1. What they Told the Friar (De lo que contaron al fraile) (Mexico City, 1994; originally written in Spanish by Krystyna Libura, Claudia Burr, and Ma. Cristina Urrutia; adapted to PowerPoint and translated to English by Olivia Smith and Stephanie Wood, 2015)

2. Bernardino de Sahagún He was a Spanish friar who met with indigenous elders, native-speakers of Nahuatl, and gathered information about their culture. He translated the information to Spanish, wanting to share with others their information about life prior to European contact. Some call him the first ethnographer (anthropologist) of the Americas.

3. Religion Sahagún was especially interested in Aztec (Nahua) religion. He wanted to convert these people to Christianity. To be most effective at this, he felt that he needed to understand their beliefs and practices period to contact.

4. Multiple Gods The Nahuas worshipped a number of gods or divinities (the symbol above is teotl, divinity). Their creator deity, Quetzalcoatl, taught them how to pierce and bleed themselves as an offering to the gods. They also celebrated their gods with music, song, and dances year round.

5. Human Sacrifice: A Great Concern to Sahagún Human sacrifices were made to the gods to ensure the sun would rise and life would continue. Offerings of human blood were made by piercing the body with large thorns or cutting out the heart. Blood was perceived as the most precious substance.

6. The Holiday of all Holidays (The Sacrifice) This ceremony, practiced every 52 years, was dedicated to the deity Tezcatlipoca. A flawless youth was chosen, taught to play the flute, and was worshiped as a god for one whole year. On the day of the fiesta, he climbed to the top of the temple, breaking his flute in pieces at every step. At the top of the pyramid (teocalli, shown above), the priests sacrificed him, cutting out his heart.

7. Homes were cleaned and a feast was made in preparation. All home fires were extinguished. (Flame glyphs appear above, left and right.) But the priests started a new fire on the chest of the sacrificed youth, lit a torch, and carried the new fire to all the homes. The city lit up as though it was day time. The Holiday of all Holidays (The New Fire Ceremony)

8. Astronomy & Calendars Nahuas were able to calculate the movements of the sun, moon, and stars. They used astronomy to keep track of time. Mesoamericans had two calendars of different lengths.

9. Divination Above, we see the glyph for xihuitl (year). Calendars had day “signs” that involved a number and a name, such as “Two Ocelot,” or “Seven Rain.” The Nahuas consulted one calendar to determine what the future held for their newborn children. The day “One Rabbit” was a fortunate day to be born, for the child would be a good worker and become wealthy.

10. Government The tlatoani was the highest ruler. He sat on the icpalli (woven-mat throne, shown on the left). “Tlatoani” meant the one who speaks. See the “speech scrolls”” emerging from his mouth, above. He was also responsible for keeping the fire lit in the temples. And he was responsible for supervising justice. He sentenced judges to jail and even to death for not fulfilling their duties.

11. Government The tlatoani worked in the tecpan (palace), shown above. One of his most important jobs was to supervise wars. Some wars were defensive. But ancient Mexicans were also empire builders; they subjugated other indigenous peoples through war and collected taxes from them. Men fought in wars; the war marches were led by the priests, then the captains, then the warriors.

12. Tributes and Trade Conquered neighbors were taxed, having to give what was called “tributes” (things and labor). Some of the things given in tributes were precious, hand woven cloths, war shields covered with feathers, and foods. Other products (such as cotton, shown above) were brought to the capital city by long-distant merchants (pochtecas). These merchants were also spying for the emperor, gathering information.

13. The Arts Feathers were used by artists to make something akin to paintings, but also headdresses, shields, and blankets. There were many other kinds of art work, too.

14. Medicines The Nahuas developed natural medicines, often from herbs, trees, roots, and stones, to cure many different kinds of illnesses. Above, we see a bowl of oxitl, which was a resin that was used in some remedies. They also used steam baths to stay clean and healthy. In the steam baths, they rubbed their bodies with herbs.

15. Hunting, Fishing, Agriculture The Nahuas were adept at creating an agricultural surplus for feeding people who lived in cities and did not farm. The rural areas, though, we full of farming settlements. People also hunted and fished to provide food for their families.