PATIENT
Maya and Aztec religion
MAYA
From c. 2000 BCE, Guatemala, Belize, southern Mexico
AZTEC
Tenochtitlan until the conquest of 1521
FILTER
Almost all texts written after the Spanish conquest
CHIEF COMPLAINT
If the gods died to make the world and the sun, what do the living owe them?
HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS
The religious traditions of Mexico and Central America, primarily the Maya (who built one of the most sophisticated civilizations in history from about 2000 BCE) and the Aztec/Mexica (who built Tenochtitlan, one of the largest cities on earth in 1519). Both are far older than their colonial-era documentation. Virtually all surviving texts were written after the Spanish conquest, often by indigenous nobles working with Spanish priests, and the pre-conquest codices were largely burned: Bishop Diego de Landa burned an unknown number in 1562. What survives is filtered, but substantial, specific and irreplaceable. These are also living traditions: the Day of the Dead and the 260-day ritual calendar are continuous.
REVIEW OF SYSTEMS
POPOL VUH
The Maya Bible. The K'iche' creation narrative, written down in K'iche' around 1550. Humans are made of corn after earlier experiments fail.
HERO TWINS
Hunahpu and Xbalanque go into the underworld of Xibalba, outwit the lords of death by wit, not force, and are resurrected. Their father becomes the corn plant.
FIVE SUNS
The Aztec creation: four worlds made and destroyed, and a fifth maintained by blood.
THE GODS
Quetzalcoatl the Feathered Serpent, Tezcatlipoca the Smoking Mirror, Huitzilopochtli, Tlaloc and the earth goddess Coatlicue.
SACRIFICE
Understood as repaying a cosmic debt: humans exist because the gods gave themselves. It is understood as cosmic maintenance, not cruelty, and the guide says that does not make it acceptable by contemporary standards.
PHYSICAL EXAM — STYLE & STRUCTURE
- —The Aztec afterlife was determined by the manner and cause of death, not by moral conduct.
- —Bloodletting, offering your own blood, was far more common than human sacrifice and was practiced at every level of society.
- —The sacred ball game, ullamaliztli, was played for at least 3,500 years and reenacts the Hero Twins' game against the lords of Xibalba.
- —Sources about sacrifice need critical reading: Spanish conquest required moral justification, which gave motive to exaggerate. The guide says that does not mean it did not occur.
- —Three pre-conquest Maya books survived: the Dresden, Madrid and Paris Codices.
ASSESSMENT & PLAN
Start with the Popol Vuh and the Hero Twins, then the Five Suns and Quetzalcoatl. Read the section on sacrifice with its theological context in mind. It is a non-denominational reference guide. The full guide recommends Dennis Tedlock's Popol Vuh (indispensable), Allen Christenson's (literal, scholarly), David Carrasco's City of Sacrifice for Aztec context, and Kay Read and Jason González's Mesoamerican Mythology for a comparative overview.