Mexico Before Cortez - An Account of the Daily Life, Religion and Ritual of the Aztecs and Kindred Peoples

MEXICO BEFORE CORTEZ- AN ACCOUNT OF THE DAILY LIFE, RELIGION, AND RITUAL OF THE AZTECS AND KINDRED PEOPLES by ERIC THOMPSON. Originally published in 1933. PREFACE: IN this short account of daily life, religion, and rit ual as it existed in Mexico before the Spanish conquest I have tried, as far as possible, to avoid technical terms, lists of tribal designations, and detailed descriptions of archaeological work. In this connection the term Mexi can, as used in this book, should be defined. It is here used to describe the Aztecs, the Texcocans, and other tribes of the Valley of Mexico and adjacent regions who possessed the same general culture with minor lo cal variations. It does not cover Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, Michoacan, and other regions where local culture varied to a greater degree from that of the Aztecs. Less atten tion is paid to these areas in this book, partly from lack of information from early sources, partly from lack of space. T. A. Joyces excellent book Mexican Archeology is now out of print, but for the benefit of those who have had the fortune of reading or possessing a copy, I have tried to make this book to a certain extent complemen tary to his. This has been achieved by outlining in detail certain ethnological customs to which he paid little attention, and, on the other hand, stressing little the archaeological aspects fully developed in his book. Naturally, a considerable amount of duplication cannot be avoided, for we have both, perforce, syphoned off much literary wine from casks of the same sixteenth and seventeenth-century vintages. Aztec names have a somewhat terrifying aspect, but are actually easy to pronounce. X has a Sh sound 5 Qu, following Spanish custom, has a K sound Hu and Gu before a vowel have a W sound while all vowels are pronounced as in Spanish. For example, Xochicalco Shochecalco 5 Quetzalcoatl Kaytzalcoatl j Huehue teotl Waywaytayotl. I am greatly indebted to Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, for generous permission to illustrate this book with many pieces from the museums Mexican collections. Through the courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum and Captain T. A. Joyce, deputy keeper of Ceramics and Ethnography of that museum, I am able to reproduce the mosaic mask shown on Plate X. Doctor Robert Redfield, of the University of Chi cago, kindly supplied the print of Xochicalco pyramid, while I owe thanks to the Mexican Ministry of Educa tion for the use of the photograph of the pyramid at Tajin. Mr. Gordon C. Abbott and Professor Charles J. Chamberlain, both of Chicago, placed at my disposal their wonderful collections of photographs of Teoti huacan and Mitla. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to both of them for their kind co-operation. Finally, with out the tedious tracings from codices made by my wife this book would have been impossible J. ERIC THOMPSON. Contents include: PREFACE v CHAPTER I. A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 3 II. THE CYCLE OF LIFE 36 III. ARTS AND CRAFTS 60 IV. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION, WAR, AND TRADE 99 V. RELIGION-135 VI. THE CALENDAR AND THE FEASTS 169 VII. PRIESTHOOD, SPORTS, AND WRITINGS 220 VIII. TEMPLES AND TOMBS 252 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 291 INDEX 293 LIST OF PLATES ...