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Human Sacrifice In Aztec Culture

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:47:48 +0000

The antecedents of Mesoamerican sacrifice
The practice of human sacrifice was widespread in the Mesoamerican and in the South American cultures during the Inca Empire. Like all other known pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica, the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice. The extant sources describe how the Aztecs sacrificed human victims on each of their eighteen festivities, one festivity for each of their 20-day months. It is unknown if the Aztecs engaged in human sacrifice before they reached the Anahuac valley and started absorbing other cultural influences. The first human sacrifice reported in the sources was the sacrifice and skinning of the daughter of the king Cxcox of Culhuacn; this story is a part of the legend of the foundation of Tenochtitlan. Several ethnohistorical sources state that under the guidance of Tlacaelel the importance of human sacrifice in Aztec history was given extra emphasis.
The role of sacrifice in Mesoamerica
Human sacrifice as shown in the Codex Magliabechiano.
Sacrifice was a common theme in Mesoamerican cultures. In the Aztec “Legend of the Five Suns”, all the gods sacrificed themselves so that mankind could live. Some years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico, a body of Franciscans confronted the remaining Aztec priesthood and demanded, under threat of death, that they desist from their murderous practice. The Aztec priests defended themselves as follows:
Life is because of the gods; with their sacrifice they gave us life [...]. They produce our sustenance [...] which nourishes life.
What the Aztec priests were referring to was a central Mesoamerican belief: that a great, on-going sacrifice sustains the Universe. Everything is tonacayotl: the “spiritual flesh-hood” or “bodily [sacrificial] presence” of the gods on earth. Everything arth, crops, moon, stars and people springs from the severed or buried bodies, fingers, blood or the heads of the sacrificed gods. Humanity itself is macehualli, “those deserved and brought back to life through penance”. A strong sense of indebtedness was connected with this worldview. Indeed, nextlahualli (debt-payment) was a commonly used metaphor for human sacrifice, and, as Bernardino de Sahagn reported, it was said that the victim was someone who “gave his service”.
Human sacrifice was in this sense the highest level of an entire panoply of offerings through which the Aztecs sought to repay their debt to the gods. Both Sahagn and Toribio de Benavente (also called “Motolina”) observed that the Aztecs gladly parted with everything: burying, smashing, sinking, slaying vast quantities of quail, rabbits, dogs, feathers, flowers, insects, beans, grains, paper, rubber and treasures as sacrifices. Even the “stage” for human sacrifice, the massive temple-pyramids, was an offering mound: crammed with treasures, grains, soil and human and animal sacrifices that were buried as gifts to the deities. Adorned with the land’s finest art, treasure and victims, these temples had become buried offerings under new structures every half a century.
The sacrifice of animals was common, a practice for which the Aztecs bred dogs, eagles, jaguars and deer. Objects also were sacrificed by being broken and offered to the gods. The cult of Quetzalcatl required the sacrifice of butterflies and hummingbirds.
Self-sacrifice was also quite common; people would offer maguey thorns, tainted with their own blood and, like the Maya kings, would offer blood from their tongue, ear lobes, or genitals. Blood held a central place in Mesoamerican cultures. The Florentine Codex reports that in one of the creation myths Quetzalcatl offered blood extracted from a wound in his own genital to give life to humanity. There are several other myths in which Nahua gods offer their blood to help humanity.
Common people would offer maguey thorns with their blood. Lloyd deMause has argued that, like present-day self harmers, the Aztecs also practiced bloodletting from cuts made with obsidian knives or bone needles on fleshy parts of the body, like earlobes, lips, tongue, chest and calves. This was considered private and a personal act of penitence toward the gods. The thorns were put in a ball of straw called zacatapayoli and later placed in an adoratorium.
Much like the role of sacrifice elsewhere in the world, it thus seems that these rites functioned as a type of atonement for Aztec believers. Their sacrificial hymns describe the victim as ‘sent (to death) to plead for us,’ or ‘consecrated to annul all sin. ‘(Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites, 232). In one such poem, a warrior-victim announces that ‘I embrace mankind…I give myself to the community.’(MSS Romance de Los … Folio 27r). Aztec society viewed even the slightest tlatlacolli (‘sin’ or ‘insult’) as an extremely malevolent supernatural force. For instance, if an adulterer were to enter a house, it was believed that all turkey chicks would perish from tlazomiquiztli (‘filth-death’)(Sahagun Bk. 5: 29: 191-192). To avoid such calamities befalling their community, those who had erred punished themselves by extreme measures such as slitting their tongues for vices of speech or their ears for vices of listening, and ‘for a slight [sin they] hanged themselves, or threw themselves down precipices, or put an end to themselves by abstinence’ (Motolinia, History of the Indies, 106-107). In Classic Nahuatl (the Aztec language) the verbal form ni-c-yecoa, ‘I sin’, is closely related to ni-c-ye.coa, ‘I finish it.’ It was believed that error of any sort could quite literally ‘finish’ or ‘ruin’ everything (Francisco Clavigero, Historia antiqua de Mxico, 7). This seems to have given Aztec society a heavy dependence on extremely violent ‘penance,’of which human sacrifice was considered one form (as already mentioned, human sacrifice was often called ‘penance’).
A great deal of cosmological thought seems to have underlain each of the Aztec sacrificial rites. By far the most common form of human sacrifice was heart-extraction, and this seems to have related to the Aztec belief that the heart(tona) was both the seat of the individual and a fragment of the Sun’s heat (istli). To this day, the Nahua consider the Sun to be a heart-soul (tona-tiuh) ’round, hot, pulsating’(Alan Sandtrom, Corn is Our Life, 1991, 239-240). It seems that in the Aztec view, humanity’s ‘divine sun fragments’ were considered ‘entrapped’ by the body and its desires:
Where is your heart? You give your heart to each thing in turn. Carrying, you do not carry it… You destroy your heart on earth (Nahua poem in Irene Nicholson, Firefly in the Night, 156 & 203).
Heart-extraction was viewed as a means of liberate istli and reunite it with the Sun, as aptly depicted in Codex Magliabechiano, Folio 70 (illustrated in this section), wherein a victim’s transformed heart flies Sunward on a trail of blood.
Finally, it should be noted that according to the Aztec (and Mesoamerican) world-view, the circumstances in which people died determined the type of afterlife they enjoyed. The Aztecs had meticulously organised death into several types, which each led to specific ‘heavenly’ and ‘underworld’ levels. In the levels Sahagun records, passing away quietly at home was the lowest, as it required the unfortunate soul to undergo numerous torturous trials and journeys, only to culminate in a sombre underworld. By contrast, what the Aztecs termed ‘a good death’ was sacrifice, war (which usually meant sacrifice) or – in the case of women – death whilst giving birth. This kind of end procured for the deceased the second-highest heaven (death in infancy being the highest). Persons who had died sacrificially or in war were called ‘the God-dead’ (Teo-micqui ) and were said to ‘go pure… live hard by, nigh unto the Sun… [who] always forever … rejoice … [since] the House of the Sun is … a place of joy (Sahagun Bk 6: 21).
The 52-year cycle
The cycle of fifty-two years was central to Mesoamerican cultures. The Nahua’s religious beliefs were based on a great fear that the universe would collapse after each cycle if the gods were not strong enough. Every fifty-two years a special New Fire ceremony was performed. All fires were extinguished and at midnight a human sacrifice was made. The Aztecs waited for the dawn. If the Sun appeared it meant that the sacrifices for this cycle had been enough. A fire was ignited on the body of a victim, and this new fire was taken to every house, city and town. Rejoicing was general: a new cycle of fifty-two years was beginning, and the end of the world had been postponed, at least for another 52-year century. (A similar ceremony is still practiced by small indigenous groups, but without human sacrifice.) The ceremony was older than the Aztecs. While originally it was believed it was a matter of luck to survive, the Aztecs thought that constant sacrifice through the fifty-two year cycle could postpone the end.
