harmonica
Diamond Member
- Sep 1, 2017
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..the Aztecs/etc CONQUERED [ colonized ] many other tribes..that's why some of the other tribes helped Cortez .......and they DID do human sacrifices ......the Native Americans used torture per culture = even the kids participatedHell, human sacrifice and even cannibalism was not uncommon. Which is why the Spanish went absolutely medieval against the Aztecs and other tribes they met. And it was not only them, the Pawnee were still performing the Morning Star Ritual in secret into the late 1800s. Most of the Plains tribes had some form of human sacrifice, but it was more ritualistic and singular than the wholesale slaughter the Aztecs did.
And it is even a constant event in most Neolithic cultures. Ritualistic human sacrifice was seen all through Europe and Asia in Neolithic sites. They are still finding their victims in bogs in Germany and surrounding countries. And the American Indians were no different. One of the most well known was the "Morning Star Ritual", the last recorded one in the 1880's in secret. Where the tribe would determine it is the right time, and raid a neighboring village. Only ending the raid once they captured a girl of around 13 and left to return home.
Where she would be treated as an honored guest. For 5 days, until the time of the sacrifice. Then a ritual followed, including her being stripped and tied to a scaffold, burned repeatedly, then bashed in the head with a hammer and shot full of arrows. The priest smearing her blood on himself, and her blood then put onto meat that all the warriors would consume. Then the corpse raped and placed in the field to help ensure the spring was fruitful.
This was not unique at all, but it did go on longer than most other similar ceremonies.
A lot of paleontologists actually look at the Indians as likely a snapshot of what European Neolithic cultures were like. We only find the scattered remains on occasion of individuals who were obviously ritualistically sacrificed. But here, they were still doing it and it was likely in almost the same way it was done in Europe. At one time, it was thought those killed in Denmark-Germany were criminals. Who had done something wrong and been executed and their bodies dumped in the bog. But today, they are recognized as human sacrifices, because of the care and positioning done and how they were killed. Always strangled, sometimes also having their throats cut and often with a hard blow to the back of the head (not known if that was before or after death). And the noose left around their neck, then the body positioned a specific way inside the bog.
If similar to the Morning Star Ritual, it was probably a Spring ceremony, and recreating their own creation myth. But it has been completely lost to time, as they left behind no records of their beliefs, or even who they were. But it always makes me laugh when people believe the Disneyfied version of Indians, as peaceful nature worshipers. Many were very pastoral and peaceful. But some were brutal and would kill anybody they could. And most tribes had at least some form of human sacrifice.