Compare Mayan And Aztec Sacrifice

Mayan and Aztec Sacrifice

There were two societies in the beginning part of the history of Mexico that practiced human sacrifices. Those two societies were the Maya and Aztec cultures. The Mayans practiced human sacrifices during ritual specific times and was performed a couple of different ways including adopting one practice from the North. Human sacrifice was a very important religious practice and if neglected they believed cosmic disorder and chaos would ensue. The Aztecs on the other hand would practice human sacrifice on a massive scale compared to the Maya. These human sacrifices were also an important religious practice because Aztecs believed they owed a blood-debt to the Gods. The Mayan empire covered much of the
Yucatan peninsula and was divided into several city-states. For the most part the city-states were at peace with each other and had several roads and trade routes established between them. The main purpose for warfare was to capture prisoners to become slaves and for ritual sacrifices.
Far to the north, the Aztecs would become famous for holding their victims down on top of temples and cutting out their hearts, offering the still-beating organs to their gods. The Maya did cut the hearts out of their victims, as can be seen in certain images surviving at the Piedras Negras historical site. However, it was much more common for them to decapitate or disembowel their sacrificial victims, or else tie them up and push them down the stone stairs of their temples. The methods had much to do with who was being sacrificed and for what purpose. Prisoners of war were usually disemboweled. When the sacrifice was religiously linked to the ball game, the prisoners were more likely to be decapitated or pushed down the stairs. (Ancient Maya)

Also if Mayan human sacrifices mainly had their head decapitated, it was most likely when the heart was cut out of the chest the head would be cut off too. Many leaders of city-states would compete in the ball game and was used in many of the ritual sacrifices. It was usually a continuation of a battle or capture of a rival king.
For the Maya, human sacrifices were associated with the ball game. The ball game, in which a hard rubber ball was knocked around by players mostly using their hips, often had religious, symbolic or spiritual meaning. Maya images show a clear connection between the ball and decapitated heads: the balls were even sometimes made from skulls. Sometimes, a ballgame would be a sort of continuation of a victorious battle: captive warriors from the vanquished tribe or city-state would be forced to play and then sacrificed afterwards. A famous image carved in stone at Chichén Itzá shows a victorious ballplayer holding aloft the decapitated head of the opposing team leader. (Ancient Maya)
These sacrifices were not a mindless act to the Mayans they saw it as necessary religious practices to keep the cosmic in order.
The taking of life was needed for special occasions, such as the rise of a new king or devotion of a new building. Great pyramids were built for sacrifices and the nacom, high priest, would cut the heart out and hand it to a priest, who would spread the blood from the heart onto the idol of the God they made the sacrifice for. The body would then be thrown down the stairs to a lower ranked priest, who would then skin the body except the hands and feet. The priest would wear the skin and dance in front of all the spectators. Not all the sacrifices were men some of them were women and children. Also they believed the ones sacrificed went to Heaven and were spared from the underworld, which is where everyone else went even the rulers. The rulers and nobles would also practice bloodletting, which is they sacrifice some of their own blood, by stabbing the penis, ear, lip, or tongue with most likely a stingray spine. More blood was expected from someone with a higher position because they are semi-divine and the mediators between the Gods and their people. The Mayan had over a 165 Gods and each one had a specific role to play. Mayans believed these Gods were nourished by human blood and to keep chaos from coming it was their job to keep them pleased. The most important God to keep pleased was Itzamna and a close second was Kukulcan. Also the
Mayans had developed a system for astronomy, which was directly related to religious rituals. The Aztecs were very brutal when it came to human sacrifices, at least compared to the Mayans.
It was estimated that on one ritual event that lasted four days 20,000 people were sacrificed to the gods. With so many people getting sacrificed you would think it would make their society weaker but it actually had the opposite effect and united the people. Human sacrifice was a very important religious aspect to their everyday life. The Aztec cycle worked in 18 month intervals and for each month ritual sacrifices must be made. For the Aztecs they believed the world was destroyed four times and created five times. The creation of the world for the 5th time was possible because the Gods had sacrificed themselves to create the world. Humans were made from the bones that were brought back from the underworld by Quetzalcoatl. To repay the Gods for their sacrifice they owed them an endless blood-debt that they must pay for with their lifes. Like the Mayans the Aztec empire was composed of city-states and at the heart of the empire was the city Tenochtitlán. Each city-state would perform their own rituals and most of the sacrifices would come from capturing prisoners from
battles.
With human sacrifices the sacrificial victims were most often selected from captive warriors. Indeed, warfare was often conducted for the sole purpose of furnishing candidates for sacrifice. This was the so-called ‘flowery war’ (xochiyaoyotl) where indecisive engagements were the result of the Aztecs being satisfied with taking only sufficient captives for sacrifice and where the eastern Tlaxcala state was a favourite hunting-ground. Those who had fought the most bravely or were the most handsome were considered the best candidates for sacrifice and more likely to please the gods. Indeed, human sacrifice was particularly reserved for those victims most worthy and was considered a high honour, a direct communion with a god. (Aztec Sacrifice)

These ritual sacrifices would also be performed with the ball game like the Mayans and the losing team’s leader or the whole team would be sacrificed. Also like the Mayans women and children would be sacrificed not just men. Children would be sacrificed to honor the rain God Tlaloc because the tears of children would propitiate rain. Most of these sacrifices would take place at dedicated temples on top of large pyramids were the preferred method of sacrifice, was cutting the heart out and burning it for the God they were sacrificing to. The bodies could also be decapitated or dismembered and flung down the stairs of the pyramid. The decapitated heads would be displayed on racks and on some occasions the heart of a brave warrior would be eaten. Some of the victims, who are sacrificed, could be honored for a whole year for a special ritual occasion.
Amongst the most honoured sacrificial victims were the god impersonators. Specially chosen individuals were dressed as a particular god before the sacrifice. In the case of the Tezcatlipoca impersonator in the ritual during Tóxcatl (the 6th or 5th month of the Aztec solar year) the victim was treated like royalty for one year prior to the sacrificial ceremony. Tutored by priests, given a female entourage and honoured with dances and flowers, the victim was the god’s manifestation on earth until that final brutal moment when he met his maker. Perhaps even worse off was the impersonator of Xipe Totec who, at the climax of the festival of Tlacaxipehualiztli, was skinned to honour the god who was himself known as the ‘Flayed One’. (Aztec Sacrifice)
Also like the Mayans the nobles and rulers would practice bloodletting and would smear their blood on idols and paper. The Aztecs may be considered brutal for sacrificing tens of thousand of humans a year but it was believed to keep a greater disaster from coming. The Mayans and Aztecs were only two societies from Mesoamerica that practiced human sacrifices. There were plenty of others like the Olmec and Inca cultures. The Mayans did not sacrifice as many humans as the Aztec but would perform them for special occasions. If these rituals were neglected they believed it would result in cosmic disorder and chaos would appear. The Aztecs on the other hand would sacrifice humans on a massive scale to pay back the blood-debt because the Gods sacrificed themselves for the creation of the world. If the Aztecs also neglected the practice of blood sacrifice, they also believed a greater disaster would fall upon the people.