30 May 2025 / 10 House
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Find out moreDid the Aztecs have anything like the 7 deadly sins in Christianity?
ORIGINAL QUESTION received from - and thanks to - Kornel Pittmann: I’m Kornel from Hungary and I’ve been interested in Mesoamerican history and culture for quite some time now. Did the ‘aztec’ have a collection of sinful behaviours, similar to the seven deadly sins in christianity? I’ve read a lot about the general crimes of the people, but were there any traits that weren’t necessarily punished but detested by the population? (Answered by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
Thanks for a very interesting question. In our opinion they came pretty close... But it’s hard to think of any examples of mores/traits that were frowned on yet not actually punished. Their society was capable of being remarkably loving yet fiercely strict at the same time.
In the main image here (from the last folio of the Codex Mendoza we see three ‘sins’ that were severely punished: inappropriate and excessive drunkenness, theft, and adultery, all punishable by death. To these we would add laziness, dishonesty, disloyalty and disrespect. What’s more, it was seen as much worse if the guilty individual(s) were ‘nobles’ and had attended the superior calmecac school, where discipline, hard work, civic duty and morals were hammered home in no uncertain terms (see ‘Aztec Manners’, link below).
The Mexica clearly had no problems with alcohol - or sex - per se. The former was certainly permitted - indeed encouraged - on certain ritual occasions; as for the latter, in the words of Miguel León-Portilla ‘it is not that the Nahuas were afraid of sex itself. We already noted the words of the father, who expressly emphasised “the sexual act, by which people are sown”, when he recounted the things that give some joy on earth.’ The Aztec code insisted, however, that love-making must only be within marriage, an institution which offered long-suffering citizens at least the chance of a happier and more fulfilled life. Extra-marital relations were very much considered a ‘sin’, as we understand the word today. This is confirmed by one of Mexico’s greatest historians, Alfredo López Austin, who wrote:-
‘The close association of the generic idea of sin and the specific idea of sexual sin - the epitome of sin - is not unique to Christianity. it is enough to note here that the metaphor in teuhtli in tlazolli (“dust, garbage”) meant carnal sex in its generic and specific aspects to the ancient Nahua; note as well the tremendous importance of sexuality and sexual transgression in the symbolism of all the Mesoamericans and especially in the Mayan texts. Remember also the admonitions to children, premarital virginity, the chastity of priests, the periods of sexual abstinence for all people during religious festivals, the punishment of adulterers, the violent prosecution of homosexuality among many of the Mesoamericans, even the story of Quetzalcoatl, who had to abandon Tollan because he had broken his vow of chastity...’
We should, though, end on a positive, stressing the underlying strength of Aztec societal fabric: ‘Aztec men and women did not just “yield to death”, but found satisfaction in marriage, work, sex and laughter. They lived their lives to the full, despite their world’s ever-present threat of violence...’ (Caroline Dodds Pennock)
Quotes from:-
• Miguel León-Portilla, The Aztec Image of Self and Society: an Introduction to Nahua Culture, University of Utah Press, 1992, p. 194
• Alfredo López Austin, The Myths of the Opossum: Pathways of Mesoamerican Mythology, University of New Mexico Press, 1993, p. 66
• Caroline Dodds Pennock, Bonds of Blood: Gender, Lifestyle and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p. 121.
Image sources:-
• Pic 1: image scanned from the James Cooper Clark facsimile edition of the Codex Mendoza, London, 1938
• Pic 2: image scanned from our own copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition (Graz, Austria, 1979) of the Codex Vaticanus A
• Pic 3: photo by Graciela Sánchez/Mexicolore
• Pic 4: photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.
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