Daily life in the Aztec Empire

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[edit] Diet

The Aztec staple foods included maize, beans and squash to which were often added chilis and tomatoes, all prominent parts of the Mexican diet to this day. They harvested acocils, a small and abundant shrimp of Lake Texcoco, as well as spirulina algae, which was made into a sort of cake rich in flavonoids. The Aztecs consumed insects such as crickets (chapulines), maguey worms, ants, larvae, etc. Insects have a higher protein content than meat, and even now they are considered a delicacy in some parts of Mexico.

Aztecs also used maguey extensively; from it they obtained food, sugar (aguamiel–honey water), fibers for ropes and clothing, and drink (pulque, a fermented beverage with an alcoholic content equivalent to beer). Getting drunk before the age of 60 however was forbidden. First offenses drew relatively light punishment but repeat offenses could be punished by death.

Cocoa beans were used as money and also to make xocolatl, a frothy and bitter beverage, lacking the sweetness of modern chocolate drinks. The Aztecs also kept beehives and harvested honey.

Much has been said about a lack of animal proteins in the Aztec diet. Although the Aztecs had domestic animals, like turkey and some dog breeds, these were few and usually reserved for special occasions. Hunting -- deer, wild hogs, ducks-- was also another source of meat, although the eventual population within the Valley of Mexico precluded hunting as a major food source.

This comparative lack of animal protein has been used by some to postulate the existence of widespread cannibalism (M. Harner, Am. Ethnol. 4, 117 (1977)), although there is little evidence to support it. A combination of maize and beans provides the full quota of essential amino acids, precluding a widespread need for animal protein. The Aztecs had a great diversity of maize strains, with a wide range of amino acid content. They also cultivated amaranth, whose seeds have a high protein content, and cultivated chia.

A study by Montellano (Medicina, Nutrición y Salud Aztecas, 1997) shows a mean life expectancy of 37 (±3) years for the population of Mesoamerica.

After the Spanish conquest, some foods were outlawed, particularly amaranth because of its central role in religious rituals. There was less diversity of food which led to chronic malnutrition in the general population.

[edit] Recreation

As in modern Mexico, the Aztecs had strong passions over a ball game, but in their case it was tlachtli, the Aztec variant of the Mesoamerican ballgame. The game was played with a ball of solid rubber, about the size of a human head. The ball was called olli, whence derives the Spanish word for rubber, hule. The city had two special buildings for the ball games. The players hit the ball with their hips, knees, and elbows. They had to pass the ball through a stone ring to automatically win. This was difficult, so they could hit markers on the walls to earn points. The fortunate player that could do this had the right to take the blankets of the public, so his victory was followed by general running of the public, with screams and laughter.

People bet on the games. Poor people could bet their food, pillis could bet their fortunes, tecutlis (lords) could bet their concubines or even their cities, and those who had nothing could bet their freedom and risk becoming slaves.

The Aztecs also enjoyed board games, like patolli and totoloque. Bernal Diaz records that Cortés and Moctezuma II played totoloque together.

[edit] Education

The Mexica, the founders and dominant group of the Aztec Empire, were one of the first people in the world to have mandatory education for nearly all children, regardless of gender, rank, or station.

Until the age of fourteen, the education of children was in the hands of their parents, but supervised by the authorities of their calpulli. Periodically they attended their local temples, to test their progress.

Part of this education involved learning a collection of sayings, called huehuetlatolli ("The sayings of the old"), that embodied the Aztecs' ideals. It included speeches and sayings for every occasion, the words to salute the birth of children, and to say farewell at death. Fathers admonished their daughters to be very clean, but not to use makeup, because they would look like ahuianis. Mothers admonished their daughters to support their husbands, even if they turn out to be humble peasants. Boys were admonished to be humble, obedient and hard workers. Judged by their language, most of the huehuetlatolli seemed to have evolved over several centuries, predating the Aztecs and most likely adopted from other Nahua cultures.

Boys and girls went to school at age 15. Probably this was one of the first societies that required education for all its members, without regard of gender or social status.

There were two types of schools: the telpochcalli, for practical and military studies, and the calmecac, for advanced learning in writing, astronomy, statesmanship, theology, and other areas. The two institutions seem to be common to the Nahua people, leading some experts to suggest that they are older than the Aztec culture.

• The telpochcalli or House of the Young, taught history, religion, military fighting arts, and a trade or craft (such as agriculture or handicrafts). Some of the telpochcalli students were chosen for the army, but most of them returned to their homes.

• The calmecac, attended mostly by the sons of pillis, was focused on turning out leaders (tlatoque), priests, scholars/teachers (tlatimini), healers (tizitl) and codex painters (tlacuilos). They studied rituals, ancient and contemporary history, literacy, calendrics, some elements of geometry, songs (poetry), and, as at the telpochcalli, military arts.

Each calpulli specialized in some handicrafts, and this was an important part of the income of the city. The teaching of handicraft was highly valued.

The healers (tizitl) had several specialities. Some were trained to just inspect and classify medicinal plants, others were trained in the preparation of medicines that were sold in special places (tlapalli). More than a hundred preparations are known, including deodorants, remedies for smelly feet, dentifric paste etc. Also there were tizitl specialized in surgery, digestive disease, teeth and nose, skin diseases, etc.

Aztec teachers (tlatimine) propounded a spartan regime of education – cold baths in the morning, hard work, physical punishment, bleeding with maguey thorns and endurance tests – with the purpose of forming a stoical people.

There is contradictory information about whether calmecac was reserved for the sons and daughters of the pillis; some accounts said they could choose where to study. It is possible that the common people preferred the telpochcalli, because a warrior could advance more readily by his military abilities; becoming a priest or a tlacuilo was not a way to rise rapidly from a low station.

Girls were educated in the crafts of home and child raising. They were not taught to read or write. Some of them were educated as midwives and received the full training of a healer; they were also called tizitl. Female tizitl would treat women throughout their reproductive life. They would admonish young wives, and after the second month of pregnancy, they would began watch them for any problems. Probably because they were women, they preferred to save the woman's life over that of a fetus, resorting to embryotomy. Because of this, their work, called temiuxiuliztli, has sometimes been translated as "obstetrics" (Medicine in Mexico, before the Discovery. Dr. Manuel Valdez 1992). All women were taught to be involved "in the things of god"; there are paintings of women presiding over religious ceremonies, but there are no references to female priests.

There were also two other opportunities for those few who had talent. Some were chosen for the house of song and dance, and others were chosen for the ball game. Both occupations had high status.