11. Prostitutes Served A Ritualistic Role In Aztec Society
Prostitutes, known as ahuianime, served an important role in Aztec society. Ahuianime were associated with the goddess Xochiquetzal and served ritualistic functions. Unfortunately, much of the contemporary writing on the Aztec prostitutes were from the perspective of Catholic colonizers who viewed the Aztecs only from their own monogamous, patriarchal and Catholic perspective.
In the Florentine Codex, friar Bernardino de Sahagun said that the priestesses would offer themselves to young men as a reward after a battle. They were also trained in art and music and would entertain and pleasure men before they were delivered to the gods in human sacrifice. Given the importance of human sacrifice in Aztec culture, the prostitutes also doubtlessly served an essential role in the Aztec civilization that the Catholic colonizers were not able to understand or appreciate.
The ahuianime would have been easy to recognize. While all Aztec women wore their hair up, the ahuianime always wore theirs down. They were also the only women allowed to wear perfume and apply paint to their faces. The Florentine Codex also claims that the ahuianime also painted their teeth, chewed gum and wore jewelry. Unfortunately, Sahagun described the ahuianime as evil and immoral and did not put forth the effort to understand how they served Aztec culture.