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 required human blood to sustain them, and that without constant sacrifice, the cosmos would come to an end. The practice of human sacrifice was 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 Religious Logic
The Mexica religious logic for human sacrifice was based on the creation myth of the five suns. According to the myth, the gods had sacrificed themselves to create the present age and to set the cosmos in motion. The gods had given their blood and their bodies to create the world, and they 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 Mexica believed that the present age, the age of the Fifth Sun, was destined to end in earthquakes, a fate that could be postponed only by proper ritual and by the constant feeding of the gods with blood and human hearts. The practice of sacrifice was a way of postponing this catastrophe, of keeping the gods satisfied and the cosmos in motion.
The Role of the Gods
The Mexica believed that different gods required different kinds of sacrifice. Huitzilopochtli, the war god and the patron of the Mexica, was believed to require a constant supply of human hearts to fuel his daily battle against the forces of darkness. Tlaloc, the rain god, was believed to require the tears of children, who were sacrificed to ensure the fertility of the fields. Xipe Totec, the spring god, was believed to require the flayed skins of sacrificial victims, which were worn by the priests in the religious rituals. The Mexica developed elaborate rituals for each of these gods, and the rituals shaped the Mexica religious system.
The Mexica also believed that the sacrifice of humans was particularly pleasing to the gods because humans were the most precious of all the creations. The humans of the present age had been created from the bones of the previous humanity, and they were the result of a long process of creation and destruction. The Mexica believed that the gods valued the sacrifice of humans above all other offerings, and that the sacrifice was a way of honoring the gods with the most precious of all creations.
The Moral Problem
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
- Human Sacrifice in Aztec Religion — the broader context
- How were victims chosen for sacrifice? — the sources
- What was the role of heart extraction in Aztec ritual? — the method
- Aztec Creation Myth and the Five Suns — the cosmic context
- Major Gods of the Aztec Pantheon — the gods
- Aztec Religion and Mythology — the broader context