Chapter 46 Divine Communion: Aztec Communion Customs

Before the Spanish discovered and conquered Mexico, the Aztecs had a custom of eating bread as a sacrament as if it were the body of a god.A statue of Zlopochtli or Vizli Potstri, the great Mexican god, is made out of flour, then broken into pieces, and eaten solemnly by the devotees twice a year, in May and December.The historian Acosta described the ceremony of May in this way: "Mexicans held a banquet in May for their god Vizli Pozzeri. Two days before the meeting, the virgins I have already mentioned ( They were shut up in the same temple, as if they were goddaughters) took some beet seeds and mixed them with roasted corn, and they kneaded it with honey, and from this dough made an idol, the size of a wooden idol, with eyes Green, blue, and white glass balls, and teeth corn kernels, with all the ornaments and decorations I have mentioned. When it was done, all the nobles came, and brought him a fine, rich dress, and Like a wooden idol, they put clothes on it, put it on a blue chair, and carried it on the shoulders with sliders. The morning of the party came, and an hour before dawn, all the girls were dressed in white. , wearing new jewelry, on this day they are called the sisters of the god Vitzilipuztli, and on their heads they wear crowns made of roasted corn, similar to azaha or orange tree flowers; Around their necks, too, a large bunch of these corns hung like a sash down to their left arm. Their cheeks were dyed red, and their arms were covered with red parrot feathers from elbow to wrist." Young Man Dressed in red robes and crowned with corn like virgins, they carried their idols on slides to the foot of the walls of the great pyramid-shaped temple, and lifted them up narrow and steep steps to the beat of flutes, trumpets, trumpets, and drums. Lift it up." When they lifted the idol up, all the people stood in the courtyard in awe. After it was lifted up, they put the idol in a little rose house, which they had prepared, and then The young men came and sowed flowers of various colors, and the temple was filled with flowers. Then all the virgins came out of the nunnery, bringing some beetroot and roasted corn. It is the kind of paste that is used to make idols, and these pastes are shaped like big bones. They give them to the young people, and the young people take them up and put them at the feet of the idols. They put as much as they can, until they can't fit. .These doughs they called the meat and bones of vizli potstri. Immediately after the bones were placed, all the elders of the temple came, the priests, the assistant priests, and all the rest of the priesthood officials, according to their rank Old and young (their ranks are very strict), one after another, wearing various colors, various hand-made veils, and also according to their rank and position, they wear flower crowns on their heads and flower chains around their necks, They are followed by the gods and goddesses they worship, with different shapes and the same costumes; then they are arranged in order around the dough pieces, they sing and dance, and perform certain ceremonies. In this way, they get blessings and dedications to idols After the ceremony and blessing (with the blessing, they are considered the meat and bones of gods), they respected the dough as gods... The whole city came to see this wonderful scene, and the whole The people of the region observe a strict commandment: on the day of the Vizliputzlit Idol Festival, no one is allowed to eat other meat, only the dough with honey that is used as an idol. It must be eaten on this day. mustIt is not allowed to drink water or other beverages before noon, otherwise it will be unlucky and even blasphemy.After the ceremony, it is not illegal for them to eat anything.During the ceremony, they hid the water from the children to see. All sensible children told them not to drink the water. If they drank it, the gods would be angry with them. If they did not observe the precepts very carefully and strictly, they would die.After the ceremonies, dances, and offerings, they undress, and the priests and high priests of the temple take out the dough idol, destroying all its ornaments, and breaking it into many pieces.So it was with the idols, and so with the sticks of flour which they consecrated, and then they gave them to the people as a sacrament, beginning with the oldest, to all men and women and children in succession, and they accepted it, with tears and with tears Awed, as if they had acquired an enviable thing, they said they were eating the flesh and bones of God, and therefore they grieved.People with sick people at home asked for a piece for the sick, and respectfully took it home. "

From this interesting description, we know that the ancient Mexicans, even before the arrival of the Christian missionaries, fully understood the principle of the conversion of the Eucharist, and practiced it in the solemn ceremony of their religion.They believed that priests who sacrificed bread could turn it into the body of a god, so all those who ate the sacrificial bread got a portion of God's entity in their bodies, that is, they had a mysterious communication with God.The theory of incarnation, the mysterious transformation of bread into meat, was also familiar to the Aryans of ancient India long before the spread or even rise of Christianity.Brahmins preached that the rice cakes offered as sacrifices were a substitute for a human body, and after being processed by the priests, the rice cakes did indeed become real human bodies.We talked about: "When it (rice cake) was rice flour, it was hair. When it was poured with water, it became skin. When water and flour were added, it became meat. When it was baked, it became bone. When he took it away (Remove from the fire) When he sprinkled the butter, he turned it into the marrow. And thus, what they call the five-fold sacrifice was completed.”

Then, we can also understand why the Mexicans do not eat anything else on the day of their solemn intercourse with the gods, but only eat the bread of meat and bones they revere as gods, and why they are not allowed to drink any beverages, even water, before noon. Also not allowed to drink.No doubt they were afraid of contaminating the flesh and blood of God in their stomachs by coming into contact with ordinary things.The same awe led the Greeks and the Seminole Indians (mentioned above) to take a more thorough approach, washing their bodies with strong laxatives before they dared to eat the New Communion.

During the winter solstice in December, the Aztecs killed and ate the idolized god Vizlipotztri.The various seeds were mixed into dough with the blood of children, and an idol of the god was made in human form. This was the preparation for a solemn ceremony.Use pieces of rubberwood to represent the bones of the gods.This idol was placed on the main altar in the temple, and on festival days, the king offered incense to him.It was taken down early the next morning and placed in a hall.Then there was a priest who also named the god Quetzalcoatl and played the god.He threw the javelin with the flint stone at the breast of the face-made idol, piercing it repeatedly.It's called "Kill the god Vizli Portstri and eat his flesh".A priest dug out the heart of an idol and gave it to the king to eat.But women can't eat at all.The ceremony is called Teogualo, which means "eating the gods".

At another festival, Mexicans make mountain gods to represent cloud-covered mountains.These seem to be made from the flour of various seeds and dressed in paper-made garments.Some made five portraits, others ten, and still others as many as fifteen.After they were done, they were placed in the small chapels of each family for offering.Offer them food in small dishes four times a night.All through the night, people sang and played flutes before them.At daybreak the priest pierces the idols with a weaving tool, cuts off their heads, digs out their hearts, and presents them to the master of the house on a green saucer.The bodies of the idols were eaten by the whole family, especially the servants, "and the eating of the idols gave rise to certain ailments which those who neglected to worship these gods thought they might suffer from."