Ochpaniztli

Ochpaniztli is the Eleventh Month of the Aztec calendar. It is also a festival in the Aztec religion dedicated to Toci and Tlazolteotl and is also the month of cleaning or sweeping away. [1][2][3] The climax of the festival of Ochpaniztli was the sacrifice of a young woman from one of the peoples subjected to the power of the Aztecs who for four days was bedecked with flowers and perfume and was teased by the woman taking care of her day about her impeding death.[4] On the fifth day to honor the Maize Lord, the young woman had her mouth bound so she could not scream and was sacrificed by having her heart ripped out of her by using an obsidian knife so the crops might grow.[5] In the words of the Australian historian Inga Clendinnen:

"Then, still in darkness, silence, and urgent haste, her body was flayed, and a naked priest, a 'very strong man, very powerful, very tall', struggled into the wet skin, with its slack breasts and pouched genitalia: a double nakedness of layered, ambiguous sexuality. The skin of one thigh was reserved to be fashioned into a face-mask for the man impersonating Centeotl, Young Lord Maize Cob, the son of Toci".[6]

The sacrifice of the young woman was done publicly at the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan and was always the cause of great celebration and joy among the Mexica who believed the Mazie Lord would reward them with a good harvest in the coming year.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Ochpaniztli, the 11th Month of the Aztec Solar Calendar". World Digital Library. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  2. ↑ Max Harris (2000). Aztecs, Moors, and Christians: Festivals of Reconquest in Mexico and Spain. University of Texas Press. pp. 74–. ISBN 978-0-292-77929-7. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  3. ↑ "The Aztec Festivals". www.amoxtli.org. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  4. ↑ Clendinnen, Inga Aztecs: An Interpretation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1995 page 201.
  5. ↑ Clendinnen, Inga Aztecs: An Interpretation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1995 page 201.
  6. ↑ Clendinnen, Inga Aztecs: An Interpretation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1995 page 201.
  7. ↑ Clendinnen, Inga Aztecs: An Interpretation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1995 page 201.
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