Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- The symbols that give rise to a cannibalistic consciousness
- The mythical chartering and transformation of cannibal practice
- 6 The faces of the soul's desires: Iroquoian torture and cannibalism in the seventeenth century
- 7 Raw women and cooked men: Fijian cannibalism in the nineteenth century
- 8 Precious eagle-cactus fruit: Aztec human sacrifice
- 9 The transformation and end of cannibal practice
- 10 Conclusion: Other symbols and ritual modalities
- Notes
- References
- Index
8 - Precious eagle-cactus fruit: Aztec human sacrifice
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- The symbols that give rise to a cannibalistic consciousness
- The mythical chartering and transformation of cannibal practice
- 6 The faces of the soul's desires: Iroquoian torture and cannibalism in the seventeenth century
- 7 Raw women and cooked men: Fijian cannibalism in the nineteenth century
- 8 Precious eagle-cactus fruit: Aztec human sacrifice
- 9 The transformation and end of cannibal practice
- 10 Conclusion: Other symbols and ritual modalities
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
And things being so, they [the captives] were made to arrive at the top [of the pyramid], before [the sanctuary of] Uitzilopochtli. Thereupon one at a time they stretched them out on the sacrificial stone. Then they delivered them into the hands of six offering priests; they stretched them out upon their backs; they cut open their breasts with a wide-bladed flint knife. And they named the hearts of the captives “precious eagle-cactus fruit.” They raised them in dedication to the sun, Xippilli, Quauhtleuanitl. They offered it to him; they nourished him. And when [the heart] had become an offering … these captives who had died they called eagle men. Afterwards they rolled them over; they bounced them down. They came breaking to pieces; they came head over heels; they each came headfirst, they came turning over and over. Thus they reached the terrace at the base of the pyramid. … They took them there to their calpulco, where the taker of the captive had made his undertaking, had said his say, had made his vow. From there they removed him in order to take him to the house of [the captor], in order to eat him.
From Sahagún's description of the second month's rites.- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Divine HungerCannibalism as a Cultural System, pp. 169 - 195Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1986