#aztec rituals

[xochitl-nahuatl]

The Aztec Death Whistle

These whistles were used by Aztecs in multiple ways. One way was during healing rituals, used to drive away malign spirits that threatened the ill person’s life. Other times, shamans would use these whistles to contact the dead. 

It was also used in several ceremonies, including Tezcatlipoca’s festival of Toxcatl, during which a healthy young man was chosen to be the gods’ Ixiptla (image). The Ixiptla would be served and pampered for an entire year, all the while keeping and using a death whistle. At the end of the year, the Ixiptla would have the honor of being sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca.

[darkerdrawings]

New Fire ceremony

[evilhorse]

The moon is full and torches burn at the many corners of the grand pyramid.

(Aztec Ace #1)

[gruesomehistory]

The Aztecs: Tlacaxipehualiztli or The Flaying of Men

A springtime festival in honor of Xipe Totec, the god of spring and new vegetation, wo flayed himself so that plants would grow. War captives would have one foot tied to a stone was to fight against a warrior who was fully armed. 

After their deaths their skins were flayed and the skins would be worn by the priests of Xipe Totec, to symbolize new plant growth. The priests would wear the skins for 20 days, and during this time they would dance throughout the city, blessing people by touching them with a thigh bone.