13. The Aztecs kept relics of their sacrifices as symbols to others
When the Spanish arrived in Mexico they encountered numerous symbols of Aztec culture which they found shocking and heretical. In Aztec towns and near temples and shrines to their gods, the Aztecs mounted racks of skulls which were bleached and in some cases painted or covered with symbols and icons. The violent deaths of the persons represented by the skulls were sometimes evident in the bone. Piles of clearly human bones were found near statues and artwork, near the skull racks, and even in private homes, rather than being interred or cremated. They also found masks used in religious rituals made of human skin, as well as whole human skins, highly decorated and adorned, carefully folded and stored in a manner similar to clothing. Priests informed the shocked Spaniards that the skins were used in religious rituals and dances.
The Aztecs preserved the bones and skins of their sacrificial victims as religious relics, considering their victims to have been elevated spirits equivalent to saints in some ways. Worship of the victims began while they were still alive, during the periods of preparation, and they served as the centerpiece of the ritual in which they died. The preservation of the remains of their victims gave the Aztecs a reminder of their sacrifice and the role in which sacrifice stood within Aztec society. To the Aztecs, the slaughter of children – which included severe torture to ensure they went to the gods in tears – was a purely religious act and one which actually benefited the victims, since it raised them to a higher level of the afterlife they otherwise would never have been able to achieve.