Also, it was to honor their gods, the god will feel stronger and the Aztecs will believe that if they unpleased the gods they will destroy the world. Additionally, some Aztecs will have a spiritual connection to the gods by offering themselves to be sacrificed. When they will be sacrificed there blood was given to the gods. Based on a interview from an Aztec shown in Document E, the Aztec
Zinn also includes a quote from Las Casas that says “two of these so-called Christians met two Indian boys one day. . . and for fun beheaded the boys, emphasizing the often meaningless abuse of Spanish power. Quotations from Columbus and Las Casas along with shocking statistics of death strongly portray the Spanish as patronizing and bloodthirsty to
It was either give in and follow a new religion, or reap the consequences and face death. Devastation struck as Spaniards forced their European way of life on the Native Americans. Those who chose to work with the Spaniards provided help and knowledge about the land, helping then expand, and giving them advice for the competition in grabbing land across the country (storyoftexas). The Spaniards however brought with them diseases that the Native Americans were not use to, and many died of small pox and other diseases (storyoftexas). Those who opposed the new comers were fought against and killed, showing other tribes that the Spaniards are more advanced and skilled than
The Aztecs religious beliefs The Aztecs of Mexico City had very unique beliefs. They worshiped in the temple which is in the middle of the exhibit. The Aztec temples were almost always offering mounds, the priest of the Aztec religion would use these temples to worship and pray. They also used it for offerings to the Aztec Gods. The way the Aztec’s way of worshiping was praying and sacrificing.
The Aztecs, like most ancient civilizations, were practicing a polytheistic religion. The most well-known of those civilizations possibly being Ancient Greece. The similarities don’t end there; when most people think of the Aztecs and their religion, they think of their inimical ritual of sacrifice. Thousands of years before, in North Africa, the Carthaginians were sacrificing many of their people, even infants. Most researchers believe it was to appease their gods and even to control the population, which are also reasons Aztec experts believe to be true for the Mesoamerican civilization.
Religion was an extremely important part of the Aztec life. The Ancient Aztec Religion focused on the interconnection between the gods, humans and nature. One of the many preoccupations of the religion, had to do with fear of nature, and the fear of the world ending. Due to this, there was a strong emphasis on human sacrifice, in honour of Huitzilopochtli, whose role was to keep the sun strong so only disasters would occur every fifty-two years.
As some may conclude the Aztecs performed human sacrifice out of pure evil, the real reason behind the gruesome act revolved around the Aztec’s gods. The ritual of human sacrifice was ultimately to receive the god’s gifts, which gave them life. In document J the previous opinion is discussed saying, “…humans must sacrifice that which was most important to them – life – to receive the sun, the rain, and other blessings of the gods that made life possible”(Document J). If Aztecs looked at human sacrifice in this way it can be argued that they participated in this act for the sake of keeping the gods happy, who were the providers of everyday fundamentals such as the sun and rain. Ultimately, the Aztecs were determined to give the gift of life to the god’s.
Going completely against their own religious beliefs, the Natives apparent “homosexuality”, had the Spanish feeling justified on their
So they ran. The Spaniards hunted them down with dogs and killed them. When they took prisoners, they hanged them or burned them to death. ”(Howard Zinn, page 9) Unable to fight against the Spanish soldiers' guns, swords, armor, and horses they began to commit mass suicide with poison. When the Spanish searched for gold began, there were a quarter of a million Indians on Haiti.
They wanted to make sure that their religion was the dominant one. So Spanish priests used Aztec children to destroy sacred temples and burn codices. They did this to eradicate Aztec culture and bring upon the christian faith in New Spain. Secondly, after forcing them to change their religion, the Spanish also forced the Aztecs to become a part of the encomienda system.
The Aztecs were constantly launching raids to capture prisoners for the enormous number of human sacrifices they conducted. There is important archeological evidence showing that several Indian civilizations suffered violent ends at the hands of other Indian cultures long before the arrival of the Europeans in America. • In effect, the Spanish employed a colonization strategy of "gold and souls. " Converting the native population to Catholicism not only spread the doctrines of the Catholic Church, then under threat in Europe, but could, it was believed, further the control of Indian behavior in the mines and on the plantations.
Spanish invaders would kill many of the natives. The Spaniards had a certain way of thinking, especially when it comes to religion. They would murder anyone who did not agree with their religious beliefs. Cruelty was also
This is one of the civilizations that flourished form the ninth to thirteenth century A.D, and is now home to enormous archeological sites. Among the sites, there is evidence of remains of skulls racks, which once displayed the multiple rows of stone-craved skulls of sacrificial victims (Brandes 1998, 190). However, during the Spanish Conquest, much of the design was removed and completely destroyed by the beginning of the Sixteenth century (Shcmal 2010). During the time of the Spanish Conquest, the Aztec and the Zapotec were the leading power holders of the region of southern Mexico. Because of this, it only makes sense that their usage of elaborate representations of death was then carried over into the artwork of colonial Mexico, becoming, then, associated with Dia de Los Muertos (Brandes 2003,
In 1550, Emporer Charles V summoned a debate to determine how Spain would deal with the Native Americans. Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and Bartolomé de Las Casas engaged in discourse about this topic: Sepúlveda denigrated the Natives while de Las Casas defended them. Sepúlveda felt that the Native Americans were basically barbaric sub-humans, and that the Europeans were greatly superior to them. He felt that Christianity was far more altruistic than the Natives’ religions. However, Las Casas felt that the Natives should be treated equally, since he believed Jesus died for the Natives just like he died for the Europeans.
Death is an aspect of life that all cultures must reconcile with, but how cultures reconcile with it varies. American culture tends to sterilize death and remove it from general conversation. The topic of death and the physical remnants of death are usually enclosed and kept as far out of sight as possible. In Mexico, on the other hand, death is both displayed and celebrated. Mexicans embrace death in both their spiritual and cultural lives.
