The Mythology Book

253

Mictlantecuhtli, the god of the dead

and ruler of the Underworld, was often

depicted as a skeleton. To placate him,

the Aztecs are said to have practiced

both human sacrifice and cannibalism.

THE AMERICAS

Blood and sacrifice

Sacrifice was the central feature of

Aztec religion, as it was how man

repaid the gods for their actions.

The letting of blood was an

important act that Aztec priests

often carried out on themselves.

They drew blood by stabbing

themselves with thorns or

stingray spines in the cheeks,

arms, legs, and even penis.

The Aztecs also practiced

human sacrifice in order to

appease the gods—both of their

own people, and enemy prisoners

of war. The most common method

of sacrifice was to pull out the

victim's heart. The process was

carried out on an altar at the top

of a temple, where the victim

was held down by four men

while a specially trained priest

plunged a flint knife into the

ribs, allowing the heart to be

extracted. In each 18-month

"cycle," Aztec priests would

sacrifice one person in this

manner each month. They

sacrificed thousands of people

each year, also killing them

through gladiatorial combat,

drowning, decapitation,

burning, and burying alive.

Women and children, as well as

conquered warriors, were among the

victims sacrificed by the Aztecs to

propitiate the gods.

the present race of humans, whose

first woman and man were called

Oxomoco and Cipactonal.

Feeding the new world

The newly created human race

needed food. Quetzalcoatl spotted a

red ant carrying a maize kernel. He

followed it until it disappeared into

a crack in a mountain—Mount

Popocatépetl, the mountain of

sustenance. Quetzalcoatl was so

curious about what lay within that

he transformed himself into a black

ant and crawled through the narrow

opening. There he found a chamber

filled with seeds and grain.

It was clear to Quetzalcoatl that

this mountain had the potential to

feed humans if they could only get

inside it. The god tried to lift it with

ropes but was unable to break it

open. He asked Oxomoco and

Cipactonal, who had the ability to

divine the future, what to do. They

told him that Nanahuatzin—a

humble and sickly god, whose

name meant “full of sores”—was

destined to help him. Nanahuatzin

was duly called forth to the food

mountain. There, with the help of

rain and lightning gods, he split it

open. The contents were then

scattered across the world,

providing nourishment for the

human race.

The quest for happiness

The gods were happy that the

humans had food, which gave

them the strength to work, but

Quetzalcoatl noticed that their

lives were joyless. He decided that

humans needed something that

would bring them excitement and

happiness, and make them dance

and sing. He went on a journey

across the heavens to find a

solution and met a beautiful

goddess called Mayahuel. They fell

madly in love. To show their deep

affection for each other, they came

down to Earth and transformed

themselves into a single tree, each

becoming one of its two branches.

Mayahuel’s grandmother was

one of the Tzitzimimeh, a nocturnal

group of skeletal fertility goddesses.

Furious that her granddaughter had

run off with Quetzalcoatl, the

goddess descended with the other

Tzitzimimeh from their celestial

home to Earth to find Mayahuel.

When they discovered the tree, ❯❯

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