DAILY LIFE OF THE AZTECS

CHILDBIRTH 

In a scene from the Codex Mendoza of how a child was treated and named soon after birth, a mother who has recently given birth is seated next to a cradle where her infant lies with four flower symbols above it. Four days after birth, the midwife, who played a major role in Aztec culture, took the naked child to the courtyard of the house, where a ritual cleansing took place. The midwife had prepared a mat of rushes or reeds with a small earthen tub of water, and she bathed the infant. She breathed upon the water, made the child taste it, touched the baby's chest and head with the water and said, "My youngest one, my beloved youth. ... Enter, descend into the blue water, the yellow water ... Approach thy mother Chalchiuhtlicue, Chalchiuhtlatonac! May she receive thee ... May she cleanse thy heart; may she make it fine, good. May she give thee fine, good conduct!"
The bath scene has two sets of symbols, above and below the pan of water. The symbols below the bath scene are the female symbols, consisting of a distaff with a spindle, a basket, and a broom signifying the girl's future role as the keeper of the home. She will be educated into the labor and art of weaving, which was an invaluable part of Aztec life. The act of sweeping, in order to purify and to contribute to good health, was both a practical and a ritual activity associated with women. Aztec homes were extremely clean, as were the temples, where ritual sweeping was done in service to the gods. The spindle was also a fertility symbol associated with the capacity of females to bear children. For instance, two spindles attached to cotton fillets were part of the headdress of a fertility goddess. One Aztec riddle went, "What is that which becomes pregnant in only one day? The spindle."
The symbols above the bath scene are the male objects used by the infant's father, which could be a shield and arrows if the father was a warrior, or wood, metal, or feathers if the father was a woodcarver, a metalworker, or a featherworker. There is also the symbol of the painter of books for boys whose fathers were scribes. A little shield with four arrows just above the rushes and pan of water, called mitl chimalli ( "shield and arrows"), is an Aztec metaphor meaning "war"; each arrow represented one of the four cardinal directions of the universe.
When Aztec infants were taken for their first bath, the appropriate symbols were placed in their hands. If the child were a boy, a shield would be placed in his left hand and an arrow in his right hand. After the bath, the midwife would tell the three boys who assisted her to call out loudly the new name of the baby who had just been cleaned. Then the umbilical cord was taken and buried with the symbols the child had carried to the bath. For boys, the umbilical cord and the little shield and arrows were carried to a battlefield and buried in the ground. For girls, the umbilical cord and a female symbol would be buried at home under the metate, or stone for grinding corn.
There are four important characteristics in this scene. First, childbirth was an extremely important event, and children were valued deeply in Aztec society. One Spanish priest who had lived among the Aztecs for several years stated that he had never seen another society in which children were so highly valued. The midwife addressed the child with such marvelous phrases as "precious necklace, precious feather, precious green stone, precious bracelet, precious turquoise, thou were created in the place of duality, in the place above the nine heavens."
Second, the Aztecs placed a strong emphasis on birth as the beginning of a lifetime of transitions. The newborn child was moved outside to the patio, cleaned, introduced to the gods, and given a name. A prayer was then offered to Chalchiuhtlicue, the goddess of precious waters, fertility, and life. At this time, children were identified, through the objects they were given, with the roles they would play as adults. The umbilicus, the body organ that linked mother and child, would be taken and buried (planted) in the territory where the infant would experience the most powerful events of his or her life. Also, the key decision as to what type of education the child would receive took place sixteen days after the bathing and naming ceremony.
Third, the midwife played a crucial role in the momentous transition of childbirth. It was she, and not the mother, who bathed, announced the name, and addressed the child with information about the gods, the world, and the expectations for the new human being. This suggests the presence of a large family unit where a number of adults would take responsibility for the child's well-being.
Fourth, there is a clear emphasis on gender division at the very first ritual of one's life. At this time, one was clearly designated as male or female and given the appropriate social symbols that strengthened this division between gender roles. For instance, if the child were male, the midwife would give his umbilical cord to the distinguished warriors, "those wise in war, " to bury in the midst of the plains where warfare was practiced. If the child were female, the umbilical cord would be buried "there by the hearth, thus she signified that the woman was to go nowhere. Her task was the home life, life by the fire, by the grinding stone." Again and again, the prayers and sayings about the newborn that have come down to us begin: "And if it were a female ..." or "And if it were a male ... " with different instructions in each case. Let us explore these four characteristics by focusing on the work and prayers of the midwife during the process of pregnancy and childbirth.

