Kate Blankenship
Imperial Cities
September 10, 2010
In her article “Aztec hearts and minds: religion and the state in the Aztec empire,” Elizabeth Brumfiel examines the religious ideology of the Aztec state, that ideologies’ intended audience, and the level of acceptance of the ideology throughout the Aztec empire. She argues that the Aztec imperial religion, which focused heavily on blood sacrifice and military accomplishment, was aimed mostly toward the young, male, warrior class of Aztec society. This was accomplished through a wide variety of monthly religious festivals involving young male participants (and future warriors) that incorporated human sacrifice, mock battles, and other themes and celebrations of warfare. In this way the military infrastructure needed to maintain the empire was supported and reinforced in the religious activities controlled by the state.
She also examines ethnographic records of various domestic religious activities, as well as archaeological remains of ritual material in households. From this data she concluded that most of these domestic rituals focused on elements such as agricultural fertility and rain. While the basic structure of the Aztec state religion is paralleled in domestic ritual practices, themes of warfare and human sacrifice do not play a central role. She also finds this pattern in subordinate communities under Aztec control, leading to the conclusion that Aztec state ideology was difficult and “expensive” to maintain outside of major political centers.
This article demonstrates how state ideologies were developed and tailored to accomplish specific functional goals, e.g., the maintenance and strengthening of imperial military forces. Because the Aztec state expanded so quickly over such a large geographic area, a large (and effective) army was necessary. In order to add a spiritual legitimacy to these practical requirements, the Aztec empire incorporated militarism and violence as central tenets of the state-sponsored ideology.
In contrast, Brumfiel also examines how religious beliefs and practices within empires are not “top down” phenomena. Instead they can be complex and nuanced processes, which reflect both the priorities of the state and the priorities of everyday people within that state. In showing that Aztec commoners did not simply mimic the religious activities sponsored and legitimized by the Aztec state, she raises important themes of both social resistance and individual human agency, as well as the flexible and mutable nature of religious belief and practice.