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Essay on the aztecs on human sacrifice
Essay on the aztecs on human sacrifice
Essay on the aztecs on human sacrifice
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Sacrifice Making decisions between keeping and letting things go proves a difficult task. Choices between a beloved comfy jersey and a new sports jacket may cause frustration. One holds sentimental value and the other practicality. How does one decide? Sacrifice provides the only solution. Sacrifice amounts to providing an offering with the intent of receiving something in return. Sacrifice originates from the Latin word sacrificium. Consisting of the roots sacer, meaning sacred, and facere, meaning to make. Overall, sacrifice means: to make sacred. Because sacred means having a religious connection, people often sacrifice offerings to their god or deity. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines sacrifice as, “destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else.” (Merriam-Webster) In this sense, one doesn’t sacrifice for religious reasons, but in order to obtain something of greater importance. Sacrifice essentially means the act of giving up something valuable for something more valuable. Sacrifice involves an offering, either blood or bloodless. Blood offerings typically consist of animal or human sacrifice, often to a deity or god. The Aztecs sacrificed people and animals to their gods because they believed that blood fed the gods. Also, the Aztecs thought that they owed …show more content…
the gods a blood-debt and sacrifice was the only way to repay the gods. Bloodless offerings include libations and monetary sacrifice. These sacrifices do not involve giving up a living thing. A libation is a drink that is poured out as a offering. Libations were recorded as far back as the Iliad and the Bible. Libations are a common way to honor one’s dead loved ones. During Kwanzaa a libation gets poured out to, “serve as a ritual to reinforce unity in the family and community.”(Patterson) In a religious context people would pour out water, wine, milk, or honey in order to deepen their spiritual connection. Monetary sacrifices consist of giving away money to obtain something more worthwhile. Christians tithe, meaning they release ten percent of their income to the church. This *stands as* a sacrifice for the betterment of the church. Whether blood or bloodless, sacrifice evidently demands a valuable offering. Sacrifices began as a way to honor God. People often associate sacrifice with religious purposes, however sacrifices are not only performed unto a god. Even though sacrifices are a way to build a stronger spiritual connection, people make sacrifices everyday for non-religious purposes. People commonly sacrifice to ancestors. Nevertheless, sacrifice can be made to anything of personal importance. For example, fallen soldiers sacrificed their lives for their country. If a person or object means enough, then one can find a way to sacrifice to it. People sacrifice daily on a small and large-scale. Parents sacrifice for their children to get a better education. Students sacrifice to obtain higher grades. People give up certain foods as a sacrifice to live a healthier lifestyle. In all these examples the offering is of value to the person willing to give it up. The size of the sacrifice doesn’t matter, however the value to the individual does. Because sacrifice entails giving up something valuable, people often question why make sacrifices at all.
People make sacrifices because they want to gain a closer religious relationship. As a form of worship, sacrifice helps to connect one with their god through religious devotion. Additionally, sacrifice develops one as a person. By making sacrifices, one can better appreciate what they have. Also, people sacrifice in order to provide better experiences for their loved ones. In reality, people sacrifice for a variety of different reasons. What’s valuable to someone may not be valuable to someone else. Because of that everyone sacrifices different things for different
reasons. Sacrifice results in unselfish generosity. By sacrificing one’s own desires one obtains something even greater in return. Regardless of the magnitude of the offering, one’s sacrifice is always sincere because it comes from their heart. Works Cited Cottrill, Jaime. “Aztec Sacrifice.” Aztec History, www.aztec-history.com/aztec-sacrifice.html. Faherty, Robert L. “Sacrifice.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 23 Mar. 2012, www.britannica.com/topic/sacrifice-religion. Patterson, Irma. “Kwanzaa.” Kwanzaa | Reformed Church in America, 18 Nov. 2016, www.rca.org/resources/kwanzaa. “Sacrifice (n.).” Index, www.etymonline.com/word/sacrifice. “Sacrifice.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sacrifice.
