Description: This introduction to the Mexica (or Aztec) cosmos explores sacrifice as the foundation for and an ethical response to existence in the richly textured world of 16th-century Mexico. Drawing on original translations of Nahuatl poetry and folktales, as well as archaeological remains, sculptures, and pictorial and calendrical codices, Kay Almere Read describes a world in which every object was timed by a given lifespan and in which sacrifice was the mechanism by which time functioned, In the Mexica universe, time and sacrifice could not be understood without each other. Sacrifice caused things to move, take shape, and change. Without death-dealing acts, life-giving acts were impossible. The simple act of eating was itself considered sacrificial. From the eating of the day's first tortillas to the offering of plants, animals, and humans to living, cosmic powers, sacrificially timed acts were the honorary meals that sustained Mexica life. This book makes a convincing case for what sacrifice meant in a religious context and show it came to be that human sacrifice of staggering proportions could be accepted, matter-of-factly, by the Mexica people.

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