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SHUGE LUO’S AMAZING

AZTEC FINDINGS

16 August 1500

Hello fellow Tlaxcalans, I, Shuge Luo, am the chosen one to spy on the Aztecs for a

month. Today was my first day.

I live in a tent in a remote chinampa; which is a floating artificial land built to extend the

empire’s land. Today, I decided to buy some clothes for myself at the market. However,

I have no idea on where it is. Fortunately, I’ve met a very friendly guy named Ahuiliztli. I

told him I was a traveler. He told me his name meant joy. He is a very joyous and

welcoming male and offered to take a tour for me. I first asked him where the market is.

He gave me a map and started explaining.

“The market in Aztec is located in the city center. It is held every day on a large square

outside the city center. All the products are grouped into categories.”

Man, was it long journey. We had to cross many different sections of land. It took us

around 50 minutes to walk to the market. Living in the remote chinampa is very in-

convenient. I saw that the market was very crowded and busy. It was packed like a jar

of olives. I saw something really eye-catching in the crowd: these, beautiful weaved

fabric. I have to say, the Aztec woman are extraordinary at weaving. The cotton fabric is

delicate and soft. It feels like the most amazing thing in the world. They also used

flamboyant colors. Ahuiliztli also told me that Aztec woman started interacting with

weaving ever since they were a baby! It was a very surprising fact. It was told that when

they were a baby, they had to hold a distaff (a tool to spin thread). As they grow older,

from age 7-14, they also learned how to weave on backstrap looms. Shocking! Enough

writing about cloth, I’m tired now. I have to sleep for a brand new day tomorrow.

20 August 1500 Hi Tlaxcalans,

It’s been 5 days since I stayed in the Aztecs and I learned a lot more things. You know

how I was interested in their beautiful cloth? Well, I bought a traditional Aztec costume. I

got a blouse called huīpīlli and a skirt which is called cuēitl. The interesting thing was

cueitl huipilli was metaphorically used to mean woman. Men wore maxtal, which was

wrapped around the waist and covered in between the legs. They would also wear a

cloak of some sort called tilma. I also learned that the Aztecs would decorate

themselves heavily with all kinds of jewelry, especially the men. They wore nose

ornaments, earplugs and lip plugs. The material could range from bone, wood, shells, to

feathers, teeth and stone. The Aztecs also treated metalwork seriously, gold and silver

jewelry could be seen everywhere. They also enforced strict laws about wearing

headdresses, only royalty could wear them.

I bet all of you guys are interested about the food they have here, huh? Well, they are

vegetarian however they do eat dogs (Ewwww O_O) and turkey. The first meal is at 10

am and it usually consists of corn porridge. Then for lunch, they have tortillas with

vegetable such as tomatoes and avocados. Dinner is eaten before they sleep and they

have a corn drink with some spices. Yeah, I know, they eat a lot of corn or maize as

they like to call it. The nobles and warriors get to drink chocolate. Cacao mixed with

ground maize (chocolate) was drunk during spiritual rituals. What about protein and

other minerals? Well, they also ate fruits, algae, water life. They have insects and

worms as a protein source. Kind of gross. They also invented this gum called tzictli that

they chew while they work. I’ll rate their food 7.5 out of 10 if you ask me.

That’s a lot of writing for today, I’m tired now. So bye.

23 August 1500

Whee, time flies and it has been almost a week I have lived with the Aztecs. It has

been pretty peaceful around here. Yesterday, I saw a small child going to school so I

decided to do some research about that. The Aztecs have two types of schools; the

calmac and telpochallii. The calmec was held for the priests and only sons of nobles

could go. At age 15, the boys have to go. It had very harsh punishments if the students

misbehaved. The priest would either shave their hair or prick their skin with cactus. It

was a very hard life; however they maintained high self-discipline that way. They

learned history, astronomy, poetry, and writing. On the other side, telpochallii was for

the locals such as peasants. There, they were taught to be good citizens and elements

of warfare. They learned some basic fundamental history.

There is also a third type of school called the cuicacalli. It was more of a military

school. They were trained in war; hence, schools had great rivalry which often leads to

fights. What about the girls? Girls had to stay at home learning basic household chores.

