almost. Oh best of you.
These words, What
now? Medicine was a part of religion in Aztec, Mexico and the indian
doctors were competent in their profession. They were skilled at cleaning
wounds, setting broken bones at healing. The injuries of war, infection of
a wound was rare. Whereas in 16th century Europe it was a common
occurrence.
Medicine also played a role in curing disease. Village medicine, women
with a good knowledge of herbs and ointments, cured animal bites and minor
ailments. Many of these ancient remedies made of herbs and ointments are
the basis of modern antibiotics. The Aztecs believed the disease was
caused by evil spirits, herbs and ointments were used to overcome these
spirits. Similar beliefs were common in Europe when the black plague
killed thousands of people in the 14th century. In Indian Mexico, one cure
for disease was a sweat bath or temescal similar to a finish sauna bath.
The patient sweated in a stone room and was beaten with bundles of herbs.
After the appropriate prayers were recited, the patient dashed out of the
bath and jumped into a cold stream which was supposed to wash away the
illness. The cure was a ritual just as elaborate ritual surrounded all
aspects of religion. The greatest ritual of all was human sacrifice, which
we talked about briefly in our last lesson to be sacrificed to the gods
was a great honor for the sacrifice victim was ensured a quick passage to
paradise. Mm. The people believe that sacrifices would gain favor of the
gods, but more important, they believe that in some mysterious way the God
entered the body of the victim at the moment of sacrifice, the victim in
fact was reborn as the God. And so the Aztecs sometimes practiced ritual
cannibalism. They believed that by eating of the flesh and drinking the
blood of the sacrificial victim, they could share the power of the God. Mm.
There were other rituals that we know less about than human sacrifice.
There were ritual games. One called plucked lee was a ball game played on
a court shaped like the letter I Two teams tried to pass a hard ball
through a ring, never touching the ball with their hands.
We don't know what the significance of the game was, but we assume that it
was a religious one because the courts were located near each of the major
temples. The ritual games were an example of giving one's best for the
gods. Just as the olympic games of ancient Greece were not for individual
excellence, but as a mark of religious devotion. There were other games,
elaborate ritual was central to the religion of the Aztecs and served to
remind people constantly of their obligations to the gods.
Religion played an important part in every phase of life from birth to
death. Religion was the factor that controlled the lifestyle of the
indians of Mexico and the family life, which was the basis of Mexican
society was bound in every way to religion.
It began when a child was born, the parents consulted a priest who knew
the sacred calendar to see if the day of birth with auspicious or not, to
read the fate of the newborn child.
If the day was a good one, a feast was held four days later to celebrate
the birth and name the child. But if the day was not a good one, customs
simply postponed the feast until a more favorable period the child was
named and the guests of the feast sprinkled food and pulled an alcoholic
beverage over a sacred fire. At this time, the newborn child officially
entered the family. The child's education began at an early age. At that
time, parents began to train their Children for adult life. Fathers taught
their sons, mothers, they're daughters. Part of the child's education was
a strict discipline to ensure that a person's actions would always reflect
honor on the family until a child was eight years old. He was only
admonished when he misbehaved, but the harsh words of his parents taught
him that misbehavior was a sin against the gods and might result in
disaster to the family. After the 8th year, discipline took the form of
severe painful punishment. The threat of punishment was frightening and
few Children misbehaved Children who did were often sold into slavery by
parents who feared that the actions of the child would displease the gods.
Girls were educated by their mothers to prepare them for the day when
they would start their own households and families in the home, they
learned the duties of housekeeping. They learned the technique of grinding
Corn two flour with the maturity and mono. The ancient tools developed by
their ancestors. But boys at age 15 or 16 went to special schools. One
kind of school was called to tell push or house of youth. It was
maintained by the kalpoe and here the boys learn citizenship, arts and
crafts, religious observance, history, the bearing of arms, not for the
individual but for the glory of the gods and the family. Yeah, if the boy
came from a noble family, he was trained to be a warrior, prepared for a
military career When he was 20 years old, he went into battle for the
first time. Under the watchful eye of an older soldier. If he captured a
prisoner, he was considered brave and was rewarded perhaps by the emperor
himself. But if after several battles he had failed to capture a prisoner
, he was branded a coward. He had failed to bring honor to the family and
to serve the gods.
The second kind of school was the Kalma cock associated with the major
temples. Boys were instructed in priestly duties. Anyone could study to be
a priest and the boys learned to read and write to interpret the calendar.
They learned to endure hunger, cold, even self mutilation to show their
dedication to the gods. When boys finish their schooling at about the age
of 20, they were considered adults and ready for marriage. Girls were
expected to be married at 16 and so the young man searched for a wife with
strength and the ability to spin, weave and cook
with the consent of the young people. The parents employed matchmakers to
arrange the marriage. Such a system was common in many societies until
recent years. Remember young people were less interested in self assertion
than in fulfilling the will of their parents. A priest was consulted to
determine if the fates of the young man and woman were harmonious. If all
went well. The wedding took place as part of the ceremony. The clothing of
the bride and groom were tied together in a knot symbolizing the marriage
and they became a family with all the rights and obligations of citizens.
