Aztec Human Sacrifice

Last week, I decided to look deeper into the human sacrifice of the Incas. So this week after doing the reading i decided to look deeper into the human sacrifice of the Aztecs.

Aztecs believed in the god of war and the sun, Huitzilopochtli. He was constantly fighting with other gods, and with darkness to ensure the survival of the Aztecs. He needed food to give him the energy to continue fighting, and his preferred food was human blood. Aztecs believed in tonali, or "animating spirit", which is found in human blood. Human blood concentrates in the heart when humans are in fear. So, captives from Aztec conquests were taken to the top of a pyramid, laid on a ritual stone table, and had their chests cut open and their hearts ripped out. Their bodies were tossed down the sides of the pyramid. It is believed that 20,000 people were sacrificed in this way, every year. After the hearts were ripped out, the bodies were later cooked, and served as a delicacy to the emperors because they didn't have livestock. Emperor Monteczuma was known to love human thighs served with tomato and chili sauce.