THE MIDWIFE

To understand just how important childbirth was to the Aztecs, consider the preparations made by the parents of the expectant married couple during the final months of pregnancy. During the seventh or eighth month the family held a small feast, and a compatible midwife was sought out who would assist in the birth of the baby. These preparations involved eloquent speeches between the soon-to-be grandparents, who exhorted the midwife to take her job seriously and to realize how much love, compassion, and concern they had for the birth. The midwife responded, "Verily I grasp, I accept your spirit, your word, and your weeping, your compassion with which ye weep, ye feel compassion; with which ye are anguished for the sake of your precious necklace, your precious feather, the little woman who is perhaps your second child, perhaps your eldest, or perhaps your youngest." Again, note the affectionate phrases used to describe children.
When the birth was imminent the family gathered again for a feast, and the midwife was exhorted to prepare the xochicalli ("house of flowers"), or sweatbath, and to be skillful in helping the young mother prepare to give birth. She responded in an eloquent speech reassuring the family of her diligence, skill, and understanding of the religious power of the event.
When the child was born, or "had arrived on earth," the midwife gave war cries that meant that the mother had fought a good battle like a brave warrior. In this way, childbirth was compared to a warrior taking a captive in battle in the form of a baby! If the baby were a boy, she would call him "my beloved boy, my beloved youth "; if a girl, she would coo, "My beloved maiden, my youngest one, noblewoman, thou hast suffered exhaustion, thou has become fatigued. Thy beloved father, the master, the lord of the near, of the nigh, the creator of men, the maker of men, hath sent thee." Again, the gods are mentioned, only this time it is a god who is the source of the child's life.
The gods sent children to earth for a life of struggle, misery, and joy. The midwife was more specific about the quality of life, and mixed her encouragement with warnings. "Verily, thou wilt endure, thou wilt suffer torment, fatigue, for verily our lord hath ordered, hath disposed that there will be pain, there will be affliction, there will be misery, there will be work, labor for daily sustenance." However, this life of struggle was balanced by delicious food, sexual love, and wonderful clothes: "There is... to be eating, drinking, the wearing of raiment. "
The careful detail given to each ritual moment in the early life of an Aztec child cannot be exaggerated. It could be said that the vital elements of the Aztec world-family, the gods, and the past, present, and future bonded closely together in these critical moments of the transition into life. For example, soon after the child was born, the family summoned a wise man, or soothsayer, to determine the "signs " under which the child had been born. The soothsayer questioned the family to determine the exact moment of birth, especially in relation to midnight, for that time determined which day-sign was active when the child was born.
The soothsayers consulted painted manuscripts to study the relationship between the time of birth (daybreak, noon, dusk, night, or midnight) and the sacred forces that every day flowed across the space of human Ufe.
The soothsayer might announce, "Good is the day-sign on which he was born. He will govern, be a lord, be a ruler ... will have wealth ... will be brave, an eagle warrior, an ocelot warrior ...he will be in the military common . . . will provide drink" If a child was born on an adverse or unlucky day, the report was negative and frightening: " Behold that which will befall him-vice will be his desert; he will become a thief. Misery will be his desert, his lot. Vainly will he struggle on earth, but that which will be done will fail. " But the soothsayer could suggest ways for the family to improve the possibilities for the child, who could be bathed and named on a positive day, even if it meant waiting more than the customary four days. This was often done to bring positive balance into the negative signs of the birthday. The soothsayer was well paid with turkeys, "loads of food," and plenty to drink.
An interesting description of the bathing ritual for little girls shows how ritual was crucial to the well-being of human life. The soothsayers selected a positive day, and the family prepared a little skirt, plus the "equipment" of the little red basket, the spinning whorl, and the batten.
The girl was bathed and raised as an offering in the four directions of the cosmos and then raised up and offered to the gods who resided in the celestial realms. She was given water to drink Each time the water touched the girl's head, chest, and hands, even when the baby was placed in the cradle for the first time, a short prayer was said: "Here is the coolness, the tenderness of Chalchiuhtlicue, who is eternally awake. ... May she go with thee, may she embrace thee, may she take thee in her lap, in her arms, that thou mayest continue watchfully on earth".  Clearly, these children were being brought under the protection of the goddess. In fact, all these children needed human and divine assistance in the days and years ahead. This assistance would be given by the parents, teachers, and priests, who provided different kinds of education.

