Aztecs I-search paper

This is my I-search paper from my 8th-grade R.O.P.E.s (Rite Of Passage Experience) Report. I actually did it two years ago, and have only just gotten around to putting it into html. I decided to put it on my webpage because it is rather interesting, and I thought someone might enjoy reading it. Of course, it could have been more interesting if I hadn't had to put it in that stupid question and answer format, but that's aside from the point. I know, I know, you're saying to yourself, "Why would I want to read something educational?" Well, if you read nothing else, at least read the section about the rituals. It's got everything from killer butterflies to cannibalism.

The Aztecs

I have always been interested in history and ancient cultures ever since I was very young, but I've never really had any reason to study ancient history other than in school, nothing to get me started.

When I found out about this assignment, I thought of all the ancient cultures I knew. I didn't want to study a culture I'd studied in school because I already knew about them and I'd be bored. That left the Aborigines of Australia and the Indians of the Americas. I chose the Aztecs because I knew enough about them to ask intelligent questions, but not so much as to be bored. I knew that they'd lived in Mexico, but nothing of their history. I knew that they had many gods that they made human sacrifices to, but not how they sacrificed people. I also knew that they had a vast empire, were advanced enough to have a calendar, and that their empire was destroyed by Cortés.

I wanted to find out about how the Aztec's beliefs influenced their way of life, what they ate, what were some of their basic beliefs and rituals, and the basic daily life.

In doing my research, I focused on these questions: What is a common daily schedule? How many and what types of gods did they have? What foods did they have? When did the Aztecs live and are their descendants still around? What types of rituals did they have? and What was their hierarchy like? My resources were Everyday Life of the Aztecs by Warwick Bray, The Aztec Indians of Mexico by Sonia Bleeker, The Aztecs by Frances F. Berdan, Aztecs: Reign of Blood and Splendor, The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Encarta '98 Encyclopedia, and www.emg.com/mexico.html.

In answer to the question, What is the common daily schedule?, I learned that until the age of four, children have little or no responsibilities and are taught with "quiet words". At that age, girls are taught the names and uses of the things in the work basket, and boys are sent to fetch water. When they got older, girls helped their mothers around the house and boys followed their fathers to work or market. Girls were taught to use a spindle and make thread from the ages of five to seven. They were taught cookery in the early teens, looming at 14, and were married at 16. Boys started following their fathers to work at five carrying sticks. They were taught to catch fish and cut reeds to make baskets and sleeping mats. Boys and girls ages 12-15 had to attend a Cuicacalli, or School of Song. There they were taught to sing, dance, play instruments, and views on creation, life, death, and the gods. At age 15, noble boys started going to a Calmecac. These were run by priests. There they had to rise before dawn to sweep the temple or collect maguey thorns for rituals or firewood. Around late morning they had to cultivate fields, build canals, or make adobe bricks for construction and repair of public buildings. In the afternoon they had to worship the gods, study history, writing, calendars, and law, and learned military arts. They often participated in ceremonies at Night. Common boys entered the Tepochcalli at 15. There they had military training. They cultivated crops, dug canals, and constructed buildings. Girls spent 1-2 years at the temple from ages 12-13. Boys left their schools at 20 and married.

Men were responsible for the well-being of a household. They were a provider and administrator of property and an advisor and teacher of children. All men had to be good warriors. A commoner had to be an energetic farmer, fisherman, or craftsman who supported his family through hard work and supported his government by paying taxes. An Aztec woman had to be hard working, energetic, and spend a lot of time teaching her daughters. All women had to be skilled cloth weavers and cooks. Noblewomen managed their households while servants did the cooking, cleaning, and marketing. A commoner would do this herself with the help of her daughters and other female members of the household.

Regardless of age, gender, class, or occupation, with the exception of priests who were often up all night offering incense and sacrifice to the gods, and warriors who kept watch over the city in shifts, all people rose at dawn and went to work. Commoners had breakfast at around mid-morning of atolli or maize gruel, and nobles had a food called cacahuatl. They would then go back to work for a few hours, then return home for their midday meal with their family. There they would rest for a few hours when it was too hot to work, and would go back to work for the rest of the afternoon. They would return home for a light evening meal and sleep just after sunset.

When priests did not stay up all night, they woke up at dawn, too. Throughout the day they swept floors, cared for the idol of the temple's god, attended to the additions and repairs on the temple, participated in rituals, and educated the nobles' sons. Priestesses swept the temple, offered incense to the god of the temple, organized ceremonies, and wove and embroidered cloth to adorn the deity.

The scribes wrote the codices, or books. The codices contained all official records of the empire, descriptions of religious ceremonies, schedules of government events, names or rulers, tribute payments, histories of migrations and conquests, maps, censuses, and legal decisions. The scribes wrote down the most outstanding feature of the event as a reminder, and the reader would have to remember the details. Since the Aztecs used hieroglyphics instead of an alphabet, much of the meaning of the words was lost when written down.

