Flexibility and conformity in Postclassic Nahua rituals
The Postclassic (pre-conquest) Nahua often performed displays of religious devotion. Usually involving stripping victims of their skin, flesh and internal organs, these public, state-sanctioned rites have been understood as astonishing, even exceptional, for their brutality. As a consequence, scholars have focused on human sacrifice at the steps of the Templo Mayor; ritual away from the imperial capital Tenochtitlan has remained very poorly understood. Where attempts have been made to understand regional practices, scholars have generally assumed binary distinctions between central versus periphery or state versus local. Existing studies fail to appreciate Nahua ritual as fluid and dynamic, instead casting ceremonial behaviour across space as unrelated and fundamentally oppositional. Integrating the ethnohistorical and archaeological records, this thesis takes understandings of Nahua ritual in new directions by examining the relationship between the public arena, the sacred landscape and domestic spheres. Crucially, this thesis argues that rituals were sensitive to circumstantial pressures and personal imperatives, across hierarchies,space and time. In so doing, this study suggests a more fluid model for understanding
Smart, H. L. C.
ritual ; ceremonies ; personal versus official spaces ; centre versus periphery; agency ; conformity ; power ; flexibility ; change ; control
Flexibility and conformity in Postclassic Nahua rituals. The Postclassic (pre-conquest) Nahua often performed displays of religious devotion. Usually involving stripping victims of their skin, flesh and internal organs, these public, state-sanctioned rites have been understood as astonishing, even exceptional, for their brutality. As a consequence, scholars have focused on human sacrifice at the steps of the Templo Mayor; ritual away from the imperial capital Tenochtitlan has remained very poorly understood. Where attempts have been made to understand regional practices, scholars have generally assumed binary distinctions between central versus periphery or state versus local. Existing studies fail to appreciate Nahua ritual as fluid and dynamic, instead casting ceremonial behaviour across space as unrelated and fundamentally oppositional. Integrating the ethnohistorical and archaeological records, this thesis takes understandings of Nahua ritual in new directions by examining the relationship between the public arena, the sacred landscape and domestic spheres. Crucially, this thesis argues that rituals were sensitive to circumstantial pressures and personal imperatives, across hierarchies,space and time. In so doing, this study suggests a more fluid model for understanding
flexibility conformity ritual pre conquest often perform display religious devotion usually involve strip victim skin flesh internal organ public state sanctioned rite understood even exceptional consequence scholar focus human sacrifice step ritual away imperial capital remain_poorly understood attempt_make regional practice scholar generally_assume binary distinction central versus periphery state versus local existing_study fail_appreciate ritual fluid dynamic instead cast ceremonial behaviour across_space unrelated fundamentally oppositional integrating ethnohistorical archaeological_record take understanding ritual new_direction examine_relationship public arena sacred_landscape domestic_sphere crucially argue ritual sensitive circumstantial pressure personal imperative across hierarchy space_time study suggest fluid model