WHI-Chap6/21-blodletting ceremonies

In almost all of the Mesoamerican societies, the religious aspect of sacrifices or bloodletting ceremonies have been deeply engraved into society. Originating with the Olmec society in around 1200 BCE, the idea of sacrificing or bloodletting ceremonies were implemented to ensure the productivity and longevity of their agricultural society. In the case of the Olmecs, the victims were beheaded and dedicated to gods of natural causes like rain and earth in hopes of favorable crop growing. However, different societies adopted the bloodletting ceremonies to their own causes. The Aztecs, for example, sacrificed victims not purely for their agricultural society, but for the continuation of the world. They believed that these bloodletting ceremonies were necessary for the appeasement of the gods, and to ensure that the sun would continue to rise every day. To them, it was simply a necessary part of life that simply needed to take place. Unlike the Olmecs who beheaded their victims, the Aztecs sacrificed their victims by cutting out their heart and placing it on an altar to be burned in honor of the gods. In all of the societies, the bloodletting ceremonies were done by the priests and sometimes the nobility. In some cases it was believed that the shedding of royal blood was necessary for the appeasement of the gods.

Made by Jack Russ

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