Questioning the Validity of Aztec Sacrifices: A Mini-Essay

     In December of 2007, historian Ocelocoatl Ramírez conducted a lecture titled El mito del sacrificio humano at the Center for Training and Careers in San José.[1] In his presentation, Ramírez, building on the theories of Fernández Gatica, Meza Gutiérrez, and Lira Montes de Oca, proposes the human sacrifices related by Hernán Cortés and other Spanish conquistadors were merely fabricated propaganda used to vilify the Mexica and encourage government-sanctioned enslavement and eradication of these people.[2] Although the concept of Ramírez and his fellow scholars provide an intriguing stance on human sacrifices among the Mexica (and hold parallels to Roman preoccupation with Celtic sacrifices), surviving Mexica art and literature, coupled with archeological evidence, attest to sacrifices done daily to Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and warfare, to protect the civilization from darkness and famine.[3] Typically war captives, victims were either drugged on peyote or intoxicated with pulque at dawn on the day of their execution. Dragged up the steps of the Tenochtitlán temples, including the two-hundred-foot-tall Pyramid of the Sun, those meant for sacrifice were stretched across a stone block, held down by four priests, and had their still-beating hearts ripped out of their chests by a fifth priest yielding an obsidian blade.[4] After the heart, which the priests referred to as a cactus flower, was offered to keep the darkness away, it was ceremoniously burned, the body was dismantled (the torso was fed to dogs and the appendages were ritualistically eaten with chili and maize), and the blood was sprinkled throughout the city to ward off evil entities.[5]

Works Referenced

Colín, Ernesto. Indigenous Education through Dance and Ceremony: A Mexica Palimpsest. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

Cummins, Joseph. The World’s Bloodiest History: Massacre, Genocide, and the Scars They Left on Civilization. New York: Crestline, 2013.
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[1] Colín, 206-217.
[2] Colín, 206-217.
[3] Cummins, 27.
[4] Cummins, 27.
[5] Cummins, 27.

Christmas Votive

$5 - $10 (based on 2018 prices)

Makes one votive

In 2018, I participated in my office’s secret pal gift exchange, where we anonymously sent monthly gifts to a colleague. For December’s present, (see November’s present here), I decided to attempt a decoupage votive. Although I used a snowflake theme, you can substitute the imagery and ornament for other winter-related elements, such as a Santa Claus or snowman.

• One twelve-inch glass vase
• Two or three single-ply Christmas-themed napkins
• One 4 oz. bottle of decoupage medium
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in metallic silver*
• One small Christmas-themed ornament
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
  

1. Thoroughly wash and dry the vase. If there is any sticker residue, use rubbing alcohol to remove it (soak a paper towel in the solution, let it sit over the area for a few minutes, and wipe away the remaining glue). After cleaning the vase, roughen its surface with coarse sandpaper to help the decoupage medium adhere.

2. Cut or tear apart the napkins. For the best translucency, you want single-ply paper. If you cannot find one-ply paper napkins, simply separate the plies of multi-ply sheets. You can either isolate distinct images (as I did) or use random sections.

3. Cover the entire exterior surface of the vase with the cuttings. This process works best if you move in stages: apply a layer of decoupage medium to one section, press the paper down until it sticks, and repeat the process. For the best translucency, try not to overlap the sections too much (the thicker your layers, the less candlelight will show through). 

4. Once the decoupage medium has dried, apply an additional coat or two to serve as a sealer. As with step three, ensure your coverage is even and thin to achieve the best translucency. 

5. Use hot glue to create a dripping effect along the rim of the vase. You want it to resemble icicles, so vary the length and thickness of each strand. Also, depending on your chosen appearance for the prop, you can cluster the embellishment towards the top of the vase or drag it down all the way to the base.

6. Apply two or three even coats of metallic silver paint to the drippings and, if you desire, seal the paint with a coat or two of the decoupage medium. Although I selected silver, you can use whichever color complements the color scheme of your napkins. 

7. Center a snowflake ornament at the front of the votive and, using the hanging loop, attach it to the vase with a few drops of glue. For a sturdier hold, use superglue. Here, too, you may utilize whichever decoration matches the theme of your napkins’ imagery. 

8. While you are free to embellish the item with additional details, try to keep these to a minimum. The more elements you add, the more the candlelight is blocked.

