Quote: (07-20-2014 10:44 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:
Look at the ancient Aztecs and Mayas. The religions of the pre-Columbian Mexicans is based almost entirely on blood-sacrifice. Without death--without a constant stream of human sacrifices--there could be no life. War was waged for capturing people to sacrifice to the gods.
The Spanish conquest destroyed the old religion, but folkways die hard. I've noticed that Mexicans have a fatalism and morbidity not possessed by other countries of the Americas.
Pre-Columbian religion is certainly a factor in my view, but let's not forget that Catholicism also possesses its own fascination with death...the crucifixion is essentially a blood sacrifice, literally (through transubstantiation) reenacted every week at mass. The fatalist tendencies in both spiritual sources, I think, fused with and complimented one another to influence Mexican culture.