According to Miguel Len-Portilla, Tlacaelel reformed the original Nahua religion and the Aztecs viewed themselves as the main representatives for feeding the gods. This gave them a new sense of identity, from “people without face” as they were called by hostile neighbours, to the people in charge of the existence of the universe. Thus they began to call themselves “The people of the sun”. Other researchers dispute Len-Portilla’s perspective, pointing to the relative lack of primary sources.[citation needed]
Sacrifices to specific gods
Huitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli was the tribal deity of the Mexica and, as such, he represented the character of the Mexica people and was often identified with the sun at the zenith, and with warfare.
When the Aztecs sacrificed people to Huitzilopochtli ( the god with war like aspects ) the victim would be placed on a sacrificial stone. Then the priest would cut through the abdomen with an obsidian or flint blade. The heart would be torn out still beating and held towards the sky in honor to the Sun-God; the body would be carried away and either cremated or given to the warrior responsible for the capture of the victim. He would either cut the body in pieces and send them to important people as an offering, or use the pieces for ritual cannibalism. The warrior would thus ascend one step in the hierarchy of the Aztec social classes, a system that rewarded successful warriors.
Victim of sacrificial gladiatorial combat, from Codex Magliabechiano. Note that he is tied to a large stone and his macuahuitl (sword/club) is covered with what appears to be feathers instead of obsidian.
Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca was generally considered the most powerful god, the god of night, sorcery and destiny (the name tezcatlipoca means “smoking mirror”, or “obsidian”). The Aztecs believed that Tezcatlipoca created war to provide food and drink to the gods. Tezcatlipoca was known by several epithets including “the Enemy” and “the Enemy of Both Sides”, which stress his affinity for discord. Tezcatlipoca had the power to forgive sins and to relieve disease, or to release a man from the fate assigned to him by his date of birth; however, nothing in Tezcatlipoca’s nature compelled him to do so. He was capricious and often brought about reversals of fortune. To the Aztecs, he was an all-knowing, all-seeing nearly all-powerful god. One of his names can be translated as “We Who Are His Slaves”.
Some captives were sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca in ritual gladiatorial combat. The victim was tethered in place and given a mock weapon. He died fighting against up to four fully armed jaguar knights and eagle warriors.
During the 20-day month of Toxcatl, a young impersonator of Tezcatlipoca would be sacrificed. Throughout a year, this youth would be dressed as Tezcatlipoca and treated as a living incarnation of the God. The youth would represent Tezcatlipoca on earth; he would get four beautiful women as his companions until he met his destiny, in the meantime he walked through the streets of Tenochtitlan playing a flute. On the day of the sacrifice a feast would be held in Tezcatlipoca’s honor. The young man would climb the pyramid, break his flute and surrender his body to the priests. Sahagn compared it to the Christian Easter.
Huehueteotl
To appease Huehueteotl, the fire god and a senior deity, the Aztecs had a ceremony where they prepared a large feast at the end of which they would burn captives and before they died they would be taken from the fire and their hearts would be cut out. Motolina and Sahagn reported that the Aztecs believed that if they did not placate Huehueteotl a plague of fire would strike their city. The sacrifice was considered an offering to the deity.
Tlloc
Main article: Child sacrifice in pre-Columbian cultures
Tlloc was the god of rain. The Aztecs believed that if sacrifices weren’t supplied for Tlloc, rain wouldn’t come and their crops wouldn’t flourish. Leprosy and rheumatism, diseases caused by Tlloc, would infest the village. Tlloc required the tears of the young as part of the sacrifice. The priests made the children cry during their way to immolation: a good omen that Tlloc would wet the earth in the raining season. In the Florentine Codex, also known as General History of the Things of New Spain, Sahagn wrote:
They offered them as sacrifices to [Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue] so that they would give them water.
The Flower Wars
Main article: Flower war
It has often been claimed by scholars that the Aztecs resorted to a form of ritual warfare, the Flower War, to obtain living human bodies for the sacrifices in time of peace. This claim however has been severely criticised by scholars such as Ross Hassig and Nigel Davies who claim that the main purpose of the Flower Wars was political and not religious and that the number of sacrificial victims obtained through flower wars was insignificant compared to the number of victims obtained through normal political warfare.
According to Diego Durn’s History of the Indies of New Spain, and a few other sources that are also based on the Crnica X, the Flower Wars were originally a treaty between the cities of Aztec Triple Alliance and Tlaxcala and Huexotzingo motivated by a famine in Mesoamerica in 1450. Aztec prisoners were also sacrificed in Tlaxcala and Huexotzingo. The capture of prisoners for sacrifices was called nextlaualli (“debt payment to the gods”). These sources however are contradicted by other sources, such as the Codex Chimalpahin, which mentions “Flower Wars” much earlier than the famine of 1450 and against other opponents than the ones mentioned in the treaty.
Because the objective of Aztec warfare was to capture victims alive for human sacrifice, battle tactics were designed primarily to injure the enemy rather than kill him. After towns were conquered their inhabitants were no longer candidates for human sacrifice, only liable to regular tribute.
Slaves also could be used for human sacrifice, but only if the slave was considered lazy and had been resold three times.
A ceremonial offering of Aztec sacrificial knife blades at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
The sacrifice ritual
Most of the sacrificial rituals took more than two people to perform. In the usual procedure of the ritual, the sacrifice would be taken to the top of the temple. The sacrifice would then be laid on a stone slab by four priests, and his/her abdomen would be sliced open by a fifth priest with a ceremonial knife made of flint. The cut was made in the abdomen and went through the diaphragm. The priest would grab the heart and tear it out, still beating. It would be placed in a bowl held by a statue of the honored god, and the body thrown down the temple’s stairs.
Before and during the killing, priests and audience (who gathered in the plaza below) stabbed, pierced and bled themselves as autosacrifice (Sahagun, Bk. 2: 3: 8, 20: 49, 21: 47). Hymns, whistles, spectacular costumed dances and percussive music marked different phases of the rite.
The body parts would then be disposed of: the viscera fed the animals in the zoo; the bleeding head was placed on display in the tzompantli, meaning ‘hairy skulls’. Not all the skulls in the tzompantlis were victims of sacrifice. In the Anales de Tlatelolco it is described that during the siege of Tlatelolco by the Spaniards, the Tlatelolcas built three tzompantli: two for their own dead and one for the fallen conquerors, including two severed heads of horses.
Other kinds of human sacrifice, which paid tribute to various deities, approached the victims differently. The victim could be shot with arrows (in which the draining blood represented the cool rains of spring); die in unequal fighting (gladiatorial sacrifice) or be sacrificed as a result of the Mesoamerican ballgame; burned (to honor the fire god); flayed after being sacrificed (to honor Xipe Totec, “Our Lord The Flayed One”), or drowned.
A tzompantli, or skull rack, as shown in the post-Conquest Ramirez Codex.
Estimates of the scope of the sacrifices
For the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed about 80,400 prisoners over the course of four days, though there were probably far fewer sacrifices. According to Ross Hassig, author of Aztec Warfare, “between 10,000 and 80,400 persons” were sacrificed in the ceremony. The higher estimate would average 14 sacrifices per minute during the four-day consecration. As a comparison, the Auschwitz concentration camp, working 24 hours a day with modern technology, approached but did not equal this pace: it executed about 19,200 a day at its peak. Four tables were arranged at the top so that the victims could be jettisoned down the sides of the temple. Nonetheless, according to Codex Telleriano-Remensis, old Aztecs who talked with the missionaries told about a much lower figure for the reconsecration of the temple, approximately 4,000 victims in total.
