The Festival of the Toxcatl

[Kyriakos]

I was reading a bit about the grand festival of Toxcatl, which is argued to have been the main Aztec feast. It was centered on the (surprise) ritual sacrifice of a young man who was chosen for this one year before (as part of the previous feast) and until then lived as an impersonator of the god Tezcatlipoca.

The actual sacrifice would begin with the removal of the heart, using an obsidian dagger, but the body would then be decapitated and have all limbs cut off, flayed, and the remains were to be eaten by high-ranking Aztecs.

I have a few questions about this very charming and cheerful festivity:

A) Questions about the impersonator

1) Was the impersonator (original Aztec term for him is Ixiptlatli) always a prisonner of war?
2) Did the impersonator realise what would happen in the end of his year as a god?
3) Why would the Aztecs ritually kill an impersonator of a god (Tezcatlipoca) who they regarded as pretty much a gruesome monster that asked to be empowered by human blood so as to keep fending off supposedly even worse monsters from attacking the humans?
4) Did the impersonator take part in the last bits (well, not a pun) of the feast of the previous year, by being given to eat from the body of the previous impersonator?

B) Questions about the etymology of Toxcatl

1) Did that festivity's name mean 'drought' or something related to smoke/mirrors?
2) Was there any previous mesoamerican festivity which can be said to have served as a basis for the Toxcatl?

*

Thanks for any help

 

[daft]

Got a question of a what if nature. What if these human blood cult following Aztecs by the year AD 1300, or so, somehow: developed gunpowder, learned Navigation and sea going ship construction and domesticated horses? quite scary to think about it.

 

[Kyriakos]

^A bit like the current banking system.

 

[gay_Aleks]

And these horses would come from China, because Zheng He used to go around places and accidentally discovered America**!

*Actual AoE3 campaign.
**Actual CK2 scenario.

 

[daft]

admiral Zheng He? right, on! I believe he did just that(discovered America), the only difference was the Chinese were not seeking gold or other riches, or to settle there, they were out there just to explore, unlike the Europeans.

 

[awesome]

I was reading a bit about the grand festival of Toxcatl, which is argued to have been the main Aztec feast. It was centered on the (surprise) ritual sacrifice of a young man who was chosen for this one year before (as part of the previous feast) and until then lived as an impersonator of the god Tezcatlipoca.

The actual sacrifice would begin with the removal of the heart, using an obsidian dagger, but the body would then be decapitated and have all limbs cut off, flayed, and the remains were to be eaten by high-ranking Aztecs.

I have a few questions about this very charming and cheerful festivity:

A) Questions about the impersonator

1) Was the impersonator (original Aztec term for him is Ixiptlatli) always a prisonner of war?
2) Did the impersonator realise what would happen in the end of his year as a god?
3) Why would the Aztecs ritually kill an impersonator of a god (Tezcatlipoca) who they regarded as pretty much a gruesome monster that asked to be empowered by human blood so as to keep fending off supposedly even worse monsters from attacking the humans?
4) Did the impersonator take part in the last bits (well, not a pun) of the feast of the previous year, by being given to eat from the body of the previous impersonator?

B) Questions about the etymology of Toxcatl

1) Did that festivity's name mean 'drought' or something related to smoke/mirrors?
2) Was there any previous mesoamerican festivity which can be said to have served as a basis for the Toxcatl?

*

Thanks for any help

when searching for information, i saw you also posted this on another website, so i'm going to try and fill in the gaps.
A.
1. no, he wasn't a prisoner. he got a pretty good deal, actually. he was treated like a celebrity and got lots of free food for a year. then for the last 20 days of his life, he married 4 different women and got laid all he wanted. then, he had one last feast with the emperor and faced death like a brave warrior<sup>a[/url].
2. yeah, most likely. he went up the pyramid on his own, actuallya. and, it was believed that at least some sacrifices were guaranteed a place in paradiseb, so maybe he was, too.
3. "The life of the ixiptla was to symbolize the power and pleasures of Tezcatlipoca, while also illustrating that riches were transitory: while Tezcatlipoca may gift a man with wealth one day, He can just as easily take it away the next. This is why the ixiptla was to be stripped of his riches before dyinga. and, tezcatlipoca was really powerful: he could forgive sins and was the god of sorceryc. they probably just wanted to stay on his good side, mostly.
4. i can't find anything about this specifically, but the next one was already chosena, so maybe.
B)
1. close, actually... "[F]estival of Toxcatl –the time when things dry in May"d
2. well, it happened more than just the one time that some spanish dudes happened to come along, if that's what you mean. but, there was a drought in 1450 that might have had something to do with itb. the aztecs just believed that their gods really liked when they killed people.




a. http://www.amoxtli.org/cuezali/how.html
b. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZseasJq3WzEC&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false
c. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture#Tezcatlipoca
d. http://tlacuilcihuatl.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/toxcatl-massacre/</sup>

 

[Kyriakos]

^Thank you for the info

 

[daft]

^A bit like the current banking system.

A good one!