Page:Historia Verdadera del Mexico profundo.djvu/168

 standards of our ancient heritage, the Toltecáyotl, that was created from the millenary olmec times.

''The Divine Mission. ''

The mexicas called themselves the "Sun supporting" people. And they self-assigned the divine mission to sustain and conquer the "land surrounded by heavenly waters" through the imposition of their tribal god Huitzilopochtli, in replacement of the millenary Quetzalcoatl. The Tlacaelel reforms changed the spiritual sense of religion and society and gave it a material sense. Tlacaelel used Toltec forms, but definitely changed its essence. It is for this reason that we find the symbolism of mexica religion poetic, in their totally dehumanized practices.

''"How can it be accepted that the belief in the Sun tyranny over physical life could have taken roots at the hearts of men? It is more likely to think that only by force they could implant it and that the spirituality of some aspects of the aztec life should come from an ancient tradition, betrayed in it’s his essence for the benefit of a temporary structure dominated by a ruthless will to power". (Laurette Séjourné. 1957)	  ''

To carry out this titanic enterprise, society was militarized. Schools no longer had the spiritual mystical character and began forming warrior groups for "material battles". The Telpochcalli was transformed into a military academy for the commoners (macehuales) where troops were formed. The Calmécac went, from being a school for the pililis or noblemen sons, to train officers’ cadres. The Toltec flower war became a war to take prisoners and take them to ritual sacrifices to "feed" the Fifth Sun and prevent its death and the end of the Aztec Empire. The Tlaloc-Quetzalcoatl duality was replaced by that of Tlaloc-Huitzilopochtli.

"To die in combat, or better yet, in the stone of sacrifices, was for them the promise of a happy eternity: because the warrior fallen on the battlefield, or destroyed, had assured himself a place among the "eagle peers", the quauhteca, who accompanied the