They were trained for marriage. They had to start learn to weave at age of 4 and coking

since 12. Their main job was to keep the house clean and manage the family. Some

noble’s daughters might help in the temple and become professional priestesses. I also

heard that the education at home was harsh too. Parents strongly advised their children

to stay away theft, gambling, drink, gossip. If they misbehaved, the consequences were

painful. They would hold them over a chili pepper fire or make them inhale chili pepper

smoke. Ouch.... I am glad I am a Tlaxcalan. I’ll write more tomorrow, for now, it’s 11pm

and I have to go to sleep.

28 August 1500

Sorry for not writing for so long, it was because I attended a wedding! You must

wonder who it is, it is Ahuiliztli! The wedding lasted for an entire 5 days long. The men

would always make the first move, so Ahuiliztli sent a matrimonial agent to Itzel’s family

(Ahuiliztli’s love, and her name means rainbow lady). Itzel denied at first and I was

rather surprised as Ahuiliztli is a great joyful man. Ahuiliztli told me not to take that too

seriously; it was just a tradition of making the man woo the woman.

This lasted 2 days until Itzel’s family accepted the invitation. The priest chose a good

day. For us, it was 26 August. On the day of the wedding, Itzel was powered with clean

hair; she looked like she was glowing. Feathers of exotic birds were put on her arms

and legs along with the finest garments the family owned. There were many fine foods,

again made out of corn.

During sunset, Ahuiliztli’s family went to Itzel’s house to give apologies and thanks.

Then Itzel kneeled on a piece of black cloth and an elder picked her up to carry her to

Ahuiliztli’s house. Relatives would follow behind her in a single file line. Once everyone

was gathered together, Ahuiliztli and Itzel’s clothes was tied together to signify they are

officially husband and wife. They each were fed 4 bites of maize cake. Then they would

be left alone, while we held festivals and partied! It was a very exciting and memorable

experience for me. It probably will last for a lifetime.

Gah, was it exhausting. I promise I’ll write more tomorrow.

29 August 1500

It’s been half a month I’m here now. Today, I am going to teach you about the social

classes of the Aztecs. The Ruler owned the empire and made important decisions. The

priest was the most educated and often advised the rulers. They also performed

spiritual rituals. Warriors carried out wished and expanded the empire by war. Being a

warrior was a way to increase your social status as they were greatly honored. Talking

about honoring, I will jot down some notes about being a mother in the Aztec that I

learned today. Next up, tradesmen. They did all the trade which made the empire richer.

While the craftsman carried out skilled labor such as crafting, metalwork...etc. Peasants

worked hard as farmers to provide food from crops. On the bottom were the slaves.

Slaves were treated poorly. However, they still owned some rights. They could earn

back their freedom, they could marry and have properties and their children were born

free.

Motherhood:

● honored like warriors

● many restrictions: medical care from midwife(also gave advice)

● Shouted war cry during birth

● Baby had many ceremonies such as lifted up in air, and a naming ceremony

● Families had to give speeches

● if a mother died from giving birth, they would become a goddess with the sun god

Hope these information would quench your thirst for knowledge.

6 September 1500

Today, I couldn’t believe I never realized this. But the Aztecs are full of danger. Oh my

Tlaxcalans. The Aztecs.... They are so violent. Over this week, I witnessed their cruelty.

OK, this is a very long story, but I’ll tell it short.

So it all started out with this Sun god of theirs. Apparently, they think that precious water

(blood) was needed to sacrifice to the Sun god. Or else, the Sun will stop functioning.

That was one of the reasons why they were called the people of the sun. So this week,

was a sacrifice week. They chose this slave, captive from the war because most of the

times they used war captives as the sacrifice. Poor poor guy.

He was carried to the top of a temple. Four priests laid the guy on a stone. The fifth

priest sliced open his tummy with a knife. I heard a loud scream and it stopped.

Urghhh. I feel like I have to puke just thinking of that. (Warning, the rest of this scene’s

description will be generally inappropriate for children under 12. Please take caution

while reading. PG13) Then the priest took out his heart, still beating, and tear it.

