Chapter 6 - Living as an Aztec: Social Status and Daily Life

Summary

One’s father [is] the source of lineage, the beginning of lineage.... He advises, he admonishes one. He is exemplary; he leads a model life ... he is thrifty ... establishes order.... One’s bad father [is] lazy, incompassionate, negligent, unreliable ... a shirker, a loafer, a sullen worker.

Bernardino de Sahagún 1950–1982: book 10, 1; originally written by 1569

One’s mother ... [is] sincere, vigilant, agile, [she is] an energetic worker – diligent, watchful, solicitous, full of anxiety.... She caresses, she serves others.... One’s bad mother [is] evil, dull, stupid, sleepy, lazy ... disrespectful, inconsiderate, disregarding, careless ... she expounds nonconformity.

Bernardino de Sahagún 1950–1982: book 10, 2; originally written by 1569

It would have been an impossible task to write the preceding chapters without making fairly frequent reference to nobles and commoners, so deeply were these divisions of Aztec social life woven into all aspects of their existence. Yet a bit more can still be said about the strictly social side of their defined relationships and the inner workings of the Aztec social hierarchy. Everyone occupied a position in this hierarchy and carried out (or not) a prescribed role or roles relative to his or her station in life. Whatever niche or niches an individual occupied, that person’s location in the social hierarchy and primary associations within a family network essentially defined his or her life’s opportunities and restrictions.

An Aztec’s life story was initially established by the circumstances of birth – birth in the sense of parentage, birth in the sense of gender, and birth in the sense of a fate-laden astrological date. Beyond these dictates, an individual was faced with opportunities – for both achievement and disaster. A man could demonstrate courage or cowardice on the battlefield; a woman could exhibit energy or laziness on the domestic scene. Men and women could be respectful, obedient, and diligent, or they could turn to gambling, thievery, or excessive drinking. These and other of life’s options were played out in a dynamic social setting that featured an intense social hierarchy, complex city-state and imperial bureaucracies, community and family institutions, and associations based on achievements, occupations, and religion.