Michael Harner, in his 1977 article The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice, estimates the number of persons sacrificed in central Mexico in the 15th century as high as 250,000 per year. Fernando de Alva Corts Ixtlilxochitl, a Mexica descendant and the author of Codex Ixtlilxochitl, claimed that one in five children of the Mexica subjects was killed annually. Victor Davis Hanson argues that an estimate by Don Carlos Zumrraga of 20,000 per annum is “more plausible.” Other scholars believe that, since the Aztecs always tried to intimidate their enemies, it is more likely that they could have inflated the number as a propaganda tool. The same can be said for Bernal Daz’s inflated calculations when, in a state of visual shock, he grossly miscalculated the number of skulls at one of the seven Tenochtitlan tzompantlis. According the Florentine Codex, fifty years before the conquest the Aztecs burnt the skulls of the former tzompantli. Mexican archeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma has unearthed and studied some tzompantlis.
Sacrifices were made on specific days. Sahagn, Juan Bautista de Pomar and Motolina report that the Aztecs had eighteen festivities each year, one for each Aztec month. They clearly state that in those festivities sacrifices were made. Each god required a different kind of victim: young women were drowned for Xilonen; children were sacrificed to Tlloc; Nahuatl-speaking prisoners to Huitzilopochtli, and a single nahua would volunteer for Tezcatlipoca. The Ramrez Codex states that for the annual festivity of Huitzilopochtli more than sixty prisoners were sacrificed in the main temple, and prisoners were sacrificed in other large Aztec cities as well.
Not all sacrifices were made at the Tenochtitlan temples; a few were made at “Cerro del Pen”, an islet of the Texcoco lake. According to an Aztec source, in the month of Tlacaxipehualiztli (from February 22 to March 13), thirty-four captives were sacrificed in the gladiatorial sacrifice to Xipe Totec. More victims would be sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli in the month Panquetzaliztli (from 9 November to 28 November) according to the Ramrez Codex. This would mean a figure as low as 300 to 600 victims a year. There is little agreement on the actual figure due to the scarcity of archeological evidence.
Every Aztec warrior would have to provide at least one prisoner for sacrifice. All the male population was trained to be warriors, but only the few who succeeded in providing captives could became full-time members of the warrior elite. Those who could not would become macehualli, workers. Accounts also state that several young warriors could unite to capture a single prisoner, which suggests that capturing prisoners for sacrifice was challenging.
There is still much debate as to what social groups constituted the usual victims of these sacrifices. It is often assumed that all victims were ‘disposable’ commoners or foreigners. However, slaves – a major source of victims – were not a permanent class but rather persons from any level of Aztec society who had fallen into debt or committed some crime (see Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites, 131, 260). Likewise, most of the earliest accounts talk of prisoners of war of diverse social status, and concur that virtually all child sacrifices were locals of noble lineage, offered by their own parents (compare Cortes, Letters 105 with Motolinia, History of the Lindies 118-119 and Duran, Book of the Gods, 223, 242).
Likewise, it is doubtful if many victims came from far afield. In 1454, the Aztec government forbade the slaying of captives from distant lands at the capital’s temples (Duran, The Aztecs: History of the Indes, 141). Duran’ s informants told him that sacrifices were consequently ‘nearly always … friends of the [Royal] House’- meaning warriors from allied states (Duran, The Aztecs: History of the Indies, 141, 198). This probably meant that the average Aztec warrior stood as much chance of procuring a victim as he did of himself becoming one – as the Aztec Emperor reportedly told all captives about to be sacrificed: ‘today for you, tomorrow for me’(Tezozomoc Vol.2).
Discussion of primary sources
Codex Tudela.
Early Spanish accounts mention the sacrificial practice of the Aztecs as well as other Mesoamerican cultures in the 16th century. There are numerous depictions of sacrifices in the Mexica statuary, as well as in codices such as the Ros, Tudela, Telleriano-Remensis, Durn, and Sahagn’s Florentine. On the other hand, the pre-Columbian, indigenous codices that depict the rites were not written texts but pictorial and highly symbolic ideographshe Aztecs did not have a true writing system such that of the Mayas. Bishop Zumarraga (1528-48) burned all obtainable texts in his religious zeal.
For Mesoamerica as a whole, the accumulated archaeological, iconographical and in the case of the Maya written evidence, indicates that human sacrifice was widespread across cultures and periods, dating back to 600 BCE and possibly much earlier. Osteological analyses have also been interpreted as corroborating the texts. Pictorial illustrations of sacrifices on Maya ceramics and stelae have also been published.
Accounts from the Grijalva expeditions
In addition to the accounts provided by Sahagn and Durn, there are other important texts to be considered.
Juan de Grijalva, Hernn Corts, Juan Daz, Bernal Daz, Andrs de Tapia, Francisco de Aguilar, Ruy Gonzlez and the Anonymous Conqueror wrote about the Conquest of Mexico. Martyr d’Anghiera, Lopez de Gomara, Oviedo y Valdes and Illescas, while not in Mesoamerica, wrote their accounts based on interviews with the participants. Bartolom de Las Casas and Sahagn arrived later to New Spain but had access to direct testimony, especially of the indigenous people. All of these narratives mention and describe the practice of human sacrifice.
Juan Daz
Juan Daz, a participant of the 1518 Grijalva expedition, wrote Itinerario de Grijalva before 1520, in which he describes the aftermath of a sacrifice on an island near Veracruz.
Bernal Daz
Main article: The Conquest of New Spain
Bernal Daz corroborates Juan Daz’s history:
On these altars were idols with evil looking bodies, and that every night five Indians had been sacrificed before them; their chests had been cut open, and their arms and thighs had been cut off. The walls were covered with blood. We stood greatly amazed and gave the island the name isleta de Sacrificios [Island of the Sacrifices].
In The Conquest of New Spain Daz recounted that, after landing on the coast, they came across a temple dedicated to Tezcatlipoca. “That day they had sacrificed two boys, cutting open their chests and offering their blood and hearts to that accursed idol”. Daz narrates several more sacrificial descriptions on the later Corts expedition. Arriving at Cholula, they find “cages of stout wooden bars [...] full of men and boys who were being fattened for the sacrifice at which their flesh would be eaten”. When the conquistadors reached Tenochtitlan, Daz described the sacrifices at the Great Pyramid:
They strike open the wretched Indian’s chest with flint knives and hastily tear out the palpitating heart which, with the blood, they present to the idols [...]. They cut off the arms, thighs and head, eating the arms and thighs at ceremonial banquets. The head they hang up on a beam, and the body is [] given to the beasts of prey.
According to Bernal Daz, the chiefs of the surrounding towns, for example Cempoala, would complain on numerous occasions to Corts about the perennial need to supply the Aztecs with victims for human sacrifice. It is clear from his description of their fear and resentment toward the Mexicas that, in their opinion, it was no honor to surrender their kinsmen to be sacrificed by them.
Hernn Corts
Corts describes similar events in his Letters:
They have a most horrid and abominable custom which truly ought to be punished and which until now we have seen in no other part, and this is that, whenever they wish to ask something of the idols, in order that their plea may find more acceptance, they take many girls and boys and even adults, and in the presence of these idols they open their chests while they are still alive and take out their hearts and entrails and burn them before the idols, offering the smoke as sacrifice. Some of us have seen this, and they say it is the most terrible and frightful thing they have ever witnessed.
The Anonymous Conqueror
The Anonymous Conqueror’s Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan details Aztec sacrifices. In Chapter XIV he depicts the temple in which men, women, boys and girls were sacrificed. On Chapter XXIV the Anonymous Conqueror repeatedly claims that the Aztecs were cannibals, sodomites, alcoholics and polygamists. The original Spanish text is lost. The description of the temple was published in the 1556 Ramusio Italian edition.
A jaguar-shaped cuauhxicalli in the National Museum of Anthropology. This altar-like stone vessel was used to hold the hearts of sacrificial victims. See also chacmool.
Assessment of the practice of human sacrifice
