Aztec Sacrifice

From the 1300's to 1521, the Aztecs dominated Mexico. They were a fierce tribe that conquered cities, and that is how they expanded their empire. Their whole world revolved around religion and sacrifice, because that was extremely important.

Here are some reasons for why they sacrificed:

• Appeasing the gods
• Giving strength and nourishment for the sun to rise in the morning, move across the sky, and battle with night
• Making sure that gods kept the universe running.

The Aztec priests followed different specific procedures for dramatic sacrifice, like:

1. Leading the victim up the temple steps
2. 4 priests threw the victim on his or her back on a sacrificial stone
3. The priests stretched each limb of the victim outwards
4. The head priest grabbed a sacrificial knife
5. The head priest thrust the knife into the chest of the victim
6. The head priest reached his hand into the bloody chest
7. The head priest grabbed the beating heart
8. He snipped off the arteries and removed the heart from the body
9. He burnt the heart and raised it to the sun
10. He placed the heart in a case and threw the body down the steps
11. Blood poured, and body parts and bones scattered in every direction
12. People below butchered the body and skinned it
13. People wore the skin around
14. People took the dead parts and cooked them
15. They ate the parts on maize during cannibalism feasts.

Pretty gruesome and gross.....

The Aztecs worshiped many different gods and had specific rituals and festivals for each god. Some festivals and different sacrifices for gods:

• New Fire Ceremony
• Xipe Toltec
• Xiuhtecuhutli
• Ochpaniztli Festival
• Volador Ceremony
• Festival of the God of the Spring
• White Cinteotl
• Huitzilopochtli
• Huiztepehualco
• Tzompantli

Aztecs used Flowery wars to collect victims for sacrifice. They sacrificed children, adults, a

nd enemies. The Aztecs believed in a lot of mythology and religion, and based their sacrificial ways on that.

People have found blood, bones, artifacts, art, sculptures, and ruins of the Aztecs. They found artwork that told the legend of Coatlicue and Coyolxauhqui. They also found the Aztec calendar stone.

The Aztecs were really gross people!

skull rack

Skull

Aztec Sacrifice

Aztec Sacrifice