IMPRESSIONS OF TEMPLO MAYOR

It is difficult to roam around the Templo Mayor site, the Aztec (or more properly Mexica) archaeological site in the historic centre of Mexico City, without being impressed or moved in some way. I was struck by two thoughts. First, how recent the history of this site is. The last major renovation to the Aztec temple occurred about 100 years prior to the arrival of the Spanish. The Spanish cathedral, literally a stones throw from the earlier temple, is itself impressive but if we can imagine traveling back in time another 100 years from its construction, there was the Aztec temple.

The second image that grew in my mind and became much more powerful than the image of the shortness of history, was that of the killing field. In the archaeological site and in the museum itself one sees the skull rack (I presume the one in the museum is original work while that in the site is probably a reconstruction), a representation of those killed in battle who were then sacrificed to the gods. Reliable accounts suggest that when the last renovation was made to the ancient temple 1000 people were sacrificed each day for the 20 days of the festival - 20,000 people lost their lives for the glory of god. All of this is now invisible but one can imagine the blood running down the temple, the body parts being dealt with and the fear that must have run through the streets. A visit to the ruins is like a visit to a concentration camp in Germany, the Cambodian killing fields or the country side of Rwanda. Yet, there are no signs telling us we are entering a killing ground, no suggestions to remember those who died at the site, no explanation of the use of body parts. It gets worse: there were five renovations to the ancient temple. Did each have a similar number of deaths associated with the grand reopening? Also of corse there were regular sacrifices at the site. Let your mind travel further and recall the enormous numbers of deaths in the streets (in what was really quite a small island) at the hands of the Spanish and of the Aztecs.

In an earlier post I reviewed the debate over cannibalism among the Aztecs and now it has become more real. One can indeed find images from Aztec sites of body parts being cooked and eaten. We know there was a belief that the bodies of those sacrificed became sacred: after death they took on additional importance. So it is unlikely the bodies were simply disposed of and more likely the bodies were consumed by the religious elite. This of course is only different from our treatment of the body of Jesus in its concreteness, not in its symbolism. How one might ask, could they possibly eat 20,000 sacred bodies? Perhaps this protein did in fact work its way down the “food chain” so to speak and fed a great many people.

CANNABILISM

This post begins with a comment overheard at a friend’s party. It was reported, and then discussion dismissed by claiming that everyone knew it was true, that the Aztec empire engaged in large scale cannibalism. To make this harder to believe the reporter added that they had “baby farms” as this was needed to meet their protein needs. Presumably this protein deficiency arose from environmental degradation. Knowing a little about anthropology, I suspected this couldn’t possibly be true. A little research turns up an interesting debate. On one side are those such as M. Harner (1977) who make the kinds of claims reported above (except for the notion of baby farms) . This argument is then advanced by others. Others, however, (see B. Ortiz de Montellano 1978) claim there is really no supportive evidence and suggest the claims derive from wild interpretations of murals and questionable claims about the lack of protein in the zone in question here. Some of the evidence the original claim makers use derive from early accounts written by the Spanish and these can easily be dismissed if one reads them as distortions in order to demonize the Aztecs and thus justify the brutality against the people and their conversion to Christianity. Similar wild claims have been reported about “savages” in North America”, claims used to justify brutality and conversion to Christianity.

There is no question, however, about the presence of cannibalism among the Aztec. They appear to have eaten parts of those offered to the gods as a sacrifice. Those sacrificed were believed to take on a sacred quality and thus to eat the sacrificial lamb, so to speak, was then to partake of the sacred. This activity was restricted to the elite of the society.

A small aside here regarding the numbers of people sacrificed. In a 1977 article Harner reviews the claims made. He reports that there is some consensus that the number was around 20,000 people each year while other estimates go as high as 250,000. These numbers come from very questionable evidence, in essence what they have done is take one sacrificial alter for which they believe there is good data and then multiply this number by the number of alters in central Mexico. If we accept the higher number the claim is they were eating 1% of the total population: talk a bout eating yourself out of house and home!

It is not too far fetched to see a link here to the act of communion in the Catholic church. Religious members partake of the body and blood of Jesus (although there is some debate about the idea of transubstantiation, that the wafer really is the body of Jesus) and thus take on some qualities of the sacred. The difference is that Jesus was sacrificed on our behalf and rather than repeat the act of sacrifice the act of communion offers a less messy substitute, and is open to everyone. One has to imagine that behind this religious belief is a history of cannibalism or the act would make no sense. This bring me back to the day of the dead.

One of the features of the day of the dead celebration is the preparation of, and consumption of, pan de muertos. Two types of bread are prepared. First, a loaf that looks like a small person and is placed on or around the ofrenda to represent the dead. Second a bread that has a representation of bones on its surface. This bread represents the spirit or soul of the person and is to be consumed. In this way we appear to be eating our ancestors, or at least their spirit.
ABOUT PHOTO: taken in the Museum of Anthropology. Objects like this were used to hold the hearts of the sacrificial victims. Small on in the back ground is from Ihuatzio, Michoacan.