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Filled with Divine Fire: Mesoamerican Human Sacrifice and Costumed Rituals as Acts of Deicide

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Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica

Part of the book series: Conflict, Environment, and Social Complexity ((CESC))

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Abstract

Across the Mesoamerican landscape, human actors regularly donned elaborate costumes during ritual activities that they believed enabled them to merge with—even embody—specific supernatural beings. Among the Aztecs, impersonation rituals were often incorporated into rituals of human sacrifice, where both victim and executioner were dressed in the guise of particular deities when the sacrifice was performed (Bassett 2014; Carrasco 1999; López Austin 1988, 1993). Classic Maya impersonation rituals, in contrast, are typically associated with less lethal rites, such as dance events, conjuring rituals, period-ending celebrations, or the dedication of monuments (Nehammer Knub et al. 2009; Houston and Stuart 1996). However, Classic period iconography clearly indicates that they also used deity costuming in their rituals of human sacrifice. This paper explores concepts of deity embodiment and the functions of costumed rituals of human sacrifice in Mesoamerica at the regional and subregional levels, with a particular focus on the Postclassic Aztec and Classic Maya civilizations. I rely on epigraphic, iconographic, ethnohistorical, and archaeological data to argue that costumed rituals of human sacrifice among the Classic Maya are conceptually similar to those of the Postclassic Aztec and are best understood as deity impersonation rituals, even when not identified as such in the epigraphic record. Cosmologically, this amplifies rituals of human sacrifice into acts of deicide, and as such, they carry significantly more cosmological weight.

It was not men who died, but gods—gods within a corporeal covering that made possible their ritual death on earth. If the gods did not die, their force would diminish in a progressively aging process. Men destined for sacrifice were temporarily converted into receptacles of divine fire, they were treated as gods, and they were made to live as the deity lived in legend.

—Alfredo López Austin (1988: I: 376–377)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    To draw the analogy out further, their group identity is reinforced through the regular use of public spectacle, which includes feasting, costuming, and displays of ritual violence against nonlocal opponents performed in ballcourts dedicated to their patrons, typically located within the civic core of their respective polities.

  2. 2.

    Durán (1971: 50) and Sahagún (Book 8:85) both report similar treatment of the xipeme or tototecti (warriors who wore the flayed skin of their captives), who were also presented with gifts from commoners and nobles alike, from ears of corn or tamales from the commoners to clothing, feathers, and jewelry from the nobility.

  3. 3.

    There were eight temples dedicated to Tezcatlipoca throughout the Aztec empire (González Torres 1995: 17).

  4. 4.

    According to Sahagún, Tlapitzauayan was located on the southern mainland, on a road leading to the city of Iztapalapan, today a suburb of Mexico City known as Ixtapalapa (Sahagún, Book I: 115; Siméon 1977 [1885]: 639, cited in Klein 2015:135).

  5. 5.

    The verb nahwaj or nawaj was previously glossed as “dressed” or “adorned” based on a misinterpretation of Moran’s (1935 [1625]) entry of <nau> “adornar,” but it has recently become apparent that <nau> was simply Moran’s rendering of the verb /nab/ “to adorn, paint,” and is thus ruled out as the root for nawaj (Marc Zender, personal communication, September 2017).

  6. 6.

    Several other “belly-down captives” appear at Tikal (Altars 9, 10, Stelae 5, 10, and seated bound captives on Column Altars 1, 2, 3).

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    Mark Wright

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    Linda Hansen

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Wright, M. (2024). Filled with Divine Fire: Mesoamerican Human Sacrifice and Costumed Rituals as Acts of Deicide. In: Mendoza, R.G., Hansen, L. (eds) Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica. Conflict, Environment, and Social Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36600-0_9

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