Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo16amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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54 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL native records of this sacrifice refer to southern Mexico and are hxrgely con- cerned with astronom\'. From these pictures alone we should be unable to obtain more than an ob- jective similarity to the human sacrifice among the Pawnee. But Sahagun and other early writers gi\'e us intimate studies of acts and thoughts of the Mexi- cans that could hardly be expressed in drawings. Many ceremonies are de- scribed; some occurring at fixed times look the spiritual ones. The ^'ictim was often regarded as a personification of a god and as such he was feted, clothed in fine garments, and given every honor. Efforts were made to cause him to go willingly to his death, uplifted by a truly religious ecstasy. It was considered unlucky that he should grieve or falter. To give an example: On the last day of the month Toxcatl there was sacrificed a young man chosen from captured chieftains for his beautv and accom-
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One of two drawings in the Codex Porfirio Diaz representing a scaffold sacrifice. This manuscript is preserved in the National Museum in Mexico City and is accredited to the Ciucatecan tribe of the State of Guerrero. Before a crude drawing of a temple, a priest shoots arrows at the victim before the eyes 6f onlookers who sit and watch in the year, others at a time regulated by the Tonalamatl, or book of days, or by the rising of some star or planet. The psychological attitude toward human sacrifice comes out clearly in many of these accounts. Ceremonialism was intensely devel- oped in Mexico and the dramatic quality of many Aztec rites of human sacrifice has probably never been eciualled. We are apt to think only of the gruesome features of human sacrifice and to over- plishments. For an entire year this intended ^•ictim, gayly attired and accompanied by a retinue of pages, had been granted the freedom of the city. When the month of Toxcatl entered he was given brides whose names were those of goddesses, and in his honor was held a succession of brilliant festivals. On the last day there was a parade of canoes across Lake Texcoco, and when a certain piece of desert land was reached the l)rides and courtiers l)a(le farewell to the

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