Afterwards the heart would be placed in a bowl next to a statue of the god they are

honoring, while the body was pushed down. Before and after the killing, audience and

priests gathered below the plaza will prick themselves for blood. This was called auto

sacrifice. The skull would then be displayed on the tzompantli (a display of skulls from

sacrifice), while others will be fed to animals in the zoo.

There could be up to 10 human sacrifices a day. Scary. There were also some other

forms of sacrifices. They could be shot with arrows, die in fights; gladiatorial games,

burned, flayed (removal of skin) and drowned. Urgh, it’s sending cold chills down my

spine. Oh and this wasn’t the only thing that scared me. They also declared....... WAR.

I’ll talk more about that next time. It’s raining right now, so I have to go back to my tent.

8 September 1500

Continuing with my last post about war. The Aztecs really weren’t as simple as I

thought they would be. They had great ambition and clever military skills. This time, the

Aztecs declared war on a neighboring tribe that won’t join as an ally. I heard they

already gave them 60 days to consider, yet they bravely said no. I applause for their

courage. Warriors for war started training since a young age of 12. Then at age 17, they

have to serve in the army for at least 5 years. They will earn many honors throughout

the way. The more accomplishments the more rewards they received. Say, you killed 10

of the enemies; you will be raised to a higher rank and allowed to more luxuries such as

wearing a more complex uniform. The Aztecs attacked by first throwing thousands of

arrows or spears in the rival city. Then thousands of warriors charge in and gets into an

aggressive hand to hand fight. Usually they win since they have large amount of

soldiers and they have good experience in fighting. Lastly, they burn the temple to

declare their victory and power. Also, to defy any other opposes. Just recalling on this

scene makes me sad.

This also reminds me of a scene I saw in the market on the first day. I didn’t

understand it quite at first, but I did some research later on. Even though religion played

an important part in most of Aztec’s culture, practicality was the most in law. Their law

covered almost everything. There were many crimes in the Aztecs. And if you

committed a crime, you have to accept your punishment, it was fate. Most crimes were

dealt in a court where elders made the decisions. In more serious cases, it would have

to be dealt in Tenochtitlan courts. If it was super serious, it might even have to be

handled in the palace with professional judges! There were no prison systems in Aztec,

making crimes easy to handle. No prison tortures. However, death penalty was very

common. Nobles, who had to set an example, received harsher treatments. First

offense will receive light punishments such as having your home demolished, or head

shaved. Sometimes, there wasn’t punishment; they just had to pay restitution. For

example, if you injured someone, you just have to pay the medical fees. Slavery was

also a common punishment too. Now you get why the Aztecs are violent? I’m scared so

I’ll just stay in my tent and study their recreation

.

16 September 1500

Today’s my last day in the Aztecs. I might miss it but I’m also very happy to return to

Tlaxcalan. I will miss you, you Almighty Empire. Anyways, back to topic. Remembered

how I said I’ll study their recreational activities? This is what I found out: The Aztecs

valued hard work and gave themselves rewards occasionally. They like listening to

music, playing ball games, and last of all, playing board games.

One of the most famous ball games they played was called Ullamaliztli; also known as

Tlachtli. It was played on a Tlachtli court; that was shaped like a capital I. This was like

a soccer basketball. In this game, they could only touch the ball with elbows, hips,

buttocks and knees. The objective was to throw the large rubber ball through this ring.

The ring was placed on the opposite ends of the middle of the court. Whoever made the

first basket won. Sometimes, the game might take hours and hours.

One of the famous board games, patolli was also often played. It was played with

pebbles and red beans. You would be given 6 pieces to play with and 10 jade pebbles

to gamble with. The board was an X shape divided into squares. Each player has an

home base in the middle. The dice is 5 cacao beans with white dots painted on them.

Now you must decide how many pebbles you want to use for gambling. If you get 1

white dot you move 1 square, 2 dots for two, so on. However, if you get all red dots, you

move 10 squares. When you make it back to home base, you take off your pebble, so

now your opponent owes you one. You keep on playing until one player lost all of their

pebbles and they’re out.

Sounds interesting, huh? Maybe we could try that one day. For now, good bye Aztecs.

It was a great experience for me

Bye bye Tenochtitlan.