*You will not use the entire bottle’s content for this project.

"A Dialogue between the Soul and the Body" (A Poem)

Composed in 1681, Andrew Marvell's "A Dialogue between the Soul and the Body" builds on the medieval literary genre of the soul's complaint about its physical encasement; however, unlike its religious predecessors, which pit the pious soul against the sins of human flesh, Marvell's work takes a philosophical perspective, where the both entities bemoan their symbiotic dependence on each other.[1] 

SOUL 
O who shall, from this dungeon, raise 
A soul enslav’d so many ways? 
With bolts of bones, that fetter’d stands 
In feet, and manacled in hands; 
Here blinded with an eye, and there
Deaf with the drumming of an ear;
A soul hung up, as ’twere, in chains
Of nerves, and arteries, and veins;
Tortur’d, besides each other part,
In a vain head, and double heart.

BODY
O who shall me deliver whole
From bonds of this tyrannic soul?
Which, stretch’d upright, impales me so
That mine own precipice I go;
And warms and moves this needless frame,
(A fever could but do the same)
And, wanting where its spite to try,
Has made me live to let me die.
A body that could never rest,
Since this ill spirit it possest.

SOUL
What magic could me thus confine
Within another’s grief to pine?
Where whatsoever it complain,
I feel, that cannot feel, the pain;
And all my care itself employs;
That to preserve which me destroys;
Constrain’d not only to endure
Diseases, but, what’s worse, the cure;
And ready oft the port to gain,
Am shipwreck’d into health again.

BODY
But physic yet could never reach
The maladies thou me dost teach;
Whom first the cramp of hope does tear,
And then the palsy shakes of fear;
The pestilence of love does heat,
Or hatred’s hidden ulcer eat;
Joy’s cheerful madness does perplex,
Or sorrow’s other madness vex;
Which knowledge forces me to know,
And memory will not forego.
What but a soul could have the wit
To build me up for sin so fit?
So architects do square and hew
Green trees that in the forest grew.[2]

Works Referenced

Brackett, Virginia. The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry: 17th and 18th Centuries. New York: Facts on File, 2008.

Marvell, Andrew. "A Dialogue between the Soul and the Body." The Poems of Andrew Marvell. Ed. Nigel Smith. London: Longman, 2003. 61-63.
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[1] Brackett, 111-112.
[2] Marvell, 61-63.

Alchemy Banner

$5 - $10 (based on 2018 prices)

Makes one banner

For the witch den, which was part of my office’s annual decorating competition, I unified the theme by incorporating alchemy symbols into many of the props. This alchemy banner was part of this endeavor. Since the prop was meant to decorate the hallways, I used two books (upwards of six-hundred pages) to craft over one-hundred feet. Your final product does not need to be this excessive. You can par it down to only a few feet. Hence, adjust the quantities in this instruction to match your desired goals.

• One or two old books
• At least four tablespoons of dark roasted coffee grounds
• One pan large enough to soak the books
• Roughly thirty yards of thick string
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in cherry cobbler
  

1. Boil enough water to completely submerge the books and pour it into the pan. Add the coffee. The longer you allow the coffee to brew, the darker the stain will become. Likewise, greater amounts of coffee will produce a richer stain. Submerge the books in the coffee mixture and soak them until they reach the color you desire. I soaked mine for four days.

2. Remove the books from the water and allow them to dry. You can hang them from a clothesline and let them air dry in the sun for several days or, if time is scarce, center them on a baking sheet, place the sheet on the lowest oven rack, and bake at 200ºF for seven to ten minutes. NOTE: depending on the size of your books, you may need more or less time, so remain by the oven and constantly check the items to prevent any fires. 

3. Tear pages out of the books and use red paint to draw alchemy symbols onto them. You can add the markings randomly or put them in strategic places. While I elected to use alchemy symbols to unify the haunt’s theme, you could modify the prop by writing spells across the surfaces or using patterns of your own design.

4. Link the pages together with the string, leaving about six inches between each pendant. To attach them to the string, fold the top of the page about a quarter of an inch over the string and glue it in place. You could also punch holes in the top corners of the page and use these to connect the pendants.

5. The prop can be enhanced, if your desire, by adding clusters of feathers or small trinkets between each page to complement the theme of your haunt.