Human sacrifice was nothing new when the Aztecs arrived to the Valley of Mexico, nor was it something unique to pre-Columbian Mexico. Other Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Tarascans and Toltecs, performed human sacrifices as well. Although the extent of human sacrifice is unknown among several Mesoamerican civilizations, such as Teotihuacn, what distinguished Maya and Aztec human sacrifice was the importance with which it was embedded in everyday life.
Diego Durn states that Aztecs made “indifferent or sarcastic remarks” when the Spaniards severely criticized the rite. In his Book of the Gods and Rites some of the Nahuas even ridiculed the Christian sensibilities. Instead, they asked the Spaniards to applaud:
The sacrifice of human beings [], the honored oblation of great lords and noblemen. They remember these things and tell of them as if they had been great deeds.
Although Aztec accounts mention some victims who wept, ‘faltered… weakened’ or ‘lost control of their bowels’ when going to be sacrificed (Sahagun Bk 2: 81), this reaction does not seem to have been the norm, as when this occurred, it was viewed as a bad omen (Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites, 132), and a tetlazolmictiliztli (‘insult to the gods’)(Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites, 132). Such victims were hurriedly taken aside and slain amidst the congregation’s sarcastic jeers of ‘(the victim has) quite acquitted himself as a man’(Sahagun Bk 2:21). Contrary to popular perceptions of Aztec victims being terrified of their fate, even the Conquistadors Cortes and Alvarado found that those they freed ‘indignantly rejected [the] offer of release and demanded to be sacrificed.’(Bernal Diaz, The Conquest of New Spain,159).
What we can glean from all this is that the sacrificial role entailed a great deal of social expectation and a certain degree of acquiescence. Sahagun’s informants told him that key roles were reserved for persons who were considered ‘charming…quick..dances with feeling.. without [moral] defects … of good understanding … good mannered’(Sahagun Bk 2: 24: 68-69). For many rites, the victim had such a quantity of prescribed duties that it is difficult to imagine how the accompanying festival would have progressed without some degree of compliance on the part of the victim. For instance, victims were expected to bless children, greet and cheer passers-by, hear people’s petitions to the gods, visit people in their homes, give discourses and lead sacred songs, processions and dances (Sahagun Bk 5: 8; Bk 2: 5:9; Bk 2:24:68-69). The works of Clendinnen and Brundage imply that only a few select victims had this kind of role, but the Florentine Codex and Duran both make no such distinctions, stating that ‘those who had to die performed many ceremonies… [and] these [pre-sacrificial] rites were performed in the case of all the prisoners, each in turn.’(see Sahagun Bk 2:5:9 and Duran, Book of the Gods…p. 112).
It should also be remembered that these sacrifices were ritualistic and symbolic acts accompanying huge feasts and festivals. Victims usually died in the “center stage” amidst the splendor of dancing troupes, percussion orchestras, elaborate costumes and decorations, carpets of flowers, crowds of thousands of commoners, and all the assembled elite.
This might explain why Aztec texts frequently refer to human sacrifice as neteotoquiliztli, ‘the desire to be regarded as a god’(Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites, 177 Note 4). For each festival, at least one or more victims took on the paraphernalia, habits and attributes of the god or goddess whom they were dying as. Particularly the young man who was indoctrinated for a year to submit himself to Tezcatlipoca’s temple was the Aztec equivalent of a celebrity or rock star, being greatly revered and adored to the point of people “kissing the ground” when he passed by, as Sahagn put it.
This practice was known as becoming an ixiptla – namely, the god’s representative, image or idol. Ixiptla was the same term used for wooden, stone and dough images of gods. Interestingly, Aztec texts rarely differentiate between human ixiptla and wooden or stone ixiptla. In fact, so elaborately costumed and painted were human ixiptla that even the congregation was unsure which were human and which were stone or wood (Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites, 102). When a victim appeared in full regalia before the congregation, it was said that the divinity had been given ‘human form’- that the god now had an ixitli (face)(Duran, Book of the Gods…, 72-73). Duran says such victims were’worshipped… as the deity’(Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites, 42,109,232) or ‘as though they had been gods’(Sahagun, Florentine Codex Bk 2: 226, 238-239) (-the original Nahuatl term being nienoteoti’tzinea, literally, ‘I consider him a god’)(Clavigero, 98). Even whilst still alive, these victims were honoured, hallowed and addressed (like gods) as ‘Lord’ and ‘Lady’(Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites.., 189) Posthumously, their remains were treated as actual relics of the gods which explains why victims’ skulls, bones and skin were often painted, bleached, stored and displayed, or else used as ritual masks and oracles. For example, Diego Duran’s informants told him that whoever wore the skin of the victim portraying god Xipe considered himself ‘divine’(Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites..176).
Proposed explanations of Aztec human sacrifice
Aztec or Mixtec sacrificial knife, probably for ceremonial use only, in the British Museum.
The nutritional explanation
Main article: Cannibalism in pre-Columbian America
Scholars Michael Harner and Marvin Harris have argued that the motivation behind human sacrifice among the Aztecs was actually the cannibalization of the sacrificial victims. While there is universal agreement that the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice, there is a lack of scholarly consensus as to whether cannibalism was widespread. At one extreme anthropologist Marvin Harris, author of Cannibals and Kings, has propagated the claim, originally proposed by Harner, that the flesh of the victims was a part of an aristocratic diet as a reward, since the Aztec diet was lacking in proteins. This claim has been refuted by Bernard Ortz Montellano who, in his studies of Aztec health, diet, and medicine, demonstrates that while the Aztec diet was low in animal proteins, it was rich in vegetable proteins.
The political explanation
The high-profile nature of the sacrificial ceremonies indicates that human sacrifice played an important political function. The Mexica used a sophisticated package of psychological weaponry to maintain their empire, aimed at instilling a sense of fear into their neighbours. The Aztecs controlled a large empire of tribute paying vassal tribes. The population of native Aztecs was very small compared to the population of the area they controlled. The Aztecs were vulnerable – they would have been easily outnumbered had their vassal tribes formed alliances and rebelled. To sow dissention among the vassals the Aztecs demanded human victims as part of the annual tribute. The vassals would raid each other to capture prisoners. This encouraged animosity between the vassals and strengthened Aztec political central rule. This was a method of political control which was innovative and perhaps unique in human history.
European empires, in contrast, were typically secured through the creation of garrisons and installation of puppet governments in conquered towns or settlements. The Mexica used human sacrifice as a weapon of terror even against the Spanish conquistadors, whose fallen victims were sacrificed and sometimes skinned and their bloody heads placed at the tzompantli. From across the empire even the chiefs of enemy towns were invited, or in the case of tributary towns obliged, to attend sacrificial ceremonies in Tenochtitlan. Their refusal would be considered an act of defiance against the Mexica.
The psychological explanation
For Lloyd deMause it is significant that the victims were invested of a profound cosmological meaning. According to him and a minority of academics who subscribe to an alternate school of thought, “psychohistory”, human sacrifices, including sacrifices in Mesoamerica, were an unconscious form of response to the traumatogenic modes of childrearing. DeMause in particular considers the Aztecs’ practice of sacrifice as displacement.
External links
Article “El sacrificio humano en Mesoamrica” by Michel Graulich – in Arqueologa mexicana, vol. XI, nmero 63, pp. 16-21. (Spanish)
Notes
^ Matos-Moctezuma, Eduardo (1986). Vida y muerte en el Templo Mayor. Fondo de Cultura Econmica.
^ “Evidence May Back Human Sacrifice Claims” By Mark Stevenson
^ “Grisly Sacrifices Found in Pyramid of the Moon” By LiveScience Staff.
^ a b Harner, Michael (1977). “The Ecological Basis for Aztec Sacrifice”. American Ethnologist 4 (1): 117135. doi:10.1525/ae.1977.4.1.02a00070.
^ Leonardo Lpez-Lujn’s address in “Nuevas perspectivas sobre el sacrificio humano entre los mexicas”, an international seminary of the Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia celebrated in September 2007 in the Museum of the Templo Mayor.
^ Graulich, Michael (2003). “El sacrificio humano en Mesoamrica”. Arqueologa mexicana XI (63): 1621.
^ Reinhard, Johan (November 1999). “A 6,700 metros nios incas sacrificados quedaron congelados en el tiempo”. National Geographic, Spanish version: 3655.
^ Bernardino de Sahagn, Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva Espaa, ed. a cargo de ngel Ma. Garibay (Mxico: Editorial Porra, 2006), chapters XX to XXXVIII
^ Thema, Equipo (2002). Los aztecas. Ediciones Rueda. pp. 3940.
^ Nicholson, Henry B. (1971). (in) Handbook of Middle American Indians. University of Texas Press. p. 402.
^ Len-Portilla (1963, p.111).
^ Museo del Templo Mayor, Hall 2
^ Cecelia Klein. “The Ideology of Autosacrifice at the Templo Mayor” in E. H. Boone, ed. The Aztec Templo Mayor pp. 293-370. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks. 1987 ISBN 0-88402-149-1
^ Soustelle, Jacques (2003). La vida cotidiana de los aztecas. Fondo de Cultura Econmica. p. 102ff.
^ Durn, Fr. Diego (1967). Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espaa. Porra.
^ deMause, Lloyd (2002). The Emotional Life of Nations. Karnac. p. 413.
^ Matos-Moctezuma, Eduardo (2006). Tenochtitlan. Fondo de Cultura Econmica. pp. 17273.
^ Bernardino de Sahagn, Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva Espaa (op. cit.), p. 76
^ Sahagn, Ibid.
^ Duverger, Christian (2005). La flor letal: economa del sacrificio azteca. Fondo de cultura econmica. pp. 8393.
^ Sahagn, Op. cit., p. 79
^ Bernardino de Sahagn, Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva Espaa (op. cit.), p. 83
^ Sahagn, Fray Bernardino (1950-1959). Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. 1561-82., trans. Arthur J.O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. Santa Fe: School of American Research and the University of Utah. III, 5.
^ Hassig, Ross (1988). Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-806-12121-1.
^ Hassig, Ross (2003). “El sacrificio y las guerras floridas”. Arqueologa mexicana XI: 4651.
^ Davies, Nigel (1968). Los Seorios independientes del Imperio Azteca. Mexico D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia (INAH).
^ Duverger, Christian (2005). La flor letal. Fondo de cultura econmica. p. 81.
^ Bernardino de Sahagn, Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva Espaa (op. cit.), p. 88
^ Duverger, Christian (2005). La flor letal. Fondo de cultura econmica. pp. 139140.
^ Duverger, Ibid., 171
^ Duverger (op. cit.), pages 157-167
^ Hassig, Ross (2003). “El sacrificio y las guerras floridas”. Arqueologa mexicana XI: 47.
^ Victor Davis Hanson (2000), Carnage and Culture, Doubleday, New York, pp. 194-195. Hanson, who accepts the 80,000+ estimate, also notes that it exceeded “the daily murder record at either Auschwitz or Dachau.”
^ Hanson, p. 195.
^ Duverger (op. cit), 174-77
^ Matos-Moctezuma, Eduardo (2005). Muerte a filo de obsidiana. Fondo de Cultura Econmica. pp. 111124.
^ George Holtker, “Studies in Comparative Religion”, The Religions of Mexico and Peru, Vol 1, CTS
^ – “Ritual Sacrifice and the Feathered Serpent Pyramid at Teotihuacn, Mxico” By George L. Cowgill
^ – “Analysis of Kaqchikel Skeletons: Iximch, Guatemala” By Stephen L. Whittington & Robert H. Tykot
^ Stuart, David (2003). “La ideologa del sacrificio entre los mayas”. Arqueologa mexicana XI (63): 2429.
^ Daz, Bernal (2005) . Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva Espaa (Introduccin y notas de Joaqun Ramrez Cabaas). Editorial Porra. p. 24.
^ Daz (op. cit.), p. 150
^ Dinesh D’Souza’s article
^ The Conquest of New Spain, chap. XLVI
^ Corts, Hernn (2005) . Cartas de relacin. Mxico: Editorial Porra. p. 26. ”Y tienen otra cosa horrible y abominable y digna de ser punida que hasta hoy no habamos visto en ninguna parte, y es que todas las veces que alguna cosa quieren pedir a sus dolos para que ms acepten su peticin, toman muchas nias y nios y aun hombre y mujeres de mayor edad, y en presencia de aquellos dolos los abren vivos por los pechos y les sacan el corazn y las entraas, y queman las dichas entraas y corazones delante de los dolos, y ofrecindolos en sacrificio aquel humo. Esto habemos visto algunos de nosotros, y los que lo han visto dicen que es la ms cruda y espantosa cosa de ver que jams han visto”.
^ – Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan, Mxico, Chapter XV, written by a Companion of Hernn Corts, The Anonymous Conqueror.
^ Ibid., Chapter XIV
^ Ibid., Chapter XXIV
^ DNA analysis shows that the Teotihuacan civilization brought human victims from distant towns.
^ Diego Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites, p. 227
^ Sahagn, Historia general, op. cit, p. 104
^ Website of the British Museum.
^ Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard R. (1990). Aztec Medicine, Health, and Nutrition. Rutgers University Press.
^ Ortiz De Montellano, Bernard R. (1983). “Counting Skulls: Comment on the Aztec Cannibalism Theory of Harner-Harris”. American Anthropologist, New Series 85, (2): 403406.
^ Godwin, Robert (2004). One Cosmos under God. Omega Books. pp. 142, 154.
^ deMause, Lloyd (2002). The Emotional Life of Nations. Karnac. e.g., pp. 31, 289290, 312, 374, and 410.
References
Anonymous Conqueror (1917) [ca.1550] (online reproduction by FAMSI, edited by Alec Christensen). Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan, Mxico. Marshall H. Saville (trans. and ed.). New York: The Cortes Society. OCLC 6720413. www.famsi.org/research/christensen/anon_con/index.html. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
Carrasco, David (1999). City of Sacrifice: The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-4642-6. OCLC 41368255.
Daz del Castillo, Bernal (1963) . The Conquest of New Spain. Penguin Classics. J. M. Cohen (trans.) (6th printing (1973) ed.). Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-044123-9. OCLC 162351797.
Durn, Diego (1994) [ca.1581]. The History of the Indies of New Spain. Civilization of the American Indian series, #210. Doris Heyden (trans., annot., and introd.) (English translation of Historia de las Indias de Nueva-Espaa y Islas de Tierra Firme ed.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2649-3. OCLC 29565779.
Godwin, Robert W. (2004). One Cosmos under God: The Unification of Matter, Life, Mind & Spirit. Saint Paul, MN: Paragon House. ISBN 1-55778-836-7. OCLC 55131504.
Hassig, Ross (1988). Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. Civilization of the American Indian series, no. 188. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2121-1. OCLC 17106411.
Len-Portilla, Miguel (1963). Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nhuatl Mind. Civilization of the American Indian series, #67. Jack Emory Davis (trans.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. OCLC 181727.
Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo (1998). Vida y muerte en el Templo Mayor (3rd ed.). Mxico D.F.: Fondo de Cultura Econmica. ISBN 968-16-5712-8. OCLC 40997904. (Spanish)
Ortiz De Montellano, Bernard R. (June 1983). “Counting Skulls: Comment on the Aztec Cannibalism Theory of Harner-Harris”. American Anthropologist (Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association) 85 (2): 403406. doi:10.1525/aa.1983.85.2.02a00130. OCLC 1479294.
Ortiz De Montellano, Bernard R. (1990). Aztec Medicine, Health, and Nutrition. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-1562-9. OCLC 20798977.
Sahagn, Bernardino de (195082) [ca. 154085]. Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain, 13 vols. in 12. vols. I-XII. Charles E. Dibble and Arthur J.O. Anderson (eds., trans., notes and illus.) (translation of Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva Espaa ed.). Santa Fe, NM and Salt Lake City: School for American Research and the University of Utah Press. ISBN 0-87480-082-X. OCLC 276351.
Schele, Linda; and Mary Ellen Miller (1992). Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. Justin Kerr (photographer) (2nd paperback edn., reprint with corrections ed.). New York: George Braziller. ISBN 0-8076-1278-2. OCLC 41441466.
v d e
Aztec religion and mythology
Aztec religion
Human sacrifice in Aztec culture Templo Mayor
Aztec mythology
Centeotl Chalchiuhtlicue Cihuacoatl Coatlicue Coyolxauhqui Ehecatl Huehuecoyotl Huehueteotl Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Quetzalcoatl Tepoztecatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tlazolteotl Toci Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xiuhcoatl Xiuhtecuhtli Xochipilli Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Places in Aztec myth
Aztln Mictlan Tlalocan Tamoanchan Tlillan-Tlapallan
Categories: Aztec society | Aztec mythology and religion | Human sacrificeHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from November 2007 I am an expert from China Crafts Suppliers, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as cotton table runners , wood coffee stirrers.
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Trump Network News – “You’re Fired” Up But What’s The Catch?

