General Aztecs Maya Tocuaro Kids Contact 19 Mar 2024/2 Death
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Presione para ir a la versión en español Aztec death bundle, from Codex Magliabecchiano

A Bundle of Death

Aztecs who died a natural death and went to Mictlan were often placed in a foetal position and wrapped with gifts in a petate (reed mat bed), adorned with papers.

“Water was poured on their heads and these words were said over them: ‘this is what you enjoyed living in the world’. Next a jar of water was placed between the cloths that were wrapped around them and they added: ‘See here what you have to walk with’. The ceremony continued with a statement of the places through which they had to pass ... Finally, the wrapped corpse was burned and the ashes were sprinkled with water and kept in a jar that was buried under the floor of the house. There were other cases in which the body was buried in a foetal position.”

(Image from the Codex Magliabecchiano, info from ‘The Mask of Death’ by Eduardo Matos Moctezuma)

Ritual Aztec burning of a corpse
Ritual Aztec burning of a corpse (Click on image to enlarge)

In the Florentine Codex we find a more detailed outline of how (an ‘ordinary’) death was handled by the Aztecs/Mexica. The following is taken from Book 2 (‘The Ceremonies’):-
’When the body of [the dead one] already was burning, they took great pains with it... they placed [it] in a heap, they piled up, the embers. And they said “Let him be bathed”; thereupon they bathed him - they threw water on him, they kept wetting him, they made a slush. When it cooled, once again they placed the charcoal in a heap. Thereupon they dug a round hole in which to place it: a pit... Then they covered the pit. And likewise [was it done with] the noblemen as well as the commoners.

Placing a jade piece under the tongue of a deceased nobleman - artist’s impression
Placing a jade piece under the tongue of a deceased nobleman - artist’s impression (Click on image to enlarge)

‘When they had burned [the body], they sorted out, they gathered up all [his] bones. Into an earthen vessel, into a pot, they put them. Upon the bones they placed a green stone. They buried [the pot] in the home, in the calpulli [of the dead one].
’And where they buried them, they always made offerings to them.
’And when the rulers and the noblemen died, they put green stones in their mouths. And if they were only commoners, [they used] only greenish stones or obsidian. It was said that they became their hearts.’

Image sources:-
• Main: image from the the Codex Magliabechiano scanned from our own copy of the ADEVA 1970 facsimile edition, Graz, Austria
• Image from the Florentine Codex (original in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence) scanned from our own copy of the Club Internacional del Libro 3-volume facsimile edition, Madrid, 1994
• Artist’s illustration by Steve Radzi/Mayavision for Mexicolore.

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