CHILDHOOD AND DISCIPLINE

The Aztecs valued love and discipline. On the one hand, children were encouraged to express their feelings and attitudes openly, while on the other hand, they were watched carefully by their parents and given constant correction. When a child reached three years of age, the father began to instruct the boy, and the mother, the girl, in how to be a helpful member of the family and the household. When a child was four years old, the parents became more specific in the tasks they wanted their children to carry out, and girls and boys began wearing different clothes appropriate to their gender. This was the year that children underwent a special "growth ritual" that was repeated every four years in the month of Izcalli ("Growth").
Children of both sexes born during the previous four years were purified by fire and had their earlobes pierced and earrings inserted. The ceremony was called Quinquechanaya ("they stretch their necks"), in which the children were lifted by their foreheads and had their limbs stretched. Another ceremony held every 260 days, on the day 4 Movement, saw the children's noses, necks, ears, fingers, and legs pulled to encourage proper growth during the next 260-day cycle. These two rituals reflect one of the key ideas in Aztec education.
The Aztec equivalent of the verb "to educate" was tlacahuapahua or tlacazcaltia, which meant "to strengthen persons" or "to make persons grow." This growing and strengthening was accomplished through a series of rituals that incorporated children into the work of the family and society. In these cases the children were introduced to the sacred numbers 4 and 260, which would continue to guide them even after death. At the age of four, mothers began to teach girls the fundamentals of weaving, and fathers guided boys beyond the confines of the home and had them assist in water carrying. At five, boys helped in toting light loads of firewood and carrying light bundles of goods to the tianquiztli, or neighborhood marketplace. This allowed them to greet people, watch the process of exchanges in the market, and meet other children. Girls began to spin with their mothers, learning how to sit, use their hands, and manipulate the cotton. A year later, the Codex Mendoza tells us, the parents

"instructed and engaged them in personal services, from which the parents benefited, like, for boys, [collecting] maize that has been spilled in the marketplace, and beans and other miserable things that the traders left scattered. And they taught the girls to spin and to do other advantageous services. This was so that, by the way of the said services and activities, they did not spend their time in idleness, and to avoid the bad vices that idleness tends to bring".

It is impressive just how close children and parents were during these fonnative years. In a real sense, the first teachers were the parents, communicaling body language, speech patterns, and how to use their clothes to cover and adorn themselves and, in the case of males, to assist in hauling loads. Between the ages of seven and ten, boys were given nets to fish with, while girls continued to learn how to spin and cook. Young girls were already proficient in their labor and art by this age and were supervised rather than instructed by their mothers. Apparently, it was during this period of growth that children began to act up and cause problems in the family. The Codex Mendoza presents these years as times when parents punished their children for a series of unacceptable behaviors, including laziness, disobedience, rudeness, and boastfulness.
There are images of parents "putting before them [the children) the terror and fear of maguey thorns, so that being negligent and disobedient to their parents they would be punished with the said thorns." There are scenes of children weeping when presented with these thorns and admonished not to be deceitful. Girls' hands were pierced by their mothers, who used the thorns to punish them for idleness and negligence. Boys who really got out of line had their hands and feet bound, and maguey thorns were stuck into their shoulder, back, and bullocks. Such was the price of rebellion by children. These punishments intensified between the ages of ten and fourteen and included being forced to inhale chili smoke or being tied by the hand and foot and forced to sleep on damp ground all night.
If a girl was a sloppy spinner or clumsy in her work, she could be beaten by her mother lor not paying attention or not concentrating on her work. Images in the Codex Mendoza show that the children got well into line during their thirteenth and fourteenth years. Boys were responsible for carrying firewood from the hills and are depicted transporting sedges, bulrushes, and other grasses for the household and fishing successfully in their canoes. Girls would grind maize and make tortillas for their parents and are seen weaving, cooking, and effectively handling the different foods, utensils, and life of the kitchen. In fact, a girl who could grind corn and make the atole drink was considered a maiden of marriageable age.

By David Carrasco, with Scott Sessions in the book "Daily Life of the Aztecs" : People of the Sun and Earth, published in 1998 by Greenwood Press, an imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. U.S.A, excerpts from pages 95 to 102. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.



This book is about the daily life of the Aztecs, especially as they dwelled in and around the island city of Tenochtitlan. It is concerned with presenting a human face of the Aztec peoples, who as poets asked about the destiny of their hearts, as citizens strove to build lasting friendships, as parents thought of their children as "precious necklaces," and as the faithful ritually greeted the sunrise and died in war believing that while they were buried in the earth or had their ashes spread across it, they also went to live in the house of the solar god. 
The book attempts a new interpretation of the complex relationships between cultural practices, social order, and religious myths and symbols. As the above quotations show, these peoples believed the earth, sky, and sun to be more than just natural forces; they were also filled with sacred powers. This new interpretation benefits from recent archaeological discoveries in and around the Basin of Mexico, including excavations of the Great Aztec Temple in downtown Mexico City and at the site of Teotihuacan, the City of the Gods, also known as the Pyramids. It also utilizes a number of the pictorial manuscripts drawn and painted by native scribes prior to and after the conquest in order to focus on the interaction between the sacred spaces, ritual practices, and educational processes that trained children and teenagers to have a sense of profound loyalty to the Aztec earth, sun, gods, ancestors, and each other.