Farmers vs. Builders
I never would of imagined Indian civilizations could be so interesting! I used to think learning about the post boring and stupid. T mean what do Indians half to do with today? Nothing... Right? Actually A LOT! They used to play a sport called talachtli (tlach'le) it was a lot like the sports we play today! But is wasn't just a fun game you could gather around and play with friends, the Aztecs went HARDCORE!!! They used a 5-pound rubber ball and it was solid NOT hollow it wasn't a tiny one either it was as big as a bowling ball! What's that you you could just run off field if it came too close to you? I'm afraid not! You would be trapped in a narrow court shaped like an I not a human eye the letter I!
But I sure am relieved that the sports we play today are different from back then because if you didn't die ANNND you scored the winning point you got treated like a god! I know what your thinking what's the bad part? Well everyone in the crowd would half to uhhh. Strip. That's one I definitely wouldn't go to!
All right sacrifices! My favorite! So you probably know the Aztecs sacrificed to please the gods and all. But the main reason they sacrificed was because of something called tonalli, which means animating spirit. It was said to be found in human blood when people were frightened! And the Aztecs thought it kept the sun in motion! So by sacrificing people it kept the sun from coming to a complete halt and going out of orbit. Cover your ears if you'd like to keep your lunch! Because the Aztecs were cannibals to, after they ripped out a person's heart they cut off their arms and legs and cook them up...and eat them... Well only the royalty would because human was considered a delicacy....DELICIOUS! Now I know where the expression that cost an arm and a leg comes from!
Do you like corn? Well the Mayans sure did! They even made a drink from corn called maize it was sweet to! And by growing so much corn they could do other things besides farm all day long, like build houses or make jewelry! Corn wasn't all they thought about tho the Mayans worshiped everything in nature ranging from grass to the sun. The Mayans were farmers so many of their gods were agricultural for example chac the rain god, brought rain to the land, which was very important for Mayan crops! Yum kaax was the god of corn, of course! And one of their most important gods!
The Mayans had sacrifices to but they never used people from their own tribe, they used war captives, but sometimes they would even cut themselves it was called bloodletting, they believed that it pleased and nourished the gods and helped them unite with their animal spirits, which they also thought they had! Where were these so called animal spirits located? The Yucatan peninsula of course that's where the Mayans resided. As you can probably tell the Aztecs were much more violent than the Mayans, most people would probably agree that they were more peaceful and at one with nature while the Aztecs were all like gotta build this gotta build that! S i guess you could say it was the architectural vs. the agricultural or the farmers vs. the builders.
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