.It was believed that the child was sent down to the earth by the gods, and the woman had to fight and struggle in order to bring it into the world.
This was a school for both boys and girls, but the girls and boys learned separately. In the telpochcalli, the young men learned martial arts and other aspects of Aztec warfare. [7] They spent a great deal of time engaged in physical labor around the school and around the community in order to build the young men's strength.
The "singeing ceremony" was given to both Aztec boys and girls. It is uncertain of the age in which this ritual occurred. It was indicative of becoming one with the stars, as the burns on the wrists were aligned with certain constellations. A stick that had been placed in a fire would be pressed onto the skin of the child and the scar was thus ...
The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Ángel María Garibay K. (Nahuatl-Spanish trans.), Lysander Kemp (Spanish-English trans.), Alberto Beltran (illus.) (Expanded and updated ed.). Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-5501-8. León-Portilla, Miguel (1963) Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Náhuatl Mind ...
Regardless of the earlier orders to hold fire, however, the discussion between Moctezuma and the Aztec leaders was immediately followed by an outbreak of violence. The Aztecs, disgusted by the actions of their leader, renounced Moctezuma and named his brother Cuitláhuac tlatoani in his place.
Although numerous battles were fought between the Aztec Empire and the Spanish-led coalition, which was composed mainly of Tlaxcaltec men, it was the siege of Tenochtitlan that directly led to the fall of the Aztec civilization and the ensuing sacking and violence against the survivors.