30 May 2025 / 10 House
Article suitable for older students
Find out moreThe Aztecs and dwarfs
ORIGINAL QUESTION received from - and thanks to - John Carr: I was wondering how the Aztecs treated newborns, like dwarfs and others born with obvious differences or defects? (Answered/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
‘The importance of dwarves - and hunchbacks, with whom they are often paired - in Mesoamerican religion goes back to the earliest times, when the Olmecs paid special attention to dwarves’ (see picture, depicting two dwarves as skybearers supporting the heavens). For the Maya dwarves were children of rain gods, for the Zapotecs they represented mountain deities, and the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II ‘kept a troop of dwarves to entertain him and sometimes to advise him on matters of state and religion’. Tlaloc, Mexica god of rain, was associated with dwarves, hunchbacks and deformities. ‘Rather than being objects of derision, these individuals are often portrayed with great supernatural powers.’
In general then, if you stood out as being physically different in pre-Hispanic Mexico, you were considered special, and treated with respect and dignity. The price? You were far more likely to be sacrificed as a valuable gift to the gods...
Info from The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion by Mary Miller and Karl Taube, Thames & Hudson, London, 1993.
Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.
Comments (1)
J
John Carr
30th Dec 2014
Ian, thanks for the prompt reply, and very intersting answer to my question. I was wonder whether or not dwarves had a “special” place within Aztec society. The downside -- of course -- being one was more vulnerable to sacrifice! A price far too high, in my opinion.
M
Mexicolore
I agree. Yours is a good question. We’ll try to go into this in more depth...
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