[Aztlan] on the rightness or wrongness of human sacrifice

[Hoopes, John W]

While I've no doubt that Mike is capable of far greater insights into
the Aztec mind than I, it is important to consider models other than the
one of "the priests tell me that the gods said so".  One of these is the
possibility that shame, disgrace, and the opportunity to win honor for
oneself and one's family played a role in the "willingness" of the
"victim" to become a "sacrifice".  (All of these words in quotations can
be critiqued and unpacked with reference to Western connotations.  For
now, I'll just point out that substituting the word "gift" for
"sacrifice" can make a profound difference in connotations of the act.)

I don't think that Japanese warriors who practiced seppuku (ritual
self-disembowelment; one form of which was harikiri) thought of
themselves as willing victims of sacrifice or engaged in this act
because they believed priests told them it was the will of the gods.
Seppuku is often thought of as suicide, but the most common form was
apparently an act of self-mutilation followed by voluntary decapitation
at the hands of an assistant.  It was a form of death restricted to
samurai, not practiced by commoners.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku

It would be nice to see more evidence for this, but I have a hunch that
what was going on in the mind of an Aztec warrior stretched out on a
sacrificial stone was much closer to that of a disgraced Japanese
samurai, unwillingly but heroically making a gift of his shame through
ritual.  I could be mistaken, but I imagine that Aztec human sacrifice
as originally practiced was enveloped in as much philosophy, poetry, and
dark beauty as Japanese seppuku.

Alternatively, some insights might be gained by considering the acts of
modern-day suicide bombers in the Middle East, who I also doubt are
considered by themselves, their families, or their communities to be
willing victims of human sacrifice.  The psychology is far more complex
than that.

In the cases of both seppuku and suicide bombers, the issues of
"rightness or wrongness" are far from simple within an emic perspective.
Naturally, both are viewed as "barbaric" from a Western perspective,
itself the height of irony given that a willing sacrifice/suicide is at
the heart of Christian ideology.

John Hoopes

-----Original Message-----
From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org
[mailto:aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org] On Behalf Of Michael Smith
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 12:30 PM
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: Re: [Aztlan] on the rightness or wrongness of human sacrifice

I hesitate to enter the murky waters of human sacrifice debates, but let
me make 2 quick materialist observations to stir things up:

 

(1) On the question of whether the victims and others believed they were
doing a sacred duty and went willingly to their deaths: I can't answer
this question, but I do know that ancient elites always liked to try to
convince others that commoners bought the state ideology and believed
odd things (such as, "its ok to be sacrificed, the priests tell me that
the gods said so, I'm cool about it"); also, the invading Spaniards
liked to think that the Aztecs  believed (and did) odd and barbaric
things. Finally, many modern people like to think that ancient and
nonwestern people ("Others") spend all their time thinking about
religion and the gods, and have crazy beliefs that no rational westerner
would admit to. I personally require a far higher level of proof (than
is commonly offered) that Aztec commoners really bought into the
sacrifice ideology and went willingly to their death. Drugged victims
and warriors to enforce security make more sense to me.

 

(2) On the flowery war, to me the most amazing aspect of it is that so
many modern scholars believe the Mexica lies and propaganda (i.e., that
they weren't really trying to conquer Tlaxcala, that these were just
ritualized practice wars, etc.). The Tlaxcalans told a very different
story about these wars. See pages 170-171 of my The Aztecs (2nd edition,
2003, Blackwell).

 

Mike

 

Dr. Michael E. Smith

Professor of Anthropology

School of Human Evolution & Social Change

Arizona State University

www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/

 

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