Tenochtitlan Narrative Report

I have arrived at Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs capital. I’m hanging around as a fisherman. From here on, I will be lurking around the village to witness their everyday life. I must leave to fulfill their need as a fisherman, but I shall return in a short bit to report. I have returned as promised, and I have a lot of news to inform you with. Last night was my first night as an “Aztec”, boy was it different! I actually had to bathe, I just assumed that since they aren’t as civilized as us, they didn’t know what a bath was. Was I wrong though! It was weird, very weird, we had to walk down these stone stairs and into this stone pit, that’s where we cleansed. Since that was a part of their daily routine, I had to participate and pretend that I knew how to do it right. Just between you and me, I had NO idea what I was doing! Get this, only the NOBLES have slaves, nobody else other than them, inconceivable! The poor don’t have slaves, we have to work all day while the king and priests get to sit and watch everybody else work in the hot sun. To top that off, none of the poor get to wear
feathers on their clothes. One of the farmers I worked with found a feather and jokingly wore it in his hair. Guess what, they killed him, apparently NOBODY can wear them, NOBODY other than the highest. It’s tiring being an Aztec farmer, and uncomfortable with only a few blankets to lay on and a few pots to cook with. Did I forget to mention that we have to grow our own food, with a tiny garden. It is HARSH here, if people don’t follow the law, they’re killed, EVEN CHILDREN! Another thing that’s crazy is their sports!! They aren’t like the sports we play, where if you get hurt, it may be a minor scar. Oh no, here, if you mess, you really mess up, yeah, you DIE. On a better note, the Aztec love poetry, we wrote many times yesterday. It was super interesting too, we wrote about children, love , war, behaving properly, and good deeds. Way different than William Shakespeare’s! In order to fulfill your need to spy on them, I went along with their poetry session yesterday, and will again today. I am being summoned by another fisherman, I intend to write more about “my” group tomorrow. For now, good night Hernan Cortes. I am back, with more information about the Aztec.
A fellow fisherman who I befriended, told me all about the slaves and their role. First thing, slaves and children have to go to school together. Second thing, slaves were not captured, you become a slave if you commit a crime or if your family was in debt and needed to sell you for money, HARSH! However, if your parents were slaves, you don’t have to be a slave. If you were to be sold into slavery, you’d still be allowed to marry a freewoman, or if you want, you can marry another slave. The confusing part about this is, you can buy your way out of slavery. My friend also told me about “our” specialized professions. One specialized profession here is being a teacher, another one is a being a merchant. The last specialized profession is a priest, very lucky! Some jobs here that are highly respected are being a solider and being a
doctor.