Daily Life of the Aztecs, by Jacques Soustelle

Bill bought me this book for Christmas. I’ve read quite a few books about Mayan culture, but apart from a few books on art know very little about Aztecs. This book was very interesting. It was written in the 50s, but seemed to make good critical use of both European and Mexican sources. I have to say I learned so much, and found it fascinating. I learnt that the Aztec society was largely democratic, had no inherited nobility, and a lot of social mobility. It was interesting to learn about the role of women in their religion, which was quite impressive, with female priests, festivals, and ceremonies and participation in community rites. (But not human sacrifice). A woman who died in childbirth was given the same status as a man who died in battle, or was sacrificed; they became divine and lived in the western paradise of the sun. (191). I thought that this was particularly interesting.

It was also interesting to learn about the Aztecs attitude towards alcohol, which was strongly condemned; nobles could be put to death for appearing drunk in public. (Oddly the Aztec justice system was depended on your position in society, so that if you were higher up you faced much stricter punishments.) Old people were allowed to drink and encouraged to get drunk because they were seen as having finished their responsibility. Soustelle mentioned that there was no mention in the Spanish records of alcohol being used by the Aztecs, but he did reproduce a passage that talked of them having mushrooms before a banquet and then acted “as if drunk”. I have to say it did make me wonder if part of the reason drugs are so strongly condemned in society today and alcohol so accepted is because of these being from other non-European cultures. Of course then I remembered how much the Victorians partook of such substances and suddenly it didn’t seem nearly that straight forward anymore.

It was a very enjoyable book. I’d be interested to know how someone who is more familiar with Aztec culture views it. But I thought it was very good.

Defining Chu: Image and Reality in Ancient China ed. by Cook and Major

Chu has always been my favourite of the Warring states; with its shamanistic religion and culture I find it very fascinating. I learned a LOT more about it from reading this book Defining Chu is an excellent collection of papers about the Warring States’ period. The book starts with a series of archeologically based essays about Chu, its geography, economy, politics, grave goods culture and laws. The later essays that discussed the state and the religion were, to me, by far the most interesting. There were several things I learned/remembered from reading this. Chu was a border state between the Han and the South and as such was a multi-cultural society with a blending of cultures, (different burial practices were practiced in the same burial grounds), the founder of the Han dynasty was actually from Chu, (part about translating the law codes), shamanism and xiwangmu (the Goddess the Queen Mother of the West) both come from Chu. The book ended looking at the rather late Han imperial representation of Chu, in particular during the reign of Hanwudi. (My favourite Han emperor). A very interesting book for people interested in early imperial and pre-imperial China.