Aztec Sacrifices
By propitiating the gods with the most valuable substance in the universe—human blood—states terrorized foes and depicted themselves securing a larger social and cosmic good. Public and private bloodletting rituals in the service of the gods were common across Mesoamerica, and ritual human sacrifice was the most extreme form of bloodletting.
The Aztecs took the practice to an extreme, sacrificing people on diverse occasions in propitiation of many divine beings. Of the 18 ceremonial events that occurred during each of the 18 months of the Aztec solar year, eight included ritual human sacrifice.
These included the ceremony of Quecholli (“Precious Feather,” October 31–November 9), in which priests ritually slew and sacrificed captives dressed as deer, and the ceremony of Atl Caualo (“Ceasing of Water,” February 13–March 4), in which infants and children were publicly marched in groups before being sacrificed. The gruesome sacrifice involved four priests holding the victim down on top of a large stone for another priest to cut open in order to remove the heart.
The Aztecs took the practice to an extreme, sacrificing people on diverse occasions in propitiation of many divine beings. Of the 18 ceremonial events that occurred during each of the 18 months of the Aztec solar year, eight included ritual human sacrifice.
These included the ceremony of Quecholli (“Precious Feather,” October 31–November 9), in which priests ritually slew and sacrificed captives dressed as deer, and the ceremony of Atl Caualo (“Ceasing of Water,” February 13–March 4), in which infants and children were publicly marched in groups before being sacrificed. The gruesome sacrifice involved four priests holding the victim down on top of a large stone for another priest to cut open in order to remove the heart.