There is reason to believe that in consequence of their being surrounded by enemies and engaged in constant wars, they considered it necessary to propitiate the war god in the most terrific manner. Thus when the great Teocalli, erected for the worship of Huitzil-pochli, was completed, many thousands of victims were sacrificed as propitiatory offerings. When colonies of the Aztec race were advancing in the direction of Tabasco and Yucatan, similar sacrificial ceremonies were performed.
Bernal Diaz saw, in one of the Indian towns that had been captured by the Spaniards, three large cages full of prisoners who were waiting to be sacrificed. They were fastened by collars to prevent their escape. They were taken out of the cages and sent back to their own tribes. He elsewhere observes that the Indians devoured human flesh after the victims had been sacrificed, in the same way as the Spaniards devoured oxen. It is evident that great numbers of the aboriginal natives must have been kept in slavery and, in time of war, were killed and eaten by the Aztecs.
Bernal Diaz, chapter xxix, and Landa, p. 12.
It was noticed soon after the Spanish conquest that the Indians died rapidly from causes of a mental character. They died because they did not wish to live. The conditions of slavery they were forced to endure had such an effect upon them that they gradually lost their strength. After submitting for a time to the hardships imposed upon them they appeared to become resigned to their fate. Life was a burden. They lost heart and died from misery. This was particularly the case in Cuba and Hispaniola.
The Indians in Yucatan, had a chief priest who had a general control over all matters relating to the priesthood. He nominated the priests to the villages, examined them in their sciences and ceremonies, provided them with books and sent them to attend in the service of the temples.
According to Landa “they taught the sons of other priests and the younger sons of the chiefs that were brought to them for this purpose when they were children, if it was observed that they were inclined towards this office. The sciences which they taught were the computations of the years, months, and days, the festivals and ceremonies, the administration of their sacraments, the days and times that were fatal, the manner of divinations and prophecies and coming events, the remedies for sickness and things concerning antiquities, and to read and write with their books, and characters with which they wrote and with figures which explained the writings.”
In Yucatan, as in Mexico, the calendar was carefully constructed. The year consisted of three hundred and sixty-five days and six hours. Landa observes that the months were of two kinds. One was lunar and was regulated by the movements of the moon. The other method of computation was formed by dividing the year into eighteen divisions or months, each consisting of twenty days and there were five days and six hours over. Of these six hours one day was made every four years. For these three hundred and sixty-six days they had twenty letters or characters by which they were named. (Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan, pp