Conclusion

Human sacrifice in the Americas and beyond is based on the belief that nature, humans (living and deceased), rulers, gods and even physical objects such as buildings housed spiritual forces that could be addressed, animated or strengthened by offerings.

The killing liberated the victim's spiritual vigors and transferred it to the desired destination. The sacrificed individuals were often selected according to their gender, age, social position and personal qualities such as name, birthday or beauty. Infants, children, females or male adults died according to the particular ritual. However, war captives and slaves provided the bulk of the slain. The Aztec case provides some clues to the possible functions of violence in the sacrifice. It probably increased the potency of the ritual by attracting the attention of the audience and the addressee and enhanced the spiritual force, that is, the energy delivered, by the discharge of the victim's adrenalin and the tension of the observers. The violence lent more weight to the ritual's messages by impressing the observers and inscribed it more deeply in their memory. Beyond this, the violent killing demonstrated the priests' and rulers' power over life and death, heightening their capacity to inculcate dominant norms. However, human sacrifice may also foster social cohesion by providing an opportunity to experience community in the realisation of an act meaningful and important to the society. Several objectives of human sacrifice and other forms of ritual violence can be discerned:

• Human sacrifices represented regular donations of energy to the supernatural sphere, a kind of ‘food for the gods' to maintain the cosmos.

• This kind of energising was extended into the human sphere in ranked and stratified societies. High-ranking (god-like) individuals had to be strengthened to fulfil their duties.

• Companions and retainers were sacrificed as attendants of deceased high- ranking personages. Thus, the afterlife mirrored the social hierarchy on earth.

• Humans were also offered for the dedication and sanctification of temples to animate or ‘ensoul' the buildings or other sacred sites and attract the attention of spiritual beings.

• Some sacrificial victims became impersonators or representations of deities and other supernatural powers in ritual re-enactments of particular myths.

• They were considered messengers or mediators in the communication with the spiritual sphere or served to augur the future.

• Humans were sacrificed as special donations pleading or reciprocating for certain benefits, such as a good harvest.

• The sacrifice could be an act of expiation, penitence and relinquishment redressing faults or sins of the sacrificing individual or collective.

<< | >>

↑

Source: Gordon Matthew, Kaeuper Richard, Zurndorfer Harriet (eds.). The Cambridge World History of Violence. Volume 2: AD 500-AD 1500. Cambridge University Press,2020. — 696 p.. 2020

Conclusion

More on the topic Conclusion: