Feasts
Many accounts exist of Aztec feasts and banquets and the ceremony that surrounded them. Before a meal, servants presented fragrant tobacco tubes and sometimes also flowers with which the guests could rub their head, hands and neck. Before the meal would start each guest would drop a little food on the ground as an offering to the god Tlaltecuhtli. As military prowess was highly praised among the Aztecs, table manners imitated the movement of warriors. The smoking tubes and flowers went from the left hand of the servant to the right hand of the guest and the plate accompanying the smoking tube went from the right hand to the left hand. This was an imitation of how a warrior received his atlatl darts and shield. The flowers passed out bore different names depending on how they were handed out; "sword flowers" went from left hand to right and "shield flowers" went from right hand to left. When eating, guests would hold their individual bowls filled with dipping sauce in the center of the right hand and then dip tortillas or tamales (which were served from baskets) with the left. The meal was concluded by serving chocolate, often served in a calabash cup along with a stirring stick.
Men and women were separated at banquets and, though it is not entirely clear from the sources, it seems as if only men drank chocolate. The women would more likely have drunk posolli (maize gruel from finely ground maize) or some type of pulque. Rich hosts could often received guests sitting in rooms around an open courtyard similar to Middle Eastern caravanserai (or han in Turkish) and senior military men would perform dances. Festivities would begin at midnight and some would drink chocolate and eat hallucinogenic mushrooms so that they could tell about their experiences and visions to the other guests. Right before dawn, singing commenced and offerings were burned and buries in the courtyard to ensure the fortune of the children of the hosts. At dawn the remaining flowers, smoking tubes and food was given to the old and poor that had been invited, or to the servants. As with all other aspects of life, the Aztecs stressed the dual nature of all things, and toward the end of the banquet the host would be sternly reminded by his elders of his own mortality and that he should not be overcome with pride.
Many accounts exist of Aztec feasts and banquets and the ceremony that surrounded them. Before a meal, servants presented fragrant tobacco tubes and sometimes also flowers with which the guests could rub their head, hands and neck. Before the meal would start each guest would drop a little food on the ground as an offering to the god Tlaltecuhtli. As military prowess was highly praised among the Aztecs, table manners imitated the movement of warriors. The smoking tubes and flowers went from the left hand of the servant to the right hand of the guest and the plate accompanying the smoking tube went from the right hand to the left hand. This was an imitation of how a warrior received his atlatl darts and shield. The flowers passed out bore different names depending on how they were handed out; "sword flowers" went from left hand to right and "shield flowers" went from right hand to left. When eating, guests would hold their individual bowls filled with dipping sauce in the center of the right hand and then dip tortillas or tamales (which were served from baskets) with the left. The meal was concluded by serving chocolate, often served in a calabash cup along with a stirring stick.
Men and women were separated at banquets and, though it is not entirely clear from the sources, it seems as if only men drank chocolate. The women would more likely have drunk posolli (maize gruel from finely ground maize) or some type of pulque. Rich hosts could often received guests sitting in rooms around an open courtyard similar to Middle Eastern caravanserai (or han in Turkish) and senior military men would perform dances. Festivities would begin at midnight and some would drink chocolate and eat hallucinogenic mushrooms so that they could tell about their experiences and visions to the other guests. Right before dawn, singing commenced and offerings were burned and buries in the courtyard to ensure the fortune of the children of the hosts. At dawn the remaining flowers, smoking tubes and food was given to the old and poor that had been invited, or to the servants. As with all other aspects of life, the Aztecs stressed the dual nature of all things, and toward the end of the banquet the host would be sternly reminded by his elders of his own mortality and that he should not be overcome with pride.
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