Teteo imixiptlahuan (‘men who receive in their breast the force of a god as living images and representing the divinity on earth’ 32 ), in short, ixiptla ,
are best understood as containers of cosmic personhood, as I argue below. Attended by old women who looked aft er them until death, Ixiptla who impersonated the gods connected with the divination and the solar calendar were adulated by the public. 33 Th ey were ‘slaves’, that is, non-Tenochca pris-
oners caught in expansionary wars (rather than in ritual battle), or Tenochca citizens who had lost their citizenship through debt or immoral behaviour. Before being fi t to stand in for gods, slaves had to be redeemed and puri- fi ed through ritual bathing to erase all trace of their low status, marginality, and own identity. 34 For months, they were taught by priests all the arts and
demeanours of the gods they were to become. Th e closer they were to the day of sacrifi ce, the more they danced, sang, and drank alcoholic beverages. Having become ‘ambulant images of the sacred ones’, 35 these women and
men were described as having lost all consciousness and control over their own movements and thoughts. Th ey danced for days and nights, the lav- ish consumption of alcohol and drugs enhancing their altered state of con- sciousness and their closeness to death. Haggard and wild looking, the poor creatures were ‘no more than a puppet body animated by an alien mystical force.’ 36 Graulich discusses a number of cases of women who embraced the
glorifi ed helplessness of the ixiptla and chose to be put to death as embodi- ments of divinities of fertility deities and maize and earth goddesses appear- ing in the religious calendar, especially in celebration of the wet season and sowing. 37 Male impersonators embodied male characteristics of the maize
plants associated with male gods.
Little is said about their actual execution, which, compared to that of war captives, seems to have happened at night, rather than during the day, and to have involved beheading, rather than heart excision. We only know that upon death ixiptla did not go to the house of the sun ( tonatiuh ichan ), or to any of the three other aft erlife destinations, 38 but, instead, to the places in the
32 López Austin, Th e Human Body , 294.
33 Clendinnen, Aztecs , 77.
34 Duverger, La fl eur léthale , 121.
35 Clendinnen, Aztecs , 89.
36 Clendinnen, Aztecs , 79, 92–93
37 Graulich, Le sacrifi ce humain , 212–216. Summary descriptions of these sacrifi ces can be
found in Duverger, La fl eur léthale (pp. 168–173), Carrasco, City of Sacrifi ce (pp. 188–210), and Graulich, Le sacrifi ce humain (pp. 101–128, 245–248, 296–301, and 328–329), who all use the second book of the Florentine Codex (Sahagún, Psalmodia Christiana ).
38 Th e place of death ( mictlan ), where those who died of a natural death went; Tlaloc’s place
( tlalocan ), where those who drowned, died from an illness related to water, or from a skin disease went; or the maize house ( cincalco ), which was reserved for children who died very young and those who committed suicide.
universe where the incarnated divinities were most likely to dwell. 39 Th e com-
plex association of maleness and femaleness was most spectacularly staged during ochpaniztli , the ritual with which the sacred year cycle started, and dur- ing which Toci, the earth goddess, was put to death. It is on her way to the nuptial chamber mounted on the back of a priest in the middle of the night that Toci was beheaded. Th e priest who had reincarnated Toci by killing Toci’s fi rst impersonator and then donning her fl ayed skin now stood in front of the temple dedicated to the sun to give birth to Cinteotl, the god of ripe corn. Th e piece of skin from the thigh of Toci’s fi rst impersonator partly covered his face as he stood. It was subsequently taken by warriors to be thrown on the military frontier at the border of the empire.
For Duverger, sacrifi cial decapitation is a form of torture akin to copula- tion exclusively reserved to women, who, he argues, are sacrifi ced as brides. 40
For Graulich, sacrifi ce by decapitation is historically linked to ancient rites, especially ball games, which encouraged the alternating of seasons. Graulich 41
also mentions that whereas heart excision, which was performed with a fl int knife (fl int contains sparks from heaven), corresponds to a sacrifi ce to the Sun, beheading, which was performed with an obsidian knife (the black, cool, and nocturnal stone that comes from the entrails of the earth and which is also used for dismembering), is associated with sacrifi ce to the telluric divinities of Earth and Maize. 42 If both Duverger’s and Graulich’s explanations off er impor-
tant insights, they pay insuffi cient attention to the abandonment and possession that are so characteristic of death by decapitation, and which stand in such stark contrast with the courage and bravery demonstrated by those who die of heart excision. To grasp the contrast between ‘dying as a god’ and ‘dying with a god’ in all its meaningful diff erence, we need to turn to indigenous construc- tions of personhood, including their political and historical dynamism.
3. DEATH AND BECOMING
Staged to both impress a large and composite public and humiliate rivals, the theatre of sacrifi ce intensifi es to the limits of the possible the productivity of the human body by decomposing its energy and multiplying it through ritual action. Hair locks, heartbeat, blood, limbs, trunk, skull, fl ayed skin, fi ngernails, the weeping of parents, the screams of infants, the priests’ incantations—all acquire and generate a force of their own. Power and vitality also emanate from
39 Graulich, Le sacrifi ce humain , 215.
40 Duverger, La fl eur léthale , 172–173.
41 Graulich, ‘Les mises à mort doubles’, 52.
the innumerable artefacts, sacred objects, and precious materials that adorn, represent, or complement the human body, and constitute the material culture of war and sacrifi ce. Sacrifi ce works on the body’s resistance to pain and to fatigue; it exacerbates the possibilities of life in the human body. Yet, the sacrifi - cial death of warriors and god impersonators mobilizes diff erent ways of treat- ing the body and of relating to the supernatural. Th e body of the warrior and that of the bathed slave are prepared and destroyed in ways that highlight two opposed and complementary aspects of mortality, as illustrated by Figure 1.
Fig. 1. Contrast between the death of a warrior and the death of a god impersonator.
warrior god image
provenance or origin from an allied city (so
of noble rank and equal status)
from a conquered, non- Nahuatl speaking region, or a Nahuatl-speaker who has lost status or citizenship
selection captured in one-to-one
combat
selected from a mass of victims for his or her personal qualities, beauty, or youth
association owned by the captor
fusion, identity, and asymmetry expressed as a relation between ‘owner’ (father) and ‘owned’ (son). In time, the father/captor will become son/captive of another warrior
owned by the slave merchant identifi cation of the human victim and the god s/he impersonates, fusion between spirit (superior animating principle) and body undergo- ing ecstatic experience treatment before sacrifi ce captive loved and cared for
by captor, captor parades captive, public display and rehearsal of the sacrifi ce
impersonator loved by the public, long training to become the god. Rehearsal of demeanour, impersonation through use of sacred regalia preparation of the body hair lock cut the night pre-
ceding the sacrifi cial ritual (so no longer a warrior), on the day, dons white feathers and chalk (and so does the captor)
slaved is ritually bathed with holy water to wash away status face washing = purifi cation sedation = sacralization of the face, becomes receptive to the divinity’s spirit
qualities cultivated bravery, courage, physical
strength, achieving unity of body and mind in full consciousness
physical grace, skills, and social docility through long training to become someone else, someone more powerful, more sensuous, and more alive
sacrifi ce death through heart exci-
sion at mid-day with fl int knife on altar at top of pyramid
death through decapitation at dusk or night with obsid- ian knife in dark parts of the temple
Why would self-mastery be associated with execution by heart excision and the surrender of the self with death by decapitation? I would like to suggest that a consideration of Nahua conceptualizations of the person, body, and soul illuminates the grammar of Aztec sacrifi ce. Th anks to the path-breaking work of López Austin 43 and other anthropological studies of personhood among
ancient and modern Nahuatl-speaking peoples, we know that each individ- ual person is inserted in a socio-cosmic web through various ‘souls’ or ani- mistic centres. 44 As shown in Figure 2, one of these ‘souls’, tonalli (literally,
‘sun’s heat’), is lodged in the head and links the person to the rest of the uni- verse. A second ‘soul’, teyolía (literally, ‘it makes one live’, ‘it beats’), builds up within the physical heart and works through its associated animating quality. A third ‘soul’, ihíyotl (literally, ‘breath’, ‘night-air’ or ‘dirty vapour’) is found mainly in the liver. A strong, moral, and healthy person is characterized by a
43 López Austin, Th e Human Body .
44 See also McKeever Furst, Th e Natural History. major animistic centers center of dignity vital forces major density of vital force minor animistic centers
Fig. 2 . Th e human body with the major animistic centres and vital forces. Reproduced
from López Austin, Th e Human Body , p. 200. Reprinted with the permission of the
perfect balance between the three souls, while physiological, psychological, or emotional disorders are almost always attributed to an internally or exter- nally caused imbalance between them. Although tonalli , teyolía , and ihíyotl are concentrated within head, heart, and liver respectively, they also circulate throughout the human body, the natural environment, and the cosmos.
A seed of energy inserted into the pregnant woman’s womb by the Lord of Heaven (Ometecutli), the tonalli is highly unstable. Susceptible to loss and predation, it can also be increased through moral conduct, penance, and disci- pline. In ancient Mesoamerica, pipiltin (nobles) were thought to have received from the gods more tonalli than macehuales (commoners, artisans, cultiva- tors) had. Th e teyolía , which causes the body to grow, only separates from the body upon death. It is the main soul, the vital centre of the person, the centre of human consciousness, and, for many communities, the collective mark of inherited identity associated with a patron god, oft en the founder of the com- munity. Th e teyolía is closely related to yollotl (the palpitations of the heart) and ollin , which refers to abrupt movements, such as the kicking of the foetus, the throes of abortion, or the tremors of earthquakes. In pre-Columbian times, the ihíyotl was closely linked to passion, personal courage, vitality, and artis- tic qualities. Individuals of great personality (men-gods, elder rulers, artists, inventors, or diviners) were all said to have yolteotl , or divine force. 45 López
Austin has recently argued that while tonalli , the domain of the highest cosmic layers, is linked to the father as head of the household, ihíyotl , the subterranean domain of the underworld is linked to motherhood; as for teyolía , it belongs to the domain of stars, meteorites, and children. 46
On the basis of this anthropological understanding of Nahua personhood, I wish to argue that dying of heart excision favours the amplifi cation of the soul through the fusion of tonalli (conquered destiny and courageous mind) and teyolia (individual energy, intensifi ed spark of life), or mind and heart. Beheading, by contrast, allows the third soul, ihíyotl , to take centre stage in persons whose tonalli has been entirely colonized by divine presence. I fi nd support for this interpretation in López Austin’s discussion of the relation- ship between ihíyotl , the animistic centre concentrated within the liver; ix which means ‘perception’ or ‘emotion’; and ixtli , which means face. 47 Ihíyotl
is closely linked to passion, personal courage, vitality, and artistic qualities, and oft en used as a synonym for face, ixtli , the prime organ of perception and sensation. 48 Individuals of great personality (such as men-gods, elder rulers,
artists, inventors, or diviners) were said to have yolteotl , or divine force; they had ‘perfected, wise face, and good heart’ ( in ixtli in yollotl ), and were capable
45 López Austin, Th e Human Body ; McKeever Furst, Th e Natural History .
46 López Austin, Breve historia ; ‘Th e Natural World’.
47 López Austin, Th e Human Body , 170–172.
of sound judgment and sentiment. 49 For López Austin, the expressions in ixtli in yollotl , which he translates into English as ‘the eyes, the heart,’ was used as a metaphor to signal that great persons had succeeded in amplifying their animistic force. 50 Th e face with the eyes was the place from which the vital
force of breath issued to the outside, a breath charged with emotion, feeling, and moral values. Th is made ‘the face a mirror of individual qualities’. 51 López
Austin also remarks that a sorcerer was defi ned as someone who turned peo- ple’s ixtli around, and distorted her vision. 52
Th is semantic exploration clarifi es that teixiptla or ‘images of the divine’ were more than mere images, covering, or wrapping. By containing a deity’s animistic forces and centres, the ixiptla was also giving a visible and public personality to the deity; upon death, her mortal envelope had fully become the deity’s body. Deities could materialize in a wide range of material supports, such as paper, stones, sculpted wood or sculpted stones, pottery effi gies, bread dolls, or insignia, which could all become the abode of their ‘fi re’. Although the divine fi re or tonalli could lodge in any natural or man-made object, it is only within a human body that deities could acquire a face and a personality, and feel life. As complex and ubiquitous entities who could divide up, their inner essences multiplying ad infi nitum, divinities were thought to be both subjected to and limited by cosmic rules; to wear out as they journeyed the universe; and to feel an intense desire for sensuous, humanly, earthly ways of being. 53 Th is
is perhaps why Nahua pictography did not diff erentiate between the image of a god, the priest consecrated to the god, or the bread dough presented as an off ering to the god. 54 Rulers and temple priests wearing the insignia of the dei-
ties they served were god impersonators too. In other words, the immolators were god impersonators every bit as much as their sacrifi ced victims.
A full understanding of ixiptla immolation by decapitation requires that we take into account the ways in which Nahua personhood was being reconsti- tuted under Aztec rule. Th ere are, as I see it, two important aspects to this question, the status of tutelary gods and the mutual implication of social rank- ing and personality. Space, however, allows me to comment only on the second one. In the new order created under Aztec rule, humanity was ordered accord- ing to a new continuum of moral worth, and ranked. As already mentioned, ruling elites ( pipiltin ) received at birth more tonalli than commoners ( mac- ehualli ) did, 55 although anyone could increase his tonalli through personal
moral conduct, such as, for instance, fasting, drawing blood from his body, or
49 Léon-Portilla, La pensée aztèque , 165.
50 López Austin, Th e Human Body , 196.
51 López Austin, Th e Human Body , 171.
52 López Austin, Th e Human Body , 196.
53 López Austin, ‘Th e Natural World’.
54 Anders/Maarten/Jansen, Introduction to the Facsimile of the Codex Laud , 88.
excelling at his occupation. Weaknesses (e.g. drinking, sexual licence, laziness, stealing, gambling, or indebtedness), on the other hand, decreased one’s ton- alli . High-ranking men were said to be easily recognizable through their faces. Animated by breath ( ihiyotl ), the face and the eyes ( ixtli ), the noblest part of the body, ‘revealed the refl ection of vitality heightened by honour’. 56 Th e
diminished or damaged organic functions (heart and head) of the insane were equally mirrored on their faces. Madness amounted to a loss of consciousness, and a loss of control over ixtli , the organ of perception.
Slaves, whether foreign war captives or Mexica debt slaves ( tlatlacotin ), occupied the bottom of the social ladder not only because of their servile con- dition, but also because their bodies were considered denatured, damaged, or degraded, hence the need for them to recover their integrity through the performance of special rites. Duverger develops a fascinating theory of self- imposed slavery as a form of escape from the duties of Technoca citizenship. 57
A slave ( xolotl ) is fi rst and foremost a dependant worker, who has renounced his or her destiny and related responsibilities. Slaves were named aft er Xolotl, a dog deity and twin fi gure of Quetzalcoatl. In a well-known myth, Tezcatlipoca forced his rival Quetzalcoatl to fl ee the kingdom of Tula over which he ruled, mainly because of the former’s opposition to human sacrifi ces. Quetzalcoatl agreed with blood off erings from scarifi cation, as well as with the sacrifi ce of snakes, birds, and butterfl ies, but he opposed the immolation of human beings. To escape from his pursuers, he transformed himself into a maize deity, then into a maguey deity, and, fi nally, into a kind of salamander known as axolotl , a strange animal with the extraordinary property of being able to reach adult- hood without metamorphosis, and to reproduce while still in a larval state. 58
By contrast with their masters, slaves no longer paid taxes, and they were no longer required to take part in the activities dictated by the state. Th ey were nevertheless assured of adequate living conditions thanks to their mas- ters who fed and sheltered them and who were not allowed to sell them, unless they had committed a crime or did not work hard enough. In short, they pur- sued a life similar to that of ordinary citizens, and, one might add, a freer one, at least, in Duverger’s rendering of slavery as a happy, if under-dignifi ed, state of dependency. We should not forget, however, that the many high-ranking citizens who had to sell themselves or their children into servitude during the great famines 59 may have suff ered the stigmas of slavery much more than
other sections of the population. Th e confl ict opposing slave merchants and the Aztec nobility further illustrates the way in which the status of slave plays out in human sacrifi ce. Whereas merchants insisted that the male slaves they
56 López Austin, Th e Human Body , 171–172, 200.
57 Duverger, La fl eur léthale , 89–91, 108.
58 Duverger, La fl eur léthale , 91.
brought back to Tenochtitlan as part of their long distance trade activities be sacrifi ced by heart excision in the same way as warriors captured on the battlefi eld were, the nobility, especially the warriors, indignantly opposed the practice, insisting that slaves who were not captured but given in tribute be kept exclusively for impersonating the gods connected with the divination