Midwives and physicians were often women. They were called upon to birth babies, participate in naming ceremonies, and to heal the sick and injured. Their knowledge of the use of herbs and splints was passed down from a close friend or associate.

Astrologers were called upon to set favorable dates an infant's naming ceremony, marriages, feasts, or wars. They also interpreted signs to predict disasters. They saw signs of the coming of Cortés years before he came.

In answer to the question, How many and what types of gods did they have?, I found out that they have a god connected to each aspect of the universe. When they conquered an enemy, they burned the temples and took the idols so they could absorb that god into their own culture. Other gods were taken from their allies and the former inhabitants of the valley where they lived. Because of this willingness to absorb other gods, when the Spaniards came and tried to teach the Aztecs Christianity, the Aztecs associated many of the saints with their gods and made God just another one of their deities.

The Aztecs believed that the universe had been created by two gods, Ometecuhtli, the Lord of Duality, and Omecihuatl, the Lady of Duality. They had four sons who created humans, animals, environments, and more gods. The Aztecs believed that this was the fifth age, or "sun". There had been four ages or "suns" before this, and in all of them the sun burned out because of some natural disaster. This universe was ruled by Tonatiuh, the sun god, and would be destroyed by earthquakes. The earth would then grow dark and humans would be devoured by celestial monsters.

To the question, What foods did they have?, I discovered that many of their favorite foods did not grow in the Valley of Mexico, but were sent to the Aztecs by the conquered nations as tribute. Cacao beans came from the Gulf coast or "Hot Lands". Semi-tropical fruits came from Morelos and Pueblo. Maize was the staple food. The preparation of it was a wife's daily task. It could take up to six hours! The kernels were steeped in lime, then boiled and skinned and ground into flour. That was made into tortillas, porridge, or tamales. From the water people ate fish, shrimp, water-fly larvae, insect eggs, beeswax, baby salamanders, tadpoles, and snails. Foods considered delicacies would be grubs from the leaves of the maguey cactus and ants swollen with honey. Some dishes the nobility might see at their table would be tomatoes, amaranth, sage, avocado and beans, and mushroom, wild fruit, and greenstuff. Meats included waterfowl, deer, peccary rabbit, hare, gopher, and pigeon. Turkey and dog were a rare treat. Things such as lizard, rat and snake were considered "unclean" and fit only to be eaten by the Otomí, a neighboring tribe. Foods were usually roasted, grilled, or boiled, and, like the food of Mexico today, highly seasoned. Foods such as pineapple, chocolate, oysters, crab, turtle, sea fish, locust and sage, fish with chili peppers and tomatoes, prickly pears with fish eggs, frogs with green chilies, venison with red chili, tomatoes with ground squash seeds, and stewed duck were expensive and reserved for the nobility.

Peasants drank water, the nobility drank chocolate. There were strict laws against drunkenness. They had to be 30 to drink anything alcoholic. Octli was an alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant. Women drank this in the days after giving birth.

Peyotl is a drug from the buds of a cactus that increases visual perception and produces hallucination. Teonanacatl comes from the black mushroom and is called the "sacred fungus" or "flesh of the gods". It produces symptoms of madness, visions, and illusions. Ololiuhqui comes from the morning glory or "holy plant". It produces hallucinations.

The Aztecs had one of the most highly effective forms of agriculture ever created. They created land for agriculture in the shallow parts of the lake. They were built up by alternating layers of dirt and vegetation on top of one another. When they were small they were held in place by posts. As they got taller, they were held in place by willow roots. These land masses were in a grid of 30'x330' and were called chinampas, or floating gardens.

For the question, When did the Aztecs live and are their descendants still around?, I found out that they didn't always live in the Valley of Mexico, but originated from a place called Aztlán. They left that place around 1168 and wandered for about a century. Guided by their patron god, they settled on the shores of Lake Texcoco, where their empire flourished until 1521, when they were conquered by Cortés, who they originally thought was the god Quetzalcoatl, who was supposed to come back in the year One Reed, the same year that Cortés arrived.

About one million of the Aztecs' descendants are still around in present-day Mexico. Though the Spanish and Aztec cultures are blended, many people still speak some variation of Nahuatl, the Aztec language, weave cloth the same, and grow and cook the same food.

For the question, What types of rituals did the Aztecs have?, I found out that the Aztecs were the first of the American Indians to come up with human sacrifice. When an enemy was captured in war, they were sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and the patron got of the Aztecs. Human blood had to be given to the sun each morning so it could defeat the moon and stars and rise into the sky. Most sacrifices involved cutting out the heart. Sometimes people were sacrificed in ritual combat or were shot by arrows. Victims were always sacrificed by a priest. Sacrifice was most common in large public ceremonies that involved fasting. Some of these ceremonies involved cannibalism. Only the arms and legs of the victim were eaten, and no captor could eat their own captive. People sacrificed to the rain god were usually children and were usually drowned.

