Earlier today, conservative education activist Chris Rufo reported: “Following a lawsuit from parents, the State of California has permanently removed the ‘In Lak Ech Affirmation’ from the state curriculum, which would have forced students to chant to the Aztec god of human sacrifice in order to become ‘warriors’ for ‘social justice.’”
Yes, in case you’ve forgotten (or were unaware in the first place): The state of California wanted to make kids sing ditties to Tezkatlipoka. For those who aren’t familiar with the Aztec deity, he’s the literal god of human sacrifice. Oh, and cannibalism. Just to give you a sense of what kind of culture the California Board of Education is revering, here’s Cameron Hilditch on the history of Aztec ritual human sacrifice:
The remains of more than 40 boys and girls were discovered at the excavation site of the great pyramid, most bearing the marks of severe and prolonged torture.
This was to be expected given that the Aztec pictorial codices that have come down to us invariably show the children crying before being sacrificed.
The priests of Tlaloc believed the tears of innocent children to be particularly pleasing to the god, and they took great care to ensure that their little victims were crying before and throughout the ceremony so that the smoke of the sacrificial fire would carry their tears up to the god above at the moment of death.
The ritual began with the bones of the children being broken, their hands or their feet burned, and carvings etched into their flesh. They were then paraded before the celebrants of the ritual while crying. Insufficient tears from the children were believed to result in insufficient rains for the crops that year, so no brutality was spared. At the end of it all, the mutilated victims were burned alive.
It's an interesting conundrum. On one hand, the Spanish came through and massacred them almost out of existence. Bad. On the other hand, they really were a nasty bunch who did that to others.
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