Human sacrifice was the central ritual practice of Mexica religion, and it was the most distinctive and most controversial feature of Mexica religious life. The Mexica believed that the gods required human blood and human hearts to sustain them, and that without constant sacrifice, the cosmos would come to an end. The practice of human sacrifice was therefore not a form of cruelty or barbarism, in the Mexica view, but a cosmic necessity, a response to the perceived fragility of the universe and to the Mexica sense of historical mission. The scale of Mexica sacrifice is hard to estimate, and the most extravagant Spanish claims, including reports of tens of thousands of victims in a single dedication, are not credible. Modern estimates suggest that the number of victims sacrificed annually in Tenochtitlan was in the hundreds, perhaps a few thousand, which is large in absolute terms but smaller than the figures the Spanish and their indigenous informants sometimes gave.
The Religious Logic of Sacrifice
The Mexica practice of human sacrifice was based on a sophisticated religious logic, which can be reconstructed from the Florentine Codex and other indigenous sources. The Mexica believed that the gods had sacrificed themselves to create the present age and to set the cosmos in motion, and that humans were required to continue this sacrifice to keep the cosmos in motion. The gods, having given their blood and their bodies to create the world, required humans to give their blood and their bodies in return. The practice of sacrifice was therefore a form of reciprocal exchange, a way of maintaining the balance between the human and the divine.
The Mexica also believed that the world was in a constant state of cosmic danger, and that the end of the world could come at any moment. The creation myth of the five suns told of the destruction of four previous worlds, and the Mexica believed that the present world, the age of the Fifth Sun, was destined to end in earthquakes. The practice of sacrifice was a way of postponing this catastrophe, of keeping the gods satisfied and the cosmos in motion.
Forms of Sacrifice
The Mexica practiced a wide range of forms of sacrifice, from the most elaborate public ceremonies to the most private personal rituals. The most common form of public sacrifice was heart extraction, in which the victim was held down on a stone block and the priest cut out the still-beating heart with an obsidian knife, offering it to the sun or to the god of the temple. The body was then thrown down the steps of the temple, and the head was placed on a skull rack, the tzompantli, that stood beside the temple.
The Mexica also practiced a range of other forms of sacrifice, including decapitation, the killing of children for the rain god Tlaloc, the burning of victims for the fire god Xiuhtecuhtli, the flaying of victims for the spring god Xipe Totec, and various forms of personal bloodletting. The Mexica believed that the form of sacrifice should be appropriate to the god being honored, and they developed elaborate rituals for each form of sacrifice.
The Mexica also practiced autosacrifice, in which individuals would offer their own blood to the gods. This typically involved drawing blood from the tongue, ears, or genitals, and offering it on a piece of paper or in a container. The blood was then burned, and the smoke was believed to carry the offering to the gods. Autosacrifice was a regular practice for the Mexica, and it was particularly important for those who could not afford to participate in the larger public sacrifices.
Sources of Victims
The victims of Mexica sacrifice came from several sources. The most important source was war, and the Mexica conducted a series of flower wars with their neighbors for the purpose of capturing prisoners for sacrifice. The flower wars were ritualized conflicts, fought on agreed-upon dates and at agreed-upon places, in which the object was not to kill the enemy but to capture him. The prisoners were then taken to Tenochtitlan and sacrificed at the Templo Mayor in elaborate public ceremonies.
The Mexica also sacrificed slaves, who were purchased in the Tlatelolco market for the purpose of sacrifice. The slaves were often prisoners of war, but they could also be criminals, debtors, or other unfortunates who had been sold into slavery. The Mexica also sacrificed children, who were believed to be especially pleasing to the rain god Tlaloc. The children were purchased from their parents or were given by their parents as offerings, and they were taken to the mountain shrines around Tenochtitlan to be sacrificed.
The Mexica also sacrificed members of their own community, in cases of particularly serious crimes or religious offenses. Adulterers, those who had committed incest, and those who had been convicted of the most serious crimes could be sentenced to death by sacrifice. The Mexica also practiced a form of voluntary sacrifice, in which individuals would offer themselves as victims in times of crisis or to honor the gods.
The Dedicatory Sacrifices
The most elaborate sacrifices were the dedicatory sacrifices, which were performed when a new temple was built or when a new stage of the Templo Mayor was completed. The most famous of these dedications was the one performed in 1487, when the seventh and final version of the Templo Mayor was dedicated. According to some sources, this dedication involved the sacrifice of thousands of victims over a period of several days. Modern scholars are skeptical of these figures, and they suggest that the number of victims was probably in the hundreds rather than the thousands. Yet the dedication was clearly a major event, and it involved the participation of the entire Mexica state.
The dedicatory sacrifices were occasions for public spectacle, and they were witnessed by thousands of spectators. The victims were taken in procession to the temple, where they were sacrificed in front of the crowd. The sacrifices were accompanied by elaborate rituals, including prayers, songs, and dances, and they were followed by feasting and celebration. The dedicatory sacrifices were a form of public theatre, and they served to reinforce the religious and political authority of the Mexica state.
The Moral Problem of Sacrifice
The Mexica practice of human sacrifice is one of the great moral challenges of Mesoamerican history, and it has been the subject of much scholarly and ethical debate. The Spanish conquerors used the practice to justify their conquest, and they described the Mexica in the most lurid terms as a people of bloodthirsty barbarians. Yet modern scholars, working with indigenous sources, have argued that the practice was a coherent part of Mexica religious belief, and that it should be understood in its own cultural context rather than judged by the standards of other cultures.
The question of whether the practice was justified or unjustified is ultimately a moral question, and it has no easy answer. The Mexica were not unique in practicing human sacrifice; many other pre-modern cultures, including the Carthaginians, the Celts, and the Aztecs’ own ancestors, had practiced forms of human sacrifice. Yet the Mexica practice was on a particularly large scale, and it was central to the religious and political life of the state. The moral evaluation of the practice depends on one’s understanding of the relationship between the human and the divine, and it is likely to remain contested.
The Decline of Sacrifice
The practice of human sacrifice came to an end with the Spanish conquest of 1521. The Spanish made the practice illegal, and they imposed severe penalties, including death, on those who continued to practice it. Yet the practice was not immediately abandoned, and there are reports of sacrifices being performed in secret for several decades after the conquest. The cult of Huitzilopochtli and the other Mexica gods was gradually replaced by Christianity, and the practice of human sacrifice was eventually abandoned.
The end of human sacrifice was one of the major changes brought by the Spanish conquest, and it marked a fundamental transformation of Mexica religious life. Yet the religious impulse that had given rise to the practice, the sense of cosmic fragility and the desire to maintain the balance between the human and the divine, did not disappear. It was redirected into the new Christian forms of devotion, and it continues to shape the religious life of Mexico to the present day.
Related Articles
See also:
- Why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice? — the religious logic
- How were victims chosen for sacrifice? — the sources of victims
- What was the role of heart extraction in Aztec ritual? — the most common form
- The Flower Wars and Ritual Conflict — a major source of victims
- Major Gods of the Aztec Pantheon — the recipients of sacrifice
- Aztec Creation Myth and the Five Suns — the cosmic context
- Aztec Religion and Mythology — the broader context