The Ritual Ball Game is one that was played by most nations. The court was shaped like a capital I. It represented the universe. The object was to hit the hard, solid-rubber ball with any part of your body other that your hands into the opponents' crosspiece. Since the ball was so hard, padding was necessary, and even so, some people got seriously injured and sometimes died. Other people died of exhaustion. The ball could stand for the sun, moon, stars, or planets. The rulers could order this game to be played to distract people from their problems or to predict if they would win a war.

Patolli was a gambling game that was played on a cross-shaped board. People threw beans for dice. There were safe and penalty spots, and it was good to capture enemy pieces. You won if you got three beans in a row or if a bean landed on the edge. This game symbolized the 52-year cycle.

Valador was a game that involved a tall pole with a moveable platform set on top. Four men dressed like birds and attached themselves to the corners of the platform. At a signal they all jumped off and "flew" around the pole. The ropes were adjusted so that each "bird" went around the pole 13 times for a total of 52.

The Aztecs believed that music brought people closer to the gods, and had many music festivals. Their music involved mostly drums and a few flutes. They had no stringed instruments.

During the 11th month of every year people gathered for the "Hand-waving Festival". Four rows of performers danced silently, without music. In the "Serpent Dance" young women and warriors joined hands and danced in a line. In another dance the noblemen of Tenochtitlán and Tlatelolco faced each other in two rows.

As soon as a baby was born it was told what its duties in life would be. All the relatives had to come and visit the baby and bring gifts, and rub their joints with ashes to protect the baby from lameness and rheumatism. The relatives stayed for four days and never let the fire go out. Burning wood couldn't leave the house. The naming ceremony was usually four days after birth unless that was an unlucky day. In the naming ceremony the baby was carried into the courtyard where it was bathed in an earthenware rug, placed on a layer of rushes, had water sprinkled on its mouth, head, and chest while incantations were made, and washed again while a prayer to keep evil away was said. Boys were then presented to the sun with a prayer to be a good warrior. Then they were given a mini shield, arrows, and a small version of whatever tools the father used. The weapons and umbilical cord were then given to a warrior to be buried in a far away battlefield. A girl was given a mini spindle, work-basket, and broom. These symbolized her household duties. The umbilical cord was buried in the house as a symbol that she couldn't wander like a boy. Once the baby was named, young children ran around the streets shouting it. There was always a feast after the ceremony for friends and family. The child was presented to a priest 20 days after the naming ceremony.

There were many ceremonies to worship the maize god and ensure many crops. In public ceremonies the ruler handed out tamales. Farmers also held their own private ceremonies. Before a seed is planted, farmers then and now tell it, "My beloved body and strength, go out and bear the cold and the storm of the seasons; all is for us."

When people were old enough to be married, the parents of the boy employed an elderly matchmaker. The marriage was then discussed with the parents of the girl. An astrologer was consulted to set a favorable date for the wedding. There were many feasts given by both sets of parents, and a great feast given by the bride's parents. After the great feast, the bride was decorated with flowers and paint, lectured on the duties of a good wife, and carried to the groom's house where the bride and groom were tied together by their clothes. Noble households were always bigger than common households because polygamy was reserved for them.

The Aztecs believed that one's afterlife depended on the way one died, not the way one lived. If drowned or hit by lightning, a person would have a happy afterlife. If one died on a battlefield or in childbirth, they would have a glorious afterlife: the warriors would escort the sun up to its zenith, and the women would escort it the rest of the way. After four years the men would come back to earth as butterflies and hummingbirds and the women would become minor goddesses that killed people on crossroads. Most people went to a place called Mictlan when they died. This was a place of eternal dark emptiness. It had nine levels that a soul had to pass through, assisted by the items buried with them. People were usually buried with plenty of food and a yellow dog. The journey took for years, and could be made easier if living relatives gave the dead person offerings of food. The dead souls had to travel through mountains, past a serpent and a green lizard, across eight deserts, over eight hills, through the "place of the obsidian-bladed winds", and across the "place of green rivers". If one led a good life, they were more likely to be buried with good things and offerings.

The "New Fire" ceremony was held every 52 years to keep the universe from being destroyed. All the fires in the city were extinguished, household idols, cooking implements, and hearthstones were discarded, and houses were swept and cleaned. After dusk, people climbed on top of the roof. Pregnant women and children had to wear masks and stay awake so they wouldn't turn into mice. The priests climbed a hill near Tenochtitlan. They cut out a man's heart exactly at midnight, then they kindled a fire in his chest cavity. If the fire lit, the universe would continue for the next 52 years. If it didn't, the earth would grow dark and tzitzimime or celestial monsters would devour all humans. Torches were lit from the fire in the man's chest cavity, which then lit hearths in schools, temples, and houses.

In addition to the special ceremonies, there were also ceremonies once a month for a particular god. Sometimes there were mock-battles between young men and women. There also could be boys racing up a pole to retrieve a sacred image, or children being lifted up by the neck to help growth, or warriors presented with awards, or nobles holding feasts for commoners.

To my last question, What was their hierarchy like?, I discovered that there were three basic levels of society- nobility, commoners, and a level in between. Your social status depended on the status of your parents and your own personal achievements. Movement up and down the social ladder was difficult. A child could go to a nobles' school and become an astrologer, scribe, or teacher, but most people advanced by showing courage in battle. The more captives you take, the more privileges you are given. If you took four captives, you could sit on the ruler's war council. If you were really brave, you could join a knightly order like the Eagles, the Jaguars, the Otomís, and the Cuachic. A commoner could not become a true noble.

Nobles controlled most of the wealth. They owned their own land, and controlled the lives of those who worked on their land by having them pay taxes and supply the noble with food, clothing, and firewood. There were three levels of nobility- the ruler, the chiefs, and the nobles. The position of ruler was inherited by several people, and then a group of people chose who would be the next ruler. Once a ruler was chosen, they would organize a war. If the war was successful, the ruler's reign would be a good one. Rulers were the only ones who could own some of the most expensive things. They hunted for sport and were entertained by jugglers, acrobats, and jesters. The job of the ruler was to guard their territory, organize wars, sponsor religious ceremonies, decide some legal cases, be a good speaker, and be generous. Rulers were assisted in decisions by a vice-ruler who took care of day-to-day management of details of government, a Council of Four that consisted only of close relatives, and a Supreme Council consisting of 12-20 nobles. Chiefs owned large estates, advised the ruler, were judges, generals, and tax collectors. They were the sons and brothers of the ruler. The nobles were sons of chiefs. They were lower level government, military officials, teachers, priests, astrologers, and scribes.

There were three levels of commoners, too. Commoners were the main body of the armies. Most were members of the calpulli, or districts rather like suburbs. Each of these had their own plaza, temple, school, and religious and political offices. They served their own social, religious, political, and economic functions. Each had its own land for the members to farm, a patron god, and a calpulec or leader who organized work on public projects such as building roads or temples and made sure taxes were paid. Members of a calpulli fought together in battle. Lower commoners worked the nobles' private land. Their lives were much like that of members of the calpulli, but their service was directed toward a noble. Anyone who stole, didn't pay tribute, had a gambling debt, or was extremely poor could become a slave. Though slaves could be bought or sold, they weren't actually owned, they merely owed labor. They could marry and hold property, and even have their own slaves. Children of a slave were born free.

Merchants and artisans made up the class in between noble and common. Though they could become as rich as the nobility, they had only the rights of a commoner. Both merchants and artisans were organized into guilds like those of medieval Europe. They lived in their own separate calpulli. Merchants traded in tropical feathers, gold, fine stones, and jaguar skins. They held feasts to advance in status within their own guild. Artisans fashioned fine jewelry and feathered headdresses and fans from the things brought by the merchants. As a person learned the trade, they moved from apprentice to master, of which there were many levels.

In doing my research, I discovered I knew a lot less than I thought I knew, which was rather difficult, since I had thought I knew hardly anything at all. I discovered that the Aztecs were a very interesting people, and full of contradictions. They were excellent warriors, but were interested in respecting elders and living peacefully within the community when they weren't fighting. Their language lost a lot when written down, and stories were written to be told aloud, yet they wrote everything down anyway. People who died in battle, childbirth, or sacrifice got to go to paradise, but everyone else had to battle their way through the underworld. There were many other interesting things that I learned that were not included in my problem statement, and I wish I'd known more when I'd written it so that I could address those topics, too. Though their beliefs didn't have much effect on the everyday life, their many religious ceremonies broke the monotony of it. I think that their beliefs about sacrifice helped their empire become larger because they were constantly in need of more prisoners to sacrifice. The Aztec beliefs also made great ceremonies out of such occasions as births and marriages so that they would have good luck. The beliefs on death helped people want to be model citizens because they would want plenty of help by friends and relatives through the afterlife.

I also discovered, in doing my research, that I don't mind reading the research books, I just don't like taking notes, especially when they become as extensive as mine. I also don't like typing, though I do like using the "End" button, now that I know what it does.

Bibliography

Books:

Electronic Encyclopedias:

Websites:

http://www.emg.com/mexico.html
(no longer there)