Question for April 2016

The short answer is, we don’t know. The long answer is, common sense tells us it would only have been for seconds rather than minutes. Aztec sources like the Codex Mendoza and the Florentine Codex tell us that Aztec parents were loving but also very strict. They tell us that punishing a child by holding them over smoking chillies was considered a ‘cruel torment’. it causes weeping, skin irritation, a strong burning sensation, prolonged coughing and difficulty breathing. This is due to the chemical properties of chillies, which contain a powerful compound called capsaicin that acts as a strong irritant, sending an urgent ‘Danger: you’re burning!’ signal to the brain.
In sufficient concentration - if you’re forced to breathe in smoking chilli fumes for long enough and in a confined space - it can lead to asphyxia (lack of oxygen) and death. A Spanish chronicler tells of its deliberate use (to kill) ‘by lords of a restive Aztec province to eliminate unwelcome imperial visitors from the capital in Tenochtitlan. These lords of Cuetlaxtla sealed off the Aztecs’ bedchamber and then lit a huge pile of chiles. The resulting smoke was so overwhelming that the trapped messengers suffocated’! (The Essential Codex Mendoza, p. 161).

Punishing two Mexica (Aztec) 11-year-old children: the dad holds his son over smoking chillies, the mum threatens her daughter with the same treatment. Codex Mendoza, fol. 60r (detail)