I think it is a very interesting subject and have enjoyed many books from many writers on it. One of my favorites is Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 by New Age writer John Major Jenkins. I found it to be a very insightful and enjoyable book about Mayan astronomy and cosmology. I don't identify as an adherent of the New Age religion, I'm beyond my militant atheism such that I can respect people for their religious views as long as they don't write laws. With that being said, I also find wisdom in several religious texts. Indeed fiction can teach you something. Afterall, the Mesoamericans used the zero before the Greeks and their calendar was the most accurate calendar in the world until the last several decades. Despite that they sacrificed humans, I believe that they had a profound respect for human life. As the west at the time of the conquistadors, and still to a great extent today, has very few scruples about wasting human lives for profit, they considered it to be the only fitting gift to their gods. I often wonder what untold volumes of wisdom were lost when De Landa burned all of the Mayan books.
dude.
the whole "human sacrifice" thing was blown out of proportion by the jesuits and the catholic clergy.
on the temple of the sun, human sacrifices WERE done, but they were done rarely, on events of great signicicance such as a great victory in war, or to stave off a drought. plague or other disaster. the whole "mountain of skulls" story was created out of whloe cloth. the poles strung with sacrificial victims skulls represented centuries of sacrifices, and they numbered less than 100. human sacrifice was a heavy heavy thing for the aztecs and the maya both
the vast majority of aztec and mayan blood sacrifices were ritual blood lettings from the KING! he would on various occasions cut his dick for fertility, cut his tongue for prosperity etc etc etc. some precolumbian ritual sacrifices to note include:
smearing the king with honey, dusting the now sticky monarch with gold dust and he goes for a swim in the sacred cenote (big sinkhole full of water from and underground river) which was the entrance to the underworld.
animal sacrifices (normal throughout the world)
vegetable crop sacrifices (normal throughout the world)
sacrifice of manufactured goods (only done in a large scale in meso-america and pre-socialist china)
the royal children and the kids of the priest class capture, and later live release a shitload of BUTTERFLIES in honor of queztlcoatl. how sinister is that!
the image of a bloodsoaked temple and hot virgins having their hearts cut out while still beating, is a product of pulp fiction writers, hollywood and catholic propaganda.
also, theres still a few mayan books that didnt get burnt. just not many.
but theres always an exception...
Xipetotec, the flayed god, was all about human sacrifice, but it was not "annual" it was not "hundreds of victims every year" and it was
NOT Sexy Virgins.
i mean, he was nuts, but he wasnt CRAZY!
