All Religions Are Not The Same

 

Bernal Diaz describes his first impression of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán, now Mexico City: 

And when we saw all those cities and villages built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Mexico [i.e. Tenochtitlán], we were astounded. These great towns and cues [i.e., temples] and buildings rising from the water, all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision from the tale of Amadis. Indeed, some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream. It is not surprising therefore that I should write in this vein. It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before...

At the heart of this enchanted city of some 300,000 people was a great temple, the Templo Mayor, surmounted by twin shrines to  Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture. Diaz tells us the statues of the deities were encrusted with pearls, precious stones and gold, and that the walls of the shrine(s) "were so caked with blood and the floor so bathed in it that the stench was worse than that of any slaughter-house in Spain."

In front of the bloody pyramid, the scene of an estimated 20,000 yearly human sacrifices, rose the Huey Tzompantli, the Skull Wall or Skull Banner. This held the flayed, decapitated heads of the Aztecs' sacrificial victims. These were strung up between beams, rank on rank, in a kind of grisly abacus about the length of a basketball court. This was flanked at either end by a circular skull tower, approximately 6 meters in width and height.

Andres de Tapia, who served under Cortes, saw the Tzompantli and its accompanying skull towers. He loosely calculated the structures to hold 136,000 heads, and we can imagine him walking about the temple precinct, with its gardens, ornamental ponds, brilliantly feathered birds and a towering wall of human skulls. He must have had time on his hands to do the math.

Historians and anthropologists were in the habit of dismissing all of this as Conquistador propaganda, used to justify their bloodthirsty, colonial oppression and destruction of the Aztec culture. Then, uncomfortably, in 2015 and 2020 archeologists discovered the remains of the skull towers. Diaz, Tapia et al weren't lying.

You see, gentle readers, all religions are not the same, especially when one is a human sacrificing, cannibalist, demonic death cult.

God bless,

LSP

Happy Columbus Day!

Here at the Compound we'd like to wish everyone a happy Columbus day as we celebrate the discovery of America by the great explorer and navigator. 

Of course the Left's outraged by the heroic Captain and want to turn Columbus Day into the catchy, let's party, Indigenous Peoples Day. Who knows, maybe they'll get their way and we'll all be dancing beneath the jolly old Skull Wall this time next year.

Speaking of which, the Conquistadors certainly had their faults but human sacrifice and cannibalism weren't amongst them.

Cheers,

LSP

Conquest of Mexico

One of the things I do to relax is read Prescott's classic Conquest of Mexico, which describes the career of Hernan Cortes. It's an enchanted story of valor, cruelty, heroism, barbarism and greed, set against the backdrop of the fading light of chivalry and the pagan ferocity of the Aztecs.

Here's an excerpt:

It was late in the afternoon when he reached them; but the sun was still lingering above the western hills, and poured his beams wide over the valley, lighting up the old towers and temples of Tenochtitlan with a mellow radiance that little harmonised with the dark scenes of strife in which the city had so lately been involved. The tranquillity of the hour, however, was on a sudden broken by the strange sounds of the great drum in the temple of the war-god... and the soldiers, startled by the mournful vibrations, which might be heard for leagues across the valley, turned their eyes to the quarter whence they proceeded. They there beheld a long procession winding up the huge sides of the pyramid; for the camp of Alvarado was pitched scarcely a mile from the city, and objects are distinctly visible, at a great distance, in the transparent atmosphere of the tableland.

It continues:

As the long file of priests and warriors reached the flat summit of the teocalli, the Spaniards saw the figures of several men stripped to their waists, some of whom, by the whiteness of their skins, they recognised as their own countrymen. They were the victims for sacrifice. Their heads were gaudily decorated with coronals of plumes, and they carried fans in their hands. They were urged along by blows, and compelled to take part in the dances in honour of the Aztec war-god. The unfortunate captives, then stripped of their sad finery, were stretched one after another on the great stone of sacrifice. On its convex surface, their breasts were heaved up conveniently for the diabolical purpose of the priestly executioner, who cut asunder the ribs by a strong blow with his sharp razor of itztli, and thrusting his hand into the wound, tore away the heart, which, hot and reeking, was deposited on the golden censer before the idol. The body of the slaughtered victim was then hurled down the steep stairs of the pyramid, which, it may be remembered, were placed at the same angle of the pile, one flight below another; and the mutilated remains were gathered up by the savages beneath, who soon prepared with them the cannibal repast which completed the work of abomination!

Of course the Aztecs weren't alone in savagery, the Spaniards and their allies played the part too. But consider this, the Aztecs wouldn't have fallen as they did if the people they'd enslaved, sacrificed and eaten hadn't risen up against them and sided with Spain.

Consider this, too. Archeologists digging up the center of today's Mexico City have discovered a skull wall. Yes, a wall on which human skulls were threaded like beads on an abacus. Cortez and his Spaniards may have been justified in thinking their enemy possessed by demons.

Here endeth the Lesson,

LSP

El Conquistador

One of the things people like to do in this town is eat Tex Mex at El Con. El Con is short for El Conquistador and that's where you'll find everyone on any given Friday evening.

I don't know why but no one accuses El Con of cultural appropriation and nobody seems to notice the restaurant's brazen stand for Spanish imperial conquest.

It's strange, but there's no movement here to replace the place's unashamedly colonial brand with something more "woke," like Los Incas, Azteca or El Jolly Old Skull Wall. That's just not happening and the name remains along with a militarist suit of armor, horse totems and a couple of clay bull idols.

A Typical Aztec Skull Tower. They Cannibalized the Rest of the Victim

After a hearty meal in honor of Cortez, we were well satisfied. Pizarro and the gang sure know how to cook up a plate of Tres Enchiladas; cheese, it being Friday. Good work, conquistadors!

It was raining outside as we left and that too was good. At last the humid sauna of Rainforest Texas was broken by water falling from the sky as lightning flashed noiselessly overhead.

God bless,

LSP