Fasting
The primary meaning of an Aztec fast was to abstain from salt and chilis and all members of Aztec society engaged in fasting to some extent. There were no regular exceptions from the fast, something that shocked the first Europeans who came into contact with the Aztecs. Though fasting was common in Europe, there were permanent exceptions for the women and small children, the sick or frail and the elderly. Before the New Fire ceremony, which occurred every 52 years, some priests fasted for a whole year; the other priests 80 days and lords 8 days. Commoners engaged in fasts, but less rigorously. There was also a permanent contingent of fasters in Tehuacan. Along with various ascetic rigors like sleeping on a stone pillow, they fasted for periods of four years on just one 50-gram corn tortilla (about 2 ounces) per day. The only respite came every 20 days, when they were allowed to eat whatever they wanted.
Even rulers such as Moctezuma were expected to cut down on their otherwise luxurious lifestyle and did so with considerable conviction and effort. At times he abstained from luxuries and sex with women and ate only cakes of michihuauhtli and seeds of amaranth or goosefoot. The lord's chocolate was also replaced with water mixed from parched bean powder. This can be contrasted with the fasts of many European nobles and clergy that, while obeying the letter of the religious regulation by replacing meat and animal products with fish, were still luxurious feasts in their own right.
Read more about this topic: Aztec Cuisine, Dietary Norms
Famous quotes containing the word fasting:
“Did the first men who thought of fasting put themselves on this regimen on their physician’s order, because they had indigestion?”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“The philosopher is like a man fasting in the midst of universal intoxication. He alone perceives the illusion of which all creatures are the willing playthings; he is less duped than his neighbor by his own nature. He judges more sanely, he sees things as they are. It is in this that his liberty consists—in the ability to see clearly and soberly, in the power of mental record.”
—Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881)