Just as in many other societies where frequent warfare decimated the male
population. A man in Aztec, Mexico could have more than one wife. But
whereas even today in some Middle Eastern countries, all the wives are
equal in Aztec, Mexico, the first wife took precedence and only her
Children could inherit from their father. Other wives received recognition
only as members. 2nd class members of the family
as tech, women had definite rights, although they were inferior in status
to men. Women could own property and they could enter into contracts and
they could go to court to obtain justice. In most of the world, women's
rights are a development of the 20th century and their existence among the
Aztecs is indicative of the sophistication of the legal system. The courts
with lawyers, Judges, systems of punishment reflected an advanced legal
science, but crime and the necessity for punishment was relatively rare.
Religion was the chief deterrent because criminal behavior was a sin
against the gods. Serious crime as we know, it was late to appear in
Mexico, perhaps the result of contact with european society. If a crime
was committed, the court judged and sentenced, the person involved
imprisonment was rare. More frequently the punishment was slavery. A
common thief could serve as a slave of the family he had stolen from until
restitution was made or he could pay a fine of double the amount stolen,
one half of which went into the Kalpoe treasury. But if the crime was
stealing from the marketplace, the thief might be killed on the spot in a
land where crops were so hard to grow corn, so precious. Such theft was a
cardinal sin. A man found guilty of murder received the death penalty, but
his crime did not affect his life after death. The religion of Mexico
included a concept of an after world, just as other religions do. But it
attached no moral significance to a heaven or a hell.
The type of life a person had after death depended upon the way he died,
elaborate ceremonies assisted the person into the world beyond the person
who had been put to death for a crime and the man who died a natural death.
Both faced a long and dangerous journey to the underworld of my clan. At
the end of the journey, they were assigned by the Lord of the Dead to one
of 9 different regions. But if death could be attributed to Talaq, the
rain god, that is if a person drowned or were struck by lightning, he was
buried and his journey ended immediately at the paradise of Talaq. His
life after death was one of joy devoid of all pain and suffering. Warriors
and women who died in childbirth received the greatest reward after death.
They were cremated and transported directly to the Paradise of the Sun.
Archaeologists studying the grave sites of pre hispanic peoples in Mexico
tell us that elaborate ritual was part of the funeral ceremony. The dead
were often dressed with great ornamentation.
They were buried with containers of food and other items to aid them in
their journey to the after world. Often they were buried with gifts to
present to the Lord of the dead. And so religion and accompanying ritual
was a vital part of the Aztecs existence from birth to death. His
lifestyle was determined by his religious beliefs.
The lifestyle of the Aztecs was in harmony with nature with the
agricultural nature of Aztec society. Agriculture, chiefly the growing of
corn was the very basis of life in indian Mexico and without rain without
the favor of the gods man could not survive. As in any agricultural
society. There were no factories. The articles needed for daily use were
made at home. A fine style of arts and crafts developed and has served to
this day in many of the everyday articles used in the home for an Aztec,
Mexico. A man's wealth. His prosperity was in his possessions rather than
in money. A successful man had fine things, his house, his furniture, his
pottery were more than just useful household articles. They were works of
art and pottery making became the greatest new world craft. The height of
artistic expression among the indians of the Americas. The pottery of the
Aztecs was complex in form and design, and it was produced without the
advantage of the potter's wheel. For the new world. Indians had not
applied the principle of the wheel to the tasks they had to do,
feather working was probably the greatest unique Aztec art. These
craftsmen wove brilliant feathers into mosaics and into ornate pieces of
clothing. The feather cape of the emperor Montezuma the second is only one
example of the beautiful work. The indian goldsmiths were unsurpassed in
their ability to work with gold to fashion ornaments out of the metal,
they panned from the streams. When the gold jewelry of Mexico 1st made its
way to Europe. The Europeans were amazed. They had never seen work to
equal that of the indian Goldsmith.
In the early years of the 16th century, Tenochtitlan was a dynamic growing
city. The Aztecs had not yet reached the peak of their power, but they had
evolved a social system which was unequaled for its organization, a
religious system which adequately met the needs of the people, a military
ability which virtually made them the rulers of middle America, The
powerful Aztec state was doomed from far across the sea. Strange people
were coming toward the Aztec land. It began in 1492 when Christopher
Columbus, under the auspices of the Queen of Spain, discovered the islands
of the Caribbean Sea, curious and brave, often greedy. The strong spanish
adventurers were not to be content until most of the new world was theirs.
The first step was the subjugation of the Aztecs. And in our next lesson
we'll talk about the spanish conquest of Mexico, the final years of the
Aztec empire.
Give a others body
loaded models.Poetess