Strange facts and information about the intimate culture and beliefs of the Aztec people and the way they dealt with their desires and desires
The Aztec civilization flourished from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries in what is now Mexico. The Aztec Empire was formed from several independent cities in the area around Mexico City, and it was one of the Mesoamerican civilizations that had many artistic and cultural achievements.
Although they are famous in popular culture for their gods eager for revenge and human sacrifices; The Aztecs had a rich culture that included distinct styles of painting, sculpture, and ceramics, but one aspect of the Aztec civilization's often undiscussed peculiarities was their strict repressive sexual culture.
In this article; We will learn about Aztec beliefs about intimate life and how they dealt with it until their empire fell in the 16th century at the hands of Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors:
1. The penalty for homosexuality is the death penalty:
Illustration depicting the execution of a gay man. Image: Wikimedia
Homosexuality was deeply despised in the Aztec Empire, and was never acknowledged. Punishments were extremely harsh for anyone found to be practicing homosexual activity, as lesbians were executed by strangling and impaling the homosexual giver, while the receiving partner was executed by extracting the internal organs from his anus, and even anal relations between heterosexuals were punished by hanging.
There are some references to the presence of some male prostitutes in Aztec writings, as well as at least one deity: Sochibeli, who was associated with homosexuality, but the existence of homosexuals and homosexual behavior was denied primarily by the Aztec community and its leaders, and a similar example can be seen in the modern era in Iran When former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that there were no gays in Iran.
You will notice that the receiving partner in same-sex relationships receives the harshest punishment and this act is similar to what was known in Roman culture, where giving partners were socially acceptable, but future partners were seen as immoral and "effeminate". The Aztecs had strict notions of masculinity and celebrated aggressive behavior and "macho" men, and any behavior that would make a man act or appear like a woman would diminish his role in Aztec society.
2. The Aztecs had evil sex gods:
Of the deities of the Aztec people. Image: Wikimedia
Like many other cultures, the Aztecs had many deities. Some of these deities ruled the realms of “lust and vice.” It was often believed that the deities who ruled sexuality were associated with the bad luck of those who prayed to them or angered them with their behavior and behavior.
A group of five deities were known who oversaw the realm of sexual intimacy, and all five were also associated with misfortune and disease. This link may be due to what they knew about sexually transmitted diseases.
Two goddesses were associated with sin, lust and infidelity, namely (Exconem) and (Chiccomicoatl), and given the tendency of the Aztecs to punish women only for the charge of "adultery", it is not surprising that the goddesses of infidelity were portrayed as women, and although (Chiccomicoatl) was associated with intimacy and cohabitation, it had a greater connection Birth and fertility.
In the Aztec language group of Nahuatl, the word Ahuienime came from the name of the goddess (Ahutario). Interestingly enough, the word translates literally as “pleasure-bringer,” but colonial Catholics translated the word to have a stronger negative connotation and described prostitutes. The Aztecs have evil creatures.
Given that much of our knowledge of the Aztecs was written through a Catholic colonial lens, it is hard to really understand how the Aztecs themselves viewed this goddess and her name-bearers.
3- Polygamy was restricted to wealthy men:
Illustration depicting the Aztecs. Image: Wikimedia
Throughout history, there are countless examples of cultures that allowed powerful men to take wives without counting. Genghis Khan had more than fifty wives, the Prophet Muhammad had eleven wives and several concubines, and the Aztec Empire followed the example of other empires, allowing powerful and wealthy men to marry Several, but it was the only form of polygamy in which the Aztecs tolerated, in which lower-class men and all women were forbidden to have multiple partners or husbands.
Like most cultures in the general case, the Aztecs usually recognized one wife as the "true" wife who was given full status, while other wives were viewed as close to being concubine, just as Genghis Khan had one wife whose children he recognized as his heirs . While the children of additional wives were not recognized as eligible or eligible for inheritance and honour.
The presence of wives in the Aztec Empire was strongly associated with increasing wealth. The process of weaving cloth, which was highly valued and used as currency, was restricted to women, and every man who had several female workers in his house would have much greater wealth than a lower-class man with only one working wife. The Aztec chieftain (Moticusuma) had hundreds of wives, all of whom were constantly making fortunes for his family.
4. Pregnant women are encouraged to continue cohabiting with their husbands:
Illustration depicting pregnancy in the Aztecs. Image: Wikimedia
Aztec people of all social classes resorted to midwives throughout pregnancy to maintain the health of women and children. These special midwives cared for women through “divine influences” that could affect pregnancy according to their beliefs. The Aztecs believed that many celestial events, including eclipses, Solar radiation can have a significant impact on both the pregnancy and the health and condition of the baby.
The midwives also encouraged Aztec women to continue cohabiting with their husbands until the seventh month of pregnancy, as this practice was linked to child activity. The Spanish monk Bernardino de Sahagún described their belief in the Florentine Codex saying: “If you abstain completely from physical action, the child will be born sick and weak.”
We now know that intercourse during pregnancy does not affect the health of the child, which is a safe and healthy process for women, and research indicates that the release of the hormone oxytocin during intercourse as well as the softening effect of semen on the cervix can help stimulate and facilitate labor, and thus the Aztecs preceded their era in encouraging This healthy activity during pregnancy.
5. Concubines were forced to abstain from intercourse after giving birth:
Aztec depiction of childbirth. Image: Wikimedia
Although the Aztecs emphasized the importance of sexual intercourse during pregnancy, they believed it necessary to discontinue it after childbirth. In fact, postpartum concubines of nobles were required not to engage in any kind of relationship, and they were expected to refrain from sharing their master's bed for years after the birth of their children. Given that the relationship between many of the concubines and their husbands was probably not one based on compatibility, it may have been a blessing and a space for them.
The sons of concubines were not accorded the same status as the sons of "real" wives of high-ranking men, but remained of a much higher rank than the children of ordinary men and women. This pattern was reflected in many cultures including the Mughal Empire, but there are some exceptions to the general rule for children of They attained a higher status than others. Emperor Itzcoatl, the son of the first Aztec Emperor (Acampichtelli), was not born from his true and faithful wife, but was a peasant and just a concubine to the emperor. Sources say that Itzcoatl's mother sold vegetables in the market and lived in a bad condition.
6. Prostitutes had a role in Aztec rituals:
Sketch of the Aztec civilization. Image: Wikimedia
Prostitutes, known as ahuyanim, served an important role in Aztec society, but unfortunately many contemporary sources on Aztec prostitutes came from the perspective of Catholic colonists who viewed the Aztecs only from their own perspective of marriage, and in the Florentine manuscript the monk said: de Sahagún) that the women would be offered to the youth as a reward after the battle, and were also trained in art and music and were pleasing and pleased men before being handed over to the gods as a human sacrifice.
Given the importance of human sacrifice in Aztec culture, prostitutes undoubtedly played a fundamental role in the Aztec civilization, which the Catholic colonists could not understand or appreciate.
It is also said that the ahuyanim were easily recognizable, as all Aztec women had their hair up, prostitutes always lowered it, and they were also the only women allowed to put perfume and color on their faces. The manuscript claims that the Ahoyanim painted their teeth, chewed gum, and wore jewellery. Sahagún described them as evil and immoral and made no effort to understand their role in Aztec culture.
7. Adultery was punishable by death, especially for women:
Illustration depicting the Aztec water deity Chalchiohetlic. Wikimedia.
As with countless cultures throughout the ages, including our own, male sexuality is less restrictive, punishing, and shameful than female sexuality. This concept applied to the Aztec Empire as well. With men able to take multiple wives, poor men and women would have faced legal consequences for doing so. The Aztec culture inflicted unfair punishments on women in particular as punishment for infidelity. It was generally recognized that men The low-status had extramarital affairs, but women had to pay a heavy price for any infidelity. The punishment for men of low status was beatings, headscarves, or some other physical punishment, but the women's death.
Both men and women of all classes were supposed to be virgins at marriage, and only women were examined to verify their virginity before the final engagement, as the hymen was the standard used as a sign of chastity in the Aztec culture as well as many European cultures at the time. Women suffered significantly less than men because there was no proof that men had sex before marriage while they were not.
8. Masturbation was punished with chemical burns:
The Aztecs did not tolerate masturbation and punished anyone caught engaging in such behavior.
The author (Gary Jennings) in his book "The Aztecs" described attitudes regarding masturbation in Aztec culture and the punishment used, and stated that men discovered to be masturbating would rub ground hot peppers on their genitals.
It is not clear how strict this prohibition was, nor who was responsible for enforcing the punishment, and one also wonders if it applied to both sexes, or if female masturbation was even recognized in Aztec culture.
