THE FAWXEK HUMAN SACRIFWK 



55 



A'ictini. His pages accompanied him 

 by a little-used trail to the base of an 

 •apparently ruined temple. Here he was 



A leader in Ihe Pawnee ceremony of human sacrifice 



stripped of his splendid garments and 

 of the jewels that were symbols of divin- 

 ity. With only a necklace of flutes he 

 mounted the steps of the pyramid. At 

 each step he broke one of the flutes and 

 finally arrived at the summit, where the 

 priests, knife in hand, awaited the naked 

 man whose heart was to be offered to the 

 very god he had impersonated. This 

 ceremony is given only as an example, 

 but it illustrates two characteristics 

 found in several other Mexican sacri- 

 fices — namely: the paying of homage 

 and honor to the person chosen for 

 death; and secondly, the necessity of 

 keeping the ^•ictim in good spirits and of 

 inducing him to act voluntarily through 

 the ritual. Where women were con- 

 cerned deception was used, but with men 

 an attempt to inspire a religious exalta- 

 tion, triumphing completely over the 

 weaknesses of the flesh, appears to have 

 been practised. 



If a real connection between the con- 

 cept of human sacrifice among the 

 Pawnee and among the Mexicans should 

 be proved by these facts, we must re- 

 member that the extension to the north 

 must have taken place before 1519 — 

 when the arrival of the Spaniards cut off 

 abruptly the ancient religious rites of the 

 Mexicans — and that it probably took 

 place only shortly before this date since 

 the Aztecs themselves seem to have 

 acquired the rite no earlier than 1506. 



