Public Ritual

On top of daily and life-cycle rituals, there was an additional category of cyclical rituals tied to specific days in the tonalpohualli calendar and especially the Mexica solar calendar, which consisted of 18 20-day months and an additional 5 days. There also were special rituals to mark the end and beginning of 4- and 52-year cycles. Over the course of the 18-month year, rituals were held to propitiate the gods of nature, particularly those who were necessary for the survival of the people, such as sun, earth, rain, and maize; the ceremonies also propitiated gods who were believed to have founded specific tribes or families. Another category of public rituals commemorated major state occasions, such as the naming of a new ruler or the consecration of a new temple or religious monument.

While many life-cycle rituals took place among families or clans, most rituals took place in Tenochtitlan's many temples, particularly the Great Temple in the heart of the city, which symbolized the mythical "serpent's mountain," the birthplace of Huitzilopochtli, the god of sun and war and the patron god of the Mexica. In addition to the tonalpouhque, Mexica society had 39 other types of ritual specialists. Among these was the teohatzin, a "king of the priests" who was in charge of all the city's temples as well as the clamecac, the school for noble youth. Other ritual specialists were in charge of the sacred pulque, supervised ceremonial music, or were responsible for finding the objects need for human sacrifices. Since Mexica religion was a state religion, its rituals were fairly homogeneous and controlled by the central authority; such high ceremonies as human sacrifice could take place only with the authorization of the head of state.

Virtually all high ceremonies culminated in human sacrifice, which took place on platforms on top of the temple pyramids, on hills, on by springs. The sacrificial victim was believed to supply cosmic energy to the various gods who personified various aspects of nature. The sacrifice always was conducted by a special priest who was aided by four assistants. While his assistants held the victim's arms and legs and spread him over a sacrificial stone, the priest used a flint knife to cut open the chest and extract the heart, which was then offered to the gods, particularly the gods of sun and earth. The heart was then placed in a special vessel, and if the victim was a captive the body was thrown down the steps of the temple. When it reached the bottom it was decapitated and the head placed on a special rack called the tzompantli. The body was turned over to the victim's captor, who offered a banquet of the corpse. On some occasions a priest or someone who had taken a special vow dressed himself in the flayed skin of the victim and performed a special series of rituals.