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Aztec Human Sacrifice

Yes, they did sacrifice humans.

Aztec human sacrifice was a hard subject for me to wrap my mind around. Coming from a society as ours is today, it's hard to fathom human sacrifice being acceptable. After reading the book Aztec by Gary Jennings, I got a little different attitude toward it. You first need to realize that they believed that they were pleasing the gods and goddesses by offering up human sacrifice. To be chosen for sacrifice was considered to be an honor, and the sacrificed human was revered in the eyes of the people. They kept a count of the human sacrifices, and they were logged in the Aztec's palace. Their religion was just very different from any religion today. Mayan human sacrifice was much the same, as they lived quite close to one another and had many of the same beliefs, and gods â€" they just called them by different names. The human sacrifice was taken to the top of the pyramid to the tune of drums, instruments, and dancers. It was a big fanfare. The priest would then bless the Aztec or Mayan sacrificial human, and the person would lay over some table or stone. The priest would then swiftly remove the heart of the person, often with hardly any pain felt by the sacrifice. There are many more gory details involved, but we'll just say that there was profuse bloodshed. The heart was then put inside the temple's shrine for the god or goddess it was intended for. The body was then prepared for burial and the person was buried with dignity and respect. The ancient Aztec and the ancient Mayan human sacrifices were treated in much the same manner.