Diego Durán Describes Mexica Customs

The Mexica, or Aztecs, occupied a large section of modern-day central Mexico. Like their Maya and Toltec predecessors in the area, the Mexica practiced human sacrifice. This tradition drew on Mesoamerican creation myths, which often involved gods making the first sacrifice by offering their own blood to create humanity. Victims of human sacrifice were usually captured enemy soldiers sold in slave markets. In this excerpt, the Dominican priest Diego Durán (1537–1588) describes the role of the marketplace in Mexica society, as well as the practice of human sacrifice.

The markets in this land were all enclosed by walls and stood either in front of the temples of the gods or to one side. Market day in each town was considered a main feast in that town or city. And thus in that small shrine where the idol of the market stood were offered ears of corn, chili, tomatoes, fruit, and other vegetables, seeds, and breads — in sum, everything sold in the tianguiz [marketplace]. Some say that (these offerings) were left there until they spoiled; others deny this, saying that all was gathered up by the priests and ministers of the temples.

But, to return to what I said about the market day being a feast day, the following is the truth. One day I was informed in a personal way, and now I shall tell what took place between me and a lord of a certain village. When I begged him to finish a part of the church that was under construction, he answered: “Father, do you not know that tomorrow is a great feast in this town? How can you expect them to work? Leave it for another day.” Then, very carefully, I looked at the calendar to see which saint’s day it was, and I found none. Laughing at me, (the lord) said: “Do you not know that tomorrow is the feast of the tianguiz of this town? (Do you not know) that not a man or a woman will fail to pay it its due honor?” From these words I realized (how important) a feast and solemnity the market is for them. . . .

Furthermore, a law was established by the state prohibiting the selling of goods outside the market place. Not only were there laws and penalties connected with this, but there was a fear of the supernatural, of misfortune, and of the ire and wrath of the god of the market. No one ventured, therefore, to trade outside (the market limits), and the custom has survived until these days. Many a time have I seen a native carry two or three hens or a load of fruit for sale in the market. On the road he meets a Spaniard who wants to buy them from him. The Spaniard offers the price which he would have received in the market. The native refuses and is unwilling to sell, even though he would save himself a league or two of walking. He begs the Spaniard to go to the market place to buy them there. . . . Even today, though they are Christians, the awe and fear of their ancient law is still strong. It must also be said that the planting of this awe and nonsense in these people brought a certain income from all that which was sold in the markets (in the form of taxes), which was divided between the lord and the community.

In this land the sovereigns had set up a regulation regarding the markets: they were to take the form of fairs or markets specializing in the selling of certain things. Some markets, therefore, became famous and popular for these reasons: it was commanded that slaves were to be sold at the fair in Azcapotzalco and that all the people of the land who had slaves for sale must go there and to no other place to sell. The same can be said of Itzocan. Slaves could be sold in these two places only. It was at these two fairs that slaves were sold so that those who needed them would go there and no other place to buy. In other places, such as Cholula, it was ordered that the merchandise must consist of jewels, precious stones, and fine featherwork. At others, such as Tetzcoco, cloth and fine gourds were sold, together with exquisitely worked ceramics, splendidly done in the native way. . . .

I would like to say some things regarding the slaves sold in the two markets I have mentioned, Azcapotzalco and Itzocan. Some things worthy of remembering can be said about these slaves. In the first place, it should be known that in honor of the gods (as has been noted) men and women were slain on all the feast days. Some of these were slaves bought in the market place for the special purpose of representing gods. When they had performed the representation, when those slaves had been purified and washed — some for an entire year, others for forty days, others for nine, others for seven — after having been honored and served in the name of the god they impersonated, at the end they were sacrificed by those who owned them.

Captives of another type were those taken as prisoners in war. These served exclusively as sacrifices for the man who had impersonated the god whose feast was being celebrated. Thus these were called the “delicious food of the gods.” I do not have to deal with all of these, but only with the slaves who were sold in the market place for having broken the law or for the reasons I shall describe later. These were bought by rich merchants and by important chieftains, some to glorify their own names and others to fulfill their customary vows.

The masters took the slaves to the tianguiz: some took men, others women, others boys or girls, so that there would be variety from which to choose. So that they would be identified as slaves, they wore on their necks wooden or metal collars with small rings through which passed rods about one yard long. In its place I shall explain the reason for putting these collars on them. At the site where these slaves were sold (which stood at one side of the tianguiz, according to market regulations) the owners kept (the slaves) dancing and singing so that merchants would be attracted by the charm of their voices and their (dance) steps and buy them quickly. If one possessed this facility, therefore, he found a master immediately. This was not the case for those who lacked grace and were inept in these things. Thus they were presented many times at market places without anyone paying attention to them, though (occasionally) some bought them to make use of them (as domestic servants), since they were unfit to represent the gods. Singers and dancers were in demand because when they were garbed in the raiment of the gods they went about singing and dancing in the streets and the houses during the time of their impersonation. They entered (the houses) and the temples and (climbed to) the flat roofs of the royal houses and those of their masters. They were given all the pleasures and joys of the world — foods, drink, feasts — as if they had been the gods themselves. So it was that the merchants wished that, aside from being good dancers and singers, they were healthy, without blemish or deformity. . . . (These slaves) were therefore made to strip, and were examined from head to foot, member by member. They were forced to extend their hands and lift their feet (as is done today with) Negro (slaves), to determine whether they were crippled. If one was found healthy, he was bought; otherwise, no. For it was desired that the slaves to be purified to represent the gods (this ceremony belonging to their rites, religion and precepts) were healthy and without blemish, just as we read in the Holy Writ about the sacrifices of the Old Testament which were to be without blemish. These slaves were not strangers or foreigners or prisoners of war, as some have declared, but were natives of the same town.

Diego Durán, Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar, trans. Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden (Norman: Oklahoma University Press, 1971), 137–139, 273–280, 284–286.

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