Why the Aztecs sacrificed their children
Day 196 / 365
The Aztecs were a culture that was around in central Mexico from the year 1300 to 1500. As was the case with a lot of older civilizations, the Aztecs also believed that gods were responsible for when and how much it was going to rain. Since these were primarily agricultural civilizations, the rain was pretty important. Different civilizations had rituals to please the rain gods, many involving sacrificing animals.
The Aztecs were a bit too extreme in this regard. They used to offered human sacrifices to their rain god, and usually the children were the victims.
As if this was not bad enough, the priest that would perform this ceremony would first collect tears of these children and offer these tears to the god first. To collect more tears, they used to torture the children. This would involve pulling out their nails. The tears symbolized the rain, more tears would mean more rain.
You would think that atleast the parents would have protested right? The parents of these children were actually honored, as they really believed that the sacrifice of their children will be for the greater good of the tribe.
This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here
Yesterday’s blog — What does the Giraffe say?