14. Aztec methods of killing their victims were varied and grisly
The Aztecs had specific methods of killing the victims they offered as human sacrifices to their gods, dictated by diverse factors. The attributes of the god being worshiped were one factor. The festival is celebrated was another. The social class of the victim and whether he or she was a captured enemy or slave was a consideration. In Aztec society criminals were executed by the state, but not as sacrifices to the gods, as they would be deemed by the gods as unworthy. Some of the methods have already been explored, others included killing by drowning, by starvation, by throwing victims from great heights, and by exsanguination. Following the execution of the victims, the heart was nearly always extracted for burning, with the smoke carrying the sacrifice to its recipients.
The Aztec calendar bore a cycle of 52 years, at the end of which the end of the world threatened, which was averted by the New Fire Ceremony. Each year was divided into 28 “months” which corresponded to roughly twenty days and were called festivals by the Aztecs. The year began on what corresponds to February 2 with the twenty-day festival to Tlaloc and lesser gods, and ran through the end of the yearly cycle, with each succeeding festival containing worship rituals dedicated to a different god or gods, containing specified methods of exterminating the victims. Thus the Aztecs conducted human sacrifice rituals year round, most of them in the three main cities. The only exception was the five-day period from January 28 to February 1 known as Nemontemi, a time of fasting throughout the empire.