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:59:25 +0000

The one thing that Trump does right is that he does his homework.Â And he has done it again.Â The health and wellness industry is currently a $300 billion industry and is expected to reach $1 trillion by the end of the decade.Â The network marketing industry is currently a $100 billion dollar industry and has grown over 90% in the last 10 years.Â Looks like The Donald has hit the jackpot again combining wellness and network marketing.

So what’s the catch?

It’s all in how it’s marketed.Â Distributors using outdated old school marketing techniques like warm market marketing will have dismal results over time.Â Â Gone are the days of home parties, handing out samples, 3-way calls and pitching friends and family.Â

Society has changed as technology has revolutionized how people do business today.Â Millions of people are online searching for information daily.Â People are busy and time has become a valuable resource.Â The fact is the network marketing industry has changed dramatically, and yet some distributors may still be being taught the same old, outdated marketing techniques to grow their business.

If you’re a fan of Trump, you know that he is stickler for production.Â The key ingredient to success in any network marketing business is productivity.Â The more people you help with your products and business opportunity, the more successful you become.Â The challenge is that most distributors are spending their time on labor intensive activities that are not producing.

The single most labor intensive activity distributor can engage in is marketing to their friends, their friends and friends of their friends.Â Why?Â Because it is untargeted.

Think of it this way, if a company was marketing cookies, would they scatter their boxes of cookies all over the supermarket or would they strategically place them in the cookie isle where people are already looking for cookies?Â Warm market marketing is in effect scattering boxes of cookies throughout the supermarket hoping .Â The single most effective way to dramatically increase your productivity and profitability is to market to a targeted audience.Â

Knowing your ideal customer’s age, gender, income, occupation, geographic location, buying patterns and other defining characteristics is key.Â By laser targeting who you are marketing to, you’re positioning yourself to spend time with people who are truly interested what you have to offer, i.e. people in the cookie isle looking for cookies.Â

And by leveraging today’s technology to reach your target market you can multiply your efforts even more.Â The Internet, blogs, telephone, email, forums and video are some fantastic mediums for reaching your target audience.Â Â Teach these strategies to your downline and build a lucrative Trump Network business.

Start seeing results with Christina’s Trump Network Insiders Report – no obligation – tons of information. Get your free copy, delivered directly to your inbox within minutes by clicking here.Â Curious about your target market and how to reach them? Find out today with free instant access to the Trump Network Success Guide.Â Christina works closely with companies currently helping tens of thousands of people build substantial network marketing businesses.
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4 Real Secrets Formulas to Making a Best Work at Home Business

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:42:41 +0000

Starting an online work at home business is not a hard work; but maintaining a unbeaten work at home business can be a bit some hard. Here are millions of persons those own their own home based business, but most of them are not having any good luck at all. If you desire to be successful while making your work at home money making business, there are a few of secrets you can go after.

1. Rather than you start a lucrative work at home money making online business, you are going to need the needed expertise. In other way, if you are going to build an money making online business, take an topic that you are familiar with. By doing this you will ensure yourself of knowing where to begin, and how to face problems as they appear. Of course, it is viable to run a booming work at home business even if you do not hold earlier experience. You will only require to make definite that you do your calculation prior to starting. Like this way you will have around background knowledge on the niche rather than simply available into the venture blind.

2. Make guaranteed that you are planned from the very start. The most lucrative money making businesses are those that have a quality business and marketing idea in place from the begining. This will allow you to stay on your strategy so the days pass away by so that you do not get lost. It is difficult to be successful in whatever thing if you do not know where you are trying to go. A business idea will produce you an indication on how you desire your company to progress, where as a marketing proposal will direct you on how to enhance your company. These are two things that are synonymous with each winning work at home organization.

3. Never be ashamed to ask for help if you are having a rough time. A lot of internet business owners do not like to ask other persons for help as they do not require to hurt their pride. This is something which you must come to grips with prior to you even get started. It is not viable to know all facts regarding your industry, so here are times when you will have to ask questions. Instead of thinking of this when a bad idea, why not look at it as a way of building another business dealings? If you are having a technical difficulty that you cannot believe out, you must get in touch with an IT company right away. There is nothing unsuitable with doing this. In fact, if you do not ask questions to other persons you will simply be holding your business back.

4. Do not reinvent the wheel, by following an established online Marketing Plan you can take a shortcut to your online victory. Be aware though to not pursue unsuccessful plans, there are free ones which are entirely brilliant like “The online Marketing Master Plan”.

By following the secrets above you will be well on your way to running a winning work at home business. Remember, anybody can run a business, but to be flourishing you will hold to be strong-minded.

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Profit from a Legitimate Work at Home

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:47:07 +0000

If you are interested in having legitimate work at home, several factors should be taken into consideration. These include the following:

Determine if you would like a job or your own business at home – It is important to decide if you want to work at home with a job offered by another company or put up a home business of your own. Since many people are interested in work at home jobs, it can be difficult to find legitimate companies that offer such type of jobs. Thus, it is best to come up with your own home business if you have the means and capability to do so. Moreover, some companies offering work at home jobs may charge you for becoming part of their workforce. Their primary reason for charging you a fee is the opportunity they provide to work from your home at your convenience. You are not even sure if the job they are offering is legitimate. Nevertheless, you have to decide if you want a job or set up a home business of your own.
Choose appropriate products and services – Regardless if you decide to take a work at job from another company or start your own home business, you should consider offering a product or service that you are interested in. If you decide to set up a legitimate work at home business, you have to come up with a product or service to offer your customers. It is advisable to offer more than one product or service to various target markets. This would ensure profitability from your home business. On the other hand, if you decide to work at home for another company, make sure you have knowledge on the product and/or service the company is offering. Prior to signing up with the company, have a background check on its profile as well as its offerings to make sure of its legitimacy.
Determine the payment options – Companies that offer work at home jobs have different payment options for their workforce. As such, you have to determine a company’s method of paying you for a job done. It is advisable to choose a payment scheme wherein you are going to be paid first prior to doing the job. More often than not, waiting for the company to pay you after you have finished the job may take forever. Even if you are working from home, you have to be paid first to ensure your efforts are not wasted. This would also determine if the company you are working for is legitimate.
Making product purchases – Some companies offer work at home opportunities wherein you have to purchase their product and/or service. If you are interested in this kind of job, make sure that you understand the terms and conditions of the company. This would ensure that no penalties would be charged against you for any missing administrative fee that would lead to losing the product and/or service you have purchased. Good luck on finding the work at home job or business that best suits you.

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Da Sell 3.6 Billion In Cash Or In Most Medium And Large Satisfied With The Results

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 22:15:02 +0000

Da, finally to large and medium
Electrical Sold! Da from last April to sign in and Paradise “strategy
Cooperation Agreement “, the results Yongle been
States United States Electric acquisition, sudden, 150 million yuan deposit is forfeited medium and large electrical storm; later acquisition of Dazhong Electrical Appliance Suning Appliance interested in, and make a long M & A “fishing expedition”, until December 12, Suning Appliance formally announced its withdrawal from acquisition; 12 16 Gome held a full press conference hosted Dazhong Electronics, Gome president Chen Xiao, Gome was officially announced on the exclusive option to buy Dazhong Electric power, the purchase price was 36.5 billion yuan.
Said that Gome electrical appliances on the market value assessment of large and medium large, medium and large electrical appliances more than 20 years mainly rooted in Beijing, but also to the development of North China, the current medium and large number of electrical outlets in Beijing alone has 61, including Tianjin, and other stores around the region, total number of 81, full year 2006 sales of 8.7 billion yuan. And Gome stores in China has thousands, but in Beijing currently has only 56 stores. The biggest competitors within the United States, is Suning, Suning currently 42 stores in Beijing, China large and medium U.S. integration, will be overwhelmed in the overall number Suning stores.
Deputy general manager Wang Junzhou Gome electrical appliances in the evaluation of large and medium value, he thinks the country is the United States pay more attention to medium and large electrical appliances market in Beijing’s strategic position and future development value of more than 20 years since the development of medium and large electrical appliances, have a high loyalty
Consumption , From operating cost analysis, the core of large and medium electrical outlets have been in operation for nearly 20 years, compared to the same new stores, the cost of their properties better. Interestingly, in April this year, the United States at the 2007 Global State
Home Appliances Forum, a reporter asked, Gome Group, Chairman of the Board
Huang Guangyu How do medium and large electrical appliances and electrical outlets Paradise resources, Huang Guangyu answer to the gold content of medium and large electrical stores is much lower than Paradise, and Paradise can not be compared. But also for medium and large electrical appliances and lawsuit disputes between Paradise, Huang Guangyu no secret of the, said: “To put it bluntly, is that nothing good. Dazhong Electric violated professional ethics, took the 150 million people, but also where Ku Cheng tears people out of what
Network Investigation, posing as vulnerable groups. ”
Today, the CIA has become relatives by marriage, the Chinese home appliance retail industry structure from the “Three Kingdoms” into a “Soviet hegemony.” Some experts on the country to increase the combined US-Wing-lok said that is not optimistic, although the two synthesized one, but can not say that they form a “giant”, Suning and Gome stores the competition is not only competitive, but including channels, marketing, personnel, etc. all aspects of competition. In the end who the winner will not end!
Dazhong Electronics was founded in 1982, Da owns 78% of the shares, Ms. Zhang Dazhong floor has the remaining 22% of the shares of the red. Da born in Beijing, said that he is “Lao Sanjie high school students”, who jump the queue in the countryside of rural outskirts of Beijing in 1972, was assigned to work in Haidian District Supply and Marketing Cooperative. In early 1989, only 10 square meters of business area of the “large and medium
Sound Company “opened in Beijing Xidan, for parts sales, which is the first medium and large electrical stores. In 1999, Dazhong Electronics store officially set sail as electrical monopoly, in 2000 to open a six medium and large appliances chains, in 2003 a large increase in the amount of 32 electrical shop, electrical sales account for 50% of Beijing market share, becoming the only coverage of Beijing City, community and suburban counties of the electrical chain. In the same year, the first other ports large and medium sized electrical shop?? Tianjin Yellow Road store opened, marking the medium and large electrical appliances out of Beijing, a national electronics chain vendors, so far the country has reached 81 stores. but entered after 2005, Da has been the realization of the right want to leave, from the earliest 100 Buy appliances on the acquisition of large and medium sized rumors to the subsequent lawsuit with the Wing-lok, and Suning to the previous negotiations on the acquisition of large and medium, including the States United States Lightning completed the acquisition of large and medium, medium and large electrical appliances simply become
Auction Court’s plaything, who went to whose hands the price another job.
Earlier, Suning Electric’s purchase price of the 30 large and medium billion, but the country out of the conditions of the United States followed a full Bi Suning more more than 6 million, dilating in anything of the fixed heart. It is said the acquisition is completed, medium and large electrical appliances with its founder, will be completely out of ownership Da, Da 3.6 billion in cash after a successful departure.
Spring Festival this year will mark the 60th birthday of Da, the results may now be his most satisfying in this life was … …
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Home Based Franchise Tips – How Not To Appear Like A Downright Idiot While Trying To Increase Your Business

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:25:22 +0000

This is one of the utter terrors of the newbie network marketer. The fear of looking like a downright idiot to their friends, family, and most prominently, the strangers they will be networking with in order to develop their home based franchise business.At it’s a fact, we’ve all felt like entire idiots at one time or another in this industry. However there’s an actual way to avoid this dreadful feeling and I’m about to share it with you.To start with, I’d like to clarify one thing. If you’re not eager to socialize with others and are the type of person that feels that a “NO” answer will absolutely crush you, you’re probably in the wrong industry.The home based franchise industry can be brutal, IF you allow it be. But don’t lose sleep, I’m going to march you through the steps you MUST take in order to utterly avoid that feeling and take an massive leap forward in your self confidence.My Foremost Experience Feeling Like A Total DopeAlright, so let’s first get a full comprehension as to what I mean by feeling like a complete idiot. As a matter of fact, I’ll illustrate this to you in the method of a story. (True story in fact)So, when I first dabbled into joining this industry, I was taken to one of those notorious hotel meetings where they pitch you on what they deliberate is the “Next Best Thing” to getting you out of debt and making a ton of money.Me, like a sucker, jumped on this home based franchise opportunity thinking “This sounds really cool! I think I can do this! It would be nice to make money from home!”Well, that was the first instant I felt like an idiot, right after I found out that pitching to friends and family just labels you as the character no one wants to talk to. Those people I tried getting to a hotel meeting like the one I attended were avoiding me like the plague!And I thought to myself “Why?” Why is it that I was convinced into attending that meeting and I can’t get a person to attend a meeting for me?That’s when I learned home based franchise tip #1 – I shouldn’t have to push people into looking at my home based franchise opportunity in order to recruit them into my business. I have to realize how to ATTRACT them to me. (Hope you’re taking notes here :-p)Nevertheless There Was More To Discover About This Home Based Franchise IndustryNo kidding! Once I realized that there’s a way to not have to pitch Any person about my business, I realized I had opened a can of worms.What do I mean? I mean that as soon as you’ve begun attracting people to your home based franchise business, now what? Are you entirely up to date on how to prospect that person in order to know whether they are Capable or not to work with you?I bet, if you’re pretty new to this business, you almost certainly haven’t thought that far ahead and are just nervous on how to get someone to just say “Yes” to your home based franchise opportunity.Anyhow, here is when tip #2 comes in – You MUST be completely educated on YOUR business and what the benefits are, how that would benefit your prospect, and how will they in reality make ANY money in this industry.Right now there’s a way to do this. How I learned to prospect someone into my business was by picking up a copy of Mike Dillard’s Black Belt Recruiting. Talk about “Game Changer!” My self-confidence hit the roof and I was prospecting like a CEO in a Fortune 500 business. Okay, so now you’ve got a new home based franchise business partner. Now what?Will That Person Be A Home Run For Your Home Based Franchise Business?Don’t assume you’re out of the woods just yet! In this industry, those that make COLOSSAL amounts of money are the ones that GRASP how to lead their team into success.Now this can be VERY overwhelming for some. Although for you, it’s going to be as easy as pie! Let me tell you why.Think about that person in YOUR top home based franchise that is flourishing, a true leader, and is generating the profits YOU want for yourself. What is it that they are doing?They are LEADING their team, either through personal training, supplying them with the genuine resources to answer their extreme important questions, and giving them that motivation to continue moving ahead in their home based franchise business.Simple, right? Wrong! The only way YOU can lead them is to grow to be a leader yourself. But becoming a leader is not as brutal as you might think.Here’s a fantastic example, look at me! A mechanic for 17 years, entirely illiterate to computers (besides checking emails and buying crap I in actuality didn’t need from sites like EBAY), and not really a social person per say.However yet, here I am, giving you a TON of information that YOU can exercise to advance your home based franchise, and believe it or not, leading you without you really asking for my leadership. (All in a days work if I must say so myself) Just kidding! What I Use To Avoid Feeling Like A Complete Idiot In My Home Based FranchiseTherefore by now you’re maybe wondering what I used to learn all of these amazing skills in such a short period of time. Well, you’re in for a treat!If you want to look behind the scenes at what I’m using to not only make some GIGANTIC checks in this home based franchise industry, but what I use to lecture others on how to do the same, pay a visit TimeToFireYourBoss.com.Take care!Pablo Gonzalez

Pablo Gonzalez has gone from complete novice to skilled online marketer in less than one year. How did he do it? Simple! he obtained the astonishing knowledge from a community of leaders willing to share EXACTLY what they have done to become successful themselves. More information about this can be found at TimeToFireYourBoss.com/?t=article
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Make Money Online – Adsense Income…3 Easy Steps!

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:53:07 +0000

1. You need to sign up for an Adsense account. It’s a simple process, but you will have a short wait while your site is approved. Once your website is approved you are free to use Adsense ads on any site you have, but just because you don’t need to have the other sites approved you will still need to make sure you are following the Adsense terms. They are very strict and if you are caught breaking their terms you stand the risk of having your account suspended.

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2. Building your pages will be your next step. The key to this is finding a keyword that has a lot of demand, but not a lot of competition. If you want to go the free route you can use nichebot to find the demand and the competion. If you have the money you will get a much better selection of keywords with Wordtracker. You want to use the keyword in the title of your page and in the body of the page a few times. For content you can write your own or you can visit an article directory and find a good article to use on your page, if you do that look for an article that has your keyword in the body a few times. If you do use someone elses article be sure there bio is included on your site, that is the reason they allow you to use their article.

3. We are ready to add the Adsense ads to the site now. You are allowed to use three ads, A good placement of the ads should be one at the top of the page, one vertical ad on the right side, and one ad at the bottom. If you decide to use just one ad I would put it at the top of the page. The Asense ads will have a border around them, but most people remove that by changing the color of the border the same color of the page, so if your page is white just change the border color white and you won’t see the border. You want the ad to blend in to your page as much as possible.

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Ok, now it’s just a matter of just waiting for traffic and you can start getting paid each time someone clicks on the Adsense ads. It may take awhile to get your pages indexed, so in the mean time you might need to write a few articles to get a little traffic to your site. There are other ways to build sites, some people use programs that will build thousands of pages quickly, but I think the search engines have been able to identify most of those types of sites so I don’t recommend using them. If you are looking for a faster way to get sites up I would recommend buying some of the ready made Adsense sites, Most of them are well built with all the bells and whistles and not very expensive.

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Successful Business – Affiliate Is Not A Dirty Word

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:54:53 +0000

When I first started out on my journey to become a successful Internet marketer I used to wonder about all the advertisements I came across that begged me to join an affiliate program. They made huge claims about how much money I would earn if I joined them so I just ignored them. That is until I started to understand more about affiliates and affiliate programs.

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WHAT IS AN AFFILIATE?An affiliate is someone who promotes other people’s products or services. When you become an affiliate you have a money making business opportunity but you have none of the worries or expenses of a typical business. You’ll never have the bother of dealing with processing or shipping an order or be involved with customer care. You will however receive money for your promotional efforts. When someone purchases a product or service through your efforts you receive a commission on the sale. All you have to do is promote and wait to receive your payment cheques.

WHERE DO I FIND AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM?There are literally thousands of affiliate programs to choose from. Many of them will tell you that you will earn thousands and thousands of dollars per month if you join them. They will state all the amazing benefits to you and how new and fabulous their particular product or service is. I’m sure you have seen these advertisements everywhere on the Internet. If you type in affiliate programs into your search engine you will see what I mean. You will also just come across them as you are surfing.It can be quite over whelming to make a choice.

HOW DO I DECIDE WHICH AFFILIATE PROGRAM IS FOR ME?There are three approaches to choosing the right program for you.Choose something that has a high demandChoose something that you have a passion forCombine the above two points so you will have a product that is in high demand and you are passionate about it.

I personally think a combination of these approaches is the best.If you choose something that is in high demand then there will be a market for the product or service. It is essential to have a market otherwise you will find that no one will be interested in buying from you. The down side here however is when there is a high demand there is also a lot of competition.

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If you choose something you are passionate about then you’ll have more fun and you’ll be more passionate about what you are promoting. When you have something you can put your heart and soul into you will generally do better than if you are promoting something you don’t care about or know nothing about.

Make a list of what you are passionate about. Then do a search on the key words to see how many other people have this same interest. You can do this by using a key-word search. free software you can download. Use this to search for the information. Just type in the key word and see how many results come up, i.e. how many people searched for those word over the last month. Then use your search engine to locate your affiliate program.

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3 Leveraging Techniques for a Work at Home Entrepreneur

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:27:24 +0000

A successful work at home entrepreneur becomes a master of leveraging. Leveraging is merely performing as many effective acts in as little time as possible. Think of it as getting a bang for your buck.

By focusing on a target market, networking with successful entrepreneurs and automating processes you can achieve desired results with less effort, and the name of the game in this business is to become a lazy expert. Think things through so you don’t have to do as many things.

Target Your Market

Target your market. Who does your product or service cater to? Hit a niche by doing keyword research on your target market. Experiment with the proper keyword placement and density in your blog posts and articles. Take the time to do this folks! I neglected keyword research until a few months back, greatly delaying fantastic results.

Targeting your market is a form of leveraging since you won’t be wasting time hawking your opportunity to disinterested people. How many times have you responded to those crappy, automated voice broadcasts sent blindly to your phone? On the flip side, how many times have you found a business opportunity or purchased something after googling it? The power is in the target, and specifically in keyword usage.

Network with Successful Work at Home Entrepreneurs

Build business relationships with fellow work at home entrepreneurs by visiting their blogs, leaving comments and by running and engaging blog. Casual chats are where millions – or billions – often find their origin.

Each relationship allows you to tap into a new network, expanding your presence. You might enter into a business partnership with another entrepreneur. You may pick up lucrative business ideas by hanging out at their blog. Leverage your time by tapping into the knowledge and networks of others.

One word of caution: give. Give before you take. Even if you are a newbie with little content attributed to your name, give by writing thoughtful comments and retweeting or Facebook sharing your buddies’ blog posts.

Automate Processes

Automate as many processes as possible. Don’t spend hours sending out tweets when you can use a program to send out tweets at set times. Churn out a steady supply of content and gradually feed it to your target market using automated systems.

This doesn’t give you the excuse to become a bot. Be a person, since people do business with people, not bots. Swing by twitter a few times a day. Reply to each comment on your blog. Reply to all comments on your articles.

Become a master of leveraging. Imitate successful work at home entrepreneurs and get the most bang for your buck.

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Lia Sophia Review – Is Lia Sophia A Scam, Or is Lia Sophia Legit?

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 01:58:49 +0000

In this Lia Sophia review, I am not going to review whether or not Lia Sophia is a scam. This company has been growing and offering fashion jewelry for more than 30 years, proving their legitimacy in the multi-level marketing industry. I do intend to investigate the business opportunity that they offer to determine if Lia Sophia is a viable home business option for you.

Lia Sophia is a network marketing business opportunity that has been operated by the Kiam family since 1986 with a mission to provide beautiful jewelry together with providing financial security for those who partner with them.

If you have a desire to promote the products that you enjoy from Lia Sophia, at the same time as profit from these efforts, you can join Lia Sophia for a price of $149. You will be provided with a starter kit with enough products and supplies to conduct your first 5 home parties or shows. You will also be provided with a pre-built website for an additional $9.95 per month.

The Lia Sophia compensation plan will reward you in the form of commissions ranging from 20% to 30% for every product that you sell on their behalf. As you recruit new Advisors to join your team, you will reap the rewards of their personal production as well.

Just like many other MLM companies that exist in the market place today, the Lia Sophia business model is dependent upon word of mouth and direct selling. You will be encouraged to prospect amongst your friends, relatives, neighbors, and close associates to invite them to host a home party, and invite others to attend. At this party, you will showcase the jewelry, take orders, attract new members to join you, and see if anyone else who is in attendance would like to host a party of their own. These methods of business building are very familiar within this industry, and unfortunately, only 3% of those who attempt a business in this manner actually earn a substantial income.

However, I do believe that Lia Sophia is a legitimate opportunity for the right kind of person. Although successful businesses have been built in the past using the methods that they train, this business would be best suited for someone who has the expertise to market outside of their small network of family and friends. Also, is fashion jewelry going to be the best product to offer in today’s economy, since it is not a necessity? This is just food for thought, but if you believe that you have the expertise to build this business, then Lia Sophia may be a good company to pursue further.

Dave Fennell is an Internet Marketing Coach and Corporate Mentor for one of the Internet’s largest marketing schools. Specializing in Article Marketing, Social Network Marketing, and a multitude of other Top Online Marketing Strategies, he trains both total beginners and seasoned professionals from all over the globe to achieve financial freedom through proven business techniques and continuing education to keep ahead of trends and remain on top of the competition.
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