The active ingredient in hot peppers is capsaicin, which is used in self-defense sprays. It causes burning and a stinging sensation that ranges from irritation to excruciating pain depending on the concentration of the chemical, but other indigenous cultures in North America, particularly some Native American tribes, used ground chili peppers. To cause mild sedation to prolong sexual performance and enhance enjoyment, some Spanish colonists are said to have tried it, which made many Catholic priests accompany them on their travels.
9. The Aztec kings offered female sacrifices in a brutal way:
Sketch of the Aztec leader (Ichtellesotetel). Image: Wikimedia
Human sacrifice was a key component of the religious practices of the Aztec Empire, and it was applied to both men and women to appease various deities, but female sacrifices faced a particularly brutal fate, as they were not given any of the rewards as male sacrifices before their death. In fact, they were Rewarding them before they are sacrificed is already an additional punishment for them...
Where the female sacrifices offered to the mother goddess (Tusi) were granted to the tlatwani, ruler or king, this gift allowed the ruler to use the woman as he wanted, meaning that the woman would be used as a sexual object by the ruler before her death on a large scale. When one compares this fate with the gifting of four wives and the pampering of male victims before death, this act stands out egregiously and shows how much women paid a heavy price in the Aztec religion.
After a while she was assaulted by the (Tlatwani); The woman is flayed alive and then put on her skin by a male priest who assumes the role of the goddess (Tusi), represented in contemporary Aztec artwork as wearing human skin from sacrifices offered to her.
10. Several concubines were given to the males before they were sacrificed:
Sculpture depicting an Aztec woman Image: Wikimedia.
Human sacrifice stood at the core of the Aztec religion. Men were invited to serve as the embodiment of the god Tezcatlipoca, the god of time, before being sacrificed in a special ritual. These men serve in the name of expetla for a year before being sacrificed, and in the last month of their lives they are given Four women to be taken as wives.
The four women certainly would not create wealth for their husbands through weaving in that month, but they undoubtedly served as sexual tools to make the last month of the sacrificial man's experience more enjoyable, and it is not clear what these women's standing after the man's sacrifice and whether they could marry again in time later.
Thus the role of women is terrible, both as sacrifices and as gifts to men. They were victims no matter where they served, and no element of Aztec religion seems to have offered women a role to save them, even the part that showed women in Aztec religion as contributions to it was by offering their souls to warriors after battle.
11. The Aztecs gave women as gifts to the conquistadors:
Portrait of an Aztec woman preparing corn. Image: Wikimedia
The primary role of women in Aztec society was to work on weaving, as the piece of cloth was highly valued and the only women who made it. Accordingly, women were seen as something akin to royalty, let alone offered both in ritual sacrifices, and among high-ranking males as a gesture of friendship or alliance.
The custom of “gifting” women continued when the Spanish colonists arrived in Mexico, and one Spanish historian noted: “Whatever woman they wanted, they were granted as men of power. Moreover, many of the rulers’ daughters were given to the Spaniards, so that they would leave their grandchildren there, should they depart from this land.” This Aztec reasoning was tragically wise, as the Spanish colonists eventually destroyed their empire within a century of their arrival.
With the arrival of the colonizer (Cortes), he and his men were granted twenty women, including a wealthy noblewoman of high standing who served as a diplomat between the Spanish and the Aztecs. Given the condition of women at the time, there is no documentation or accounts of how women felt about men gifted to them, or what role, if any, consent played in these gifts.
12. The Aztecs used the profession of orator to complete the marriage:
Statue of the goddess (calaquitleco). Image: Wikimedia
Marriage was like a very formal relationship with all classes of Aztec society. People did not approach each other directly or make marriage proposals to each other. Rather, they followed a very detailed set of customs implemented by professional marriage brokers known as "ah-atanza", and the Aztecs married at an older age compared to In the various Mesoamerican cultures, many did not marry until their late teens, or even early twenties, when other cultures often arranged marriages from childhood.
The groom's parents have traditionally been the initiators of the marriage process by working with mediators. After consulting with the groom's family or clan, they will ask a professional mediator to intervene. The mediator then contacts the intended bride's family and makes a proposal. The bride was expected to be a virgin upon marriage, but both parties were supposed to remain celibate until then.
If the marriage proposal is accepted, a wedding ceremony will follow. The traditional Aztec celebration lasted for four days with the official marriage ceremony being held on the first day, and various festivities, feasts, and rituals on the following days. Some traditions include the mother of the bride offering the couple a little tamale, lighting a hearth, preparing incense to various deities, and tying the groom's clothes to the bride's skirt as a gesture of unity.
13. The Aztecs viewed childbirth as a battle:
Illustration depicting the Aztec goddess of childbirth (Tellazultutil). Photo: Dumbarton Oaks
The Aztec deities ruled the world of childbirth, and midwives worked in her service to oversee all pregnancies and births, and they followed her instructions, which included encouraging women to have intercourse and avoiding heavenly events. To relieve pain and cramping. Upon successful birth the midwife issues several war cries to celebrate the mother's achievement. The Aztecs viewed childbirth as feminine war and treated it with respect similar to actual war.
Women who died in childbirth were mourned, honored in the same way as dead soldiers, and protected in the same social standing. Women who died in childbirth were also sometimes depicted as a form of a vengeful spirit known as sewatet who is believed to have pursued adults and kidnapped their children.
Although women did not hold a high position in Aztec society and treated most of them as property, they were held in high esteem for their ability to give birth to future Aztec generations.
14. The umbilical cord was preserved until it was burned or buried on battlefields or under stoves:
Two pages of the Tudela manuscript, an Aztec manuscript. Image: Wikimedia
The newborn's umbilical cord has been carefully preserved and preserved into adulthood, as it had deep cultural significance and was required for rites of passage into adulthood. When a baby is born, the midwife washes it and then removes the umbilical cord. The midwife would also stay with the mother for several days to make sure that breastfeeding was going well, because the Aztecs did not have animals that could produce milk for infants.
If a baby girl is born, the umbilical cord will be buried under the hearth of the house, and this practice is believed to make the baby a better future wife and mother because the hearth is the center of the lifeline in the house. An Aztec book of sayings called (Huywitlatuli) included a paragraph describing the customs that encouraged girls to "be at home like the heart to the body."
If a male child is born the secret child is given to a male warrior, presumably in the infant's family, to be carried to foreign lands and buried on a battlefield, and this method is believed to make the boy a powerful warrior, which is intrinsic to their civilization, as the primary value of a male Aztec child was his ingenuity in battle.
Regarding male children, the previous book said: “Your profession and skill is war. Your role is to give blood to the sun and to feed and water the bodies of your enemies to the earth.”
15. Women were not allowed to watch the eclipse for fear of giving birth to a beast:
A page from the Bourbonix, an Aztec manuscript. Image: Wikimedia
The Aztecs believed that divine, celestial events had a great effect on unborn children, and they feared particularly strongly about the effects that a solar eclipse might have on the fetus. The source of this belief was an astrological deity (Nitzmitl) who was usually peaceful but transformed into terrifying monsters when the sun disappeared during an eclipse. It was believed that women allowed to watch the eclipse would be harmed by the goddess who would turn their children into monsters like her.
Aztec midwives ensured the safety of pregnant women during similar events, and any sign of astronomical disturbance, such as eclipses, comets, or other strange events, was taken as an ominous omen that required the obligation to protect pregnant women and their children. On a more practical level, midwives advised and taught mothers, especially modern mothers, how to maintain their health and follow a beneficial diet, and they also trained women on how to give birth, as Aztec women usually gave birth in a squatting position that allowed gravity to help facilitate labor, and they By teaching mothers how to breastfeed, making sure that milk is flowing adequately, and that the child has learned how to take it properly.
16. Christian invaders forced the Aztecs to abandon their wives:
A painting depicting the invaders. Image: Wikimedia
When Christian colonists arrived from Spain in the 15th century, they brought their entire Catholic faith with them. Beginning in 1529, Catholics began converting the Aztec nobility to Christianity with the aim of spreading it through the nobility to the lower classes. Part of the conversion involved monogamy, as polygamy was strictly prohibited under Christianity.
Under Christian law any additional wife other than the "primary" wife was an adulteress and was immediately deprived of the man's family, and all children were declared illegitimate. This forced monogamy had an immediate and disastrous effect on Aztec culture, as many arranged marriages among nobles forged alliances, concentrated their fortunes, and resolved conflicts, and indeed left countless women without legal or social status.
The women who had previously made cloth for their husbands now worked under the tutelage of the Spaniards and in harsh conditions and a labor system used in the areas they colonized. With catastrophic changes to their culture and way of life, it is not surprising that their empire fell through a century of colonization.
Source: History Collection website
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