Although there are good reasons for emphasizing human sacrifice, there are even better reasons for emphasizing agriculture. An example is the Aztecs' exceptional use of their surroundings, such as the willow trees for anchors, and reeds for frames. Human sacrifice can be also emphasized for the Aztecs' belief that the Gods needed blood, but the spotlight is on agriculture.
Why did the culture and customs require human blood to survive? How did high Aztec society view these sacrifice? These answers are easy to obtain using anthropology and archeology and historical documents from the time such as the infamous letters of Cortez. To the first question o why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice to understand the reasons one must understand their epic religious beliefs. The Aztecs thought the world would end if they did not sacrifice human blood to their gods. The Gods were always locked in an epic battle and needed human blood to keep the universe from being destroyed. According to Aztec mythology, this world was the fifth and last universe so human blood was needed to continue the universe and prevent its destruction. The world had been destroyed four times before by the gods and it was up to the Aztecs who thought they were in the center of the world to stop its
The perspective of another society is always subjective, especially when two completely different cultures interact for the first time. In Bernal Diaz del Castillo’s The History of the Conquest of New Spain, the first hand account illustrates a barbaric and pagan society where sacrifices are pervasive in everyday life. However, David Carrasco’s essays titled “The Exaggeration of Human Sacrifice” and “Human Sacrifice / Debt Payments from the Aztec Point of View” shed a significant amount of insight into the religious roles that human sacrifice played in Aztec society rather than the cruel and barbaric connotations which Díaz heavily implied. Based on the readings of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Carrasco’s essays offered an outside perspective
...animals and so on. If you made the gods angry, it was believed that you would suffer. The Aztecs focused on sacrifice, and evil gods. There were only a few gods that were worshipped for their kindness, and bravery such as Quetzalcoatl. Other gods such as Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli were very different. They were worshipped for sacrifice and death, because they wanted to offer their hearts up to their gods. The Aztecs found people that they wanted to sacrifice and it started out that they sacrifice their own people, but once they found out that their own people would become extinct then they started finding other people and captured them. They took those people to the top of their temples and painted them and after they painted them they would be put on a slab and the sacrificer would rip their hearts out and offer the hearts to the sun. These were the Aztecs.
The only reason humanity is where it is now is because of the ability for humans to know when and where sacrifices must be made. From having to cut off an arm to escape from an avalanche, to having to spend extra time doing homework that would be better spent playing video games, sacrifices have always been made to achieve better and more rewarding goals. There are two kinds of sacrifices that are made. Those that one must make by themself and those that other’s are forced to make in order to achieve that end goal. Once again they won’t always be large ones, maybe just my mom taking a day off of work to take me to a tournament in Minnesota.
Sacrificing is the act of giving up, destroying, permitting injury to, or forgoing something valued for the sake of something having a more pressing claim. In Liberty and Exile by Julia Alvarez a lot of people have to take certain responsibilities which can involve sacrificing.
A common example of human sacrifice in modern day is war. The soldiers who take part in battle give themselves up to defend their nation. In the front lines the soldiers never know when they’ll take their last breath or step. They sacrifices themselves for the better of the country. In The Odyssey, Circe informs Odysseus, before hand, that he will come across a prodigious monster on his voyage. This monster’s name is Scylla and she has six heads and twelve legs. For every one of her heads, she swallows a person off the ship. No ship was ever passed through this dangerous monster without losing at least one man. Overall, six men were sacrificed in order for Odysseus and the rest of the crew to get home safely. But today, human sacrifice is not common whatsoever. The majority of the people do not take practice in any form of human sacrifice. “Religious wars and persecutions are still not at all uncommon in various parts of the world. Christianity and Islam...both have a long history of religious wars persecutions” (Pearson, 1). Strictly speaking, some Christians and Muslims take part in human sacrifice during the times of war and persecution. In conclusion, human sacrifice, similarly to how it occurred in Greek Mythology, still exists
One of the main things the Aztecs are known for are their human sacrifice rituals. They believed that life and balance would not be possible without offering sacrificial blood to the gods since the gods sacrificed themselves to give them the sun. Burying the dead was seen as an act of feeding the earth. The Aztecs preformed two rituals for the dead, the first being for children and the second being for adults. The ritual for adults put special focus on warriors who died in
The levitical sacrifices were laws given by God to the Israelites concerning the correct way the people should approach God. The sacrifices showed the people that there is access to God and that their sacrifices are necessary to approach God. It also showed the people that sin is serious; it leads to death and people need to realize their need for a Savior. The sacrifices also featured fellowship with God. Levitical sacrifices can be divided into two kinds: (1) the animal sacrifices which involved the shedding of blood and (2) the non-animal offerings which were bloodless offerings (Allis 1951, 99).
As can be seen, sacrifices take on many different shapes and forms. These sacrifices can be alike and different in many aspects, but they all are important in literature. Sacrifice molds the integrity and reputation of those making them, not only to the society in which they live, but also with the higher power that they worship. The sacrifices of Achilles, Gilgamesh, and Cain were all important in their respective cultures and were very influential in how these three will be looked upon throughout history. It is obvious that any sacrifice to be made must be carefully picked over and analyzed before it is enacted. Otherwise, one may wonder forever.
The Aztec civilization was a very complex society that was feared and known well for their various gory sacrifices done to please their many gods in their polytheistic religion. The much feared civilization began by the exile of one of the two Toltec leaders, which lead to the decline of the Toltec state that was later replaced by Mexica, or the Aztecs. According to the Aztecs, the land chosen to build their main city was chosen by the portrayal of an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. Through military might, the Aztecs managed to become the most powerful civilization in the mid-fourteenth century. They maintained their power through military might and the fear they caused other civilizations because of the human sacrifices they performed on their captured victims. In the mid-fourteenth century, the Aztecs used the method of human sacrifices to uphold fear in their neighbors by using the method year round to please the gods and ensure their survival.
The ritual of the sacrifice is a fundamental element of primitive culture. Primarily, blood sacrifice of an animal is the usual means of atonement for a primitive group. Other reasons behind this sacred ritual were to bow down to power, or to declare one’s adoration of a god or deity. The ideas behind the gift sacrifice, which existed in the early formation of religion, were thanksgiving and redemption.
Using human sacrifices was seen as “strictly ritualized process which gave the highest possible honor to the gods and was regarded as a necessity to ensure mankind’s continued prosperity. (Cartwright, Mark. "Aztec Sacrifice.")” To convince the Aztecs to avoid using human sacrifices, it must be done gradually and slowly. The Aztecs also used a non-fatal way of sacrifice that resulted in pieces of paper being drenched in blood then being burned. If the change in worship would change to that mainly for a bit, thousands wouldn’t sacrifice their lives, but they would still use a blood sacrifice. Gradually, the method of prayer rituals would be enforced under the understanding that there is a direct communication between those who are praying and the gods they are praying to. It would influence the Aztecs to use mainly verbal rituals, reducing the amount of blood shed in the name of religion. More people would live and there would still be the communication between the people and gods that the human sacrifice rituals held, but without
Human sacrifice is a global phenomenon which befuddles everyone around the world. We’ve all heard of it but we don’t actually know what it is or if it is still happening. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “Human Sacrifice is the offering of the life of a human being to a deity. The occurrence of human sacrifice can usually be related to the recognition of human blood as the sacred life force.” (E.B). Human sacrifice was very prominent in the past in several different cultures. Mass human sacrifices were very popular in different cultures because they did not want to travel to the afterlife alone so they required their followers to accompany them. Different religions/cultures have various ways of performing human sacrifice.
We can see as we offer sacrifices of shouts and singing, our heads will lift above our enemies around us. When we give the Lord a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, it honors Him. We make prophetic decrees to our enemies that God is bigger than he is. You are separating yourself from the enemies lies when you honor the Lord with a sacrifice. This gives God permission in the courts of heaven to execute vengeance upon our enemies. We can activate our angels to fight on our behalf when we give a sacrifice to the Lord. When we