Having read about the gruesome sacrificial rituals of the ancient Aztecs, I found it interesting to hear the why and wherefore of this practice, as suggested by recent anthropological research. It appears that people believed in beings they vaguely referred to as The Gods and that in the beginning of things those gods sacrificed themselves and by that act enabled the people to live and prosper. The “beginning of things” must have been a problem for the Aztecs. Apparently the gods did not create the Aztec world but owed allegiance to some higher power and their self-sacrifice was to honor that higher power, just as the Aztecs’ human sacrifices were a way to honor and thank the gods. The sacrificial victims were most likely voluntary martyrs submitting to a most honorable ritual that was still carried out in the sixteenth century.
It may all sound very absurd. The ruling Spanish friars thought so too and consequently accused the natives of carrying out cruel rituals. They apparently were blind to their own belief in a Christian god who went through the same steps, sacrificing himself for the good of the people. The friars’ instincts were right, however. Human sacrifices to please the gods were passé, even in the sixteenth century. The friars, however, had no trouble living in a world where heretics were burned to death to honor the Christian god.
There must have been quite a few black kettles in those accusers’ own eyes.
© 2018 by Herbert H. Hoffman