CHAPTER 21

OF ANOTHER KIND OF HUMAN SACRIFICE THAT THE MEXICANS PERFORMED

In several festivals there was another kind of sacrifice that they called racaxipe vaaliztli, which means "flaying of persons. "I It was so called because during certain festivals they took a slave or slaves, according to the number they desired, and after flaying off their skin dressed in it a person appointed for this purpose. This person went around to all the houses and markets of the cities, singing and dancing, and everyone had to offer him something; and if someone did not offer him anything he would strike him on the face with an edge of the skin, smearing him with the blood that was clotted on it. This performance lasted until the skin began to rot. During this time all those who went about in this way gathered a large quantity of alms, which were spent on things necessary for the cult of their gods. In many of these festivals a challenge was made between the sacrificer and the man to be sacrificed, as follows: they would tie a slave by one foot to a large stone wheel, and would give a sword and shield into his hands with which to defend himself, and then the one who was to do the sacrificing would come forth armed with another sword and shield. And if the prospective victim prevailed over the other he was freed from sacrifice and had the reputation of a famous captain and was treated like one ever afterward. But if he was vanquished they would sacrifice him on the very stone where he was tied. Another kind of sacrifice took place when they dedicated some captive to represent the idol, whose likeness they said he was. Every year they gave a slave to the priests so that the living likeness of the god would always be present; as soon as he entered into the office, after washing him very carefully, they dressed him in all the clothing and insignias of the idol and gave him the same name, and for a whole year he was as much honored and revered as the idol itself. He always had twelve men-at-arms with him to prevent him from escaping, and with this guard they allowed him to go freely wherever he wished; and if by chance he got away, the chief officer of the guard took his place to represent the idol and later to be sacrificed. This Indian had the most honored apartment in the temple, where he ate and drank, and where all the important men came to serve and revere him, bringing him food with all the pomp and order paid to the great lords. And when he went out into the city he was closely accompanied by lords and important persons and carried a little flute in his hand on which he played from time to time, giving the people to understand that he was passing by, and then the women would come out with their children in their arms and place them before him, greeting him as though he were a god; and so did all the rest of the people. At night they put him in a cage with very strong bars lest he escape, until, when the festival arrived, they sacrificed him in the way that has been described.

By these means and many others the devil kept those wretched creatures deceived and mocked, and so great was the multitude of those who were sacrificed with this infernal cruelty that it seems incredible; for they say that there were occasions when the number of victims was more than five thousand, and there was even a day when in different places more than twenty thousand men were sacrificed in this way. For this horrible slaughter the devil used a ghastly stratagem through his ministers, and this was that whenever they felt like it the priests of Satan went to the kings and told them how the gods were dying of hunger and that they must be remembered. Then the kings took note of this and informed each other that the gods were asking for food and therefore they must call their people together for a certain day, sending messengers to the enemy provinces to summon them to come to war. And when the people were congregated and their companies and squadrons were in order, they went out to the field where the armies were gathered; and the whole contest and battle was to take each other prisoner so as to sacrifice them, with each side trying to outdo the other in bringing more captives for sacrifice, so that in these battles they tried to capture rather than kill, for their whole aim was to bring live men to feed their idols. And this was the way in which they brought victims to their gods, and it must be noted that no king was crowned unless he first conquered some province, so that he could bring a large number of captives as sacrifices to their gods; and so an infinite amount of human blood was shed in every way in honor of Satan.