The Aztec Sacrifice

The Aztecs have a very known reputation for their sacrificial practices. They are known to be cruel and terrifying, but looking past all of their human sacrifices, they had a great civilization, in fact, their human sacrifices were very spiritual and religious. Also, the Aztecs were the only civilization that not only provided free education to all, but required all to attend school. Along with that, they also had a very innovative agricultural system. Although the Aztecs were not the only early civilization to practice human sacrifice, they are still heavily criticized because they were more documented than the others. Aztec sacrifice is looked down upon so much, mainly because of Hernan Cortes and the Conquistadors. Before Cortes met the

The Aztecs were the only civilization to require all children, male and female, to attend school. The Aztecs were the firsts to provide free education for all, unlike other societies that only allowed men and the privileged to attend school. The Aztecs called school, “Calmecac” (Kahl-may-kahk). When the kids reached the age of seven or eight, they would begin formal education in school. The girls’ schools were joined with temples to learn about religion and women’s crafts such as weaving and embroidery. Girls basically lived at school. They ate and slept there under the supervision of the elderly priestesses. Their daily routine was mainly working and praying. Discipline was very important, so there was no time for child games. To teach the girls self-control, the girls had to sit perfectly still without speaking. When a girl left school, it was usually to be married or, if she chose, she stayed to become a priestess. The boys had two types of schools, which were divided between the normal citizen, including slaves, and the wealthy or the noble. However, both schools served the same purpose which was to prepare the young boys to serve the gods as well as go to war. For men, school was very important in order to perform sacrifices. The priests had to be well educated in mathematics, astronomy, glyph reading and writing, religious poetry, music

Tenochtitlan had very little soil but it was extremely fertile. Aztec farmers grew crops of all sorts like squash, beans, chili peppers, and maize in chinampas. Chinampas were like gardens built on lakes. Chinampas were typically long and narrow, separated by canals in a wetland environment. Chinampas mostly occupied Lake Xaltocan which surrounded the community. Aztec farmers followed these stages of construction, “ (1) an area was demarcated, generally aligned with existing fields or influenced by landforms; (2) labourers excavated soil creating canals and tossing that soil into rectangular masses of earth which formed the chinampa field; (3) vegetation from the canals and lake water were added periodically to the field, even during construction, and (4) trees were planted in the corners of the newly-constructed field to serve as anchors.” Chinampas were significant to Aztec agriculture because it made the farming land more fertile by having the rivers flow under them, and it was less travelled on so they weren’t able to get ruined. Another reason why chinampas were significant was because since they were on water, animals were not able to tamper with them and ruin the crops. Chinampas were an effective and innovative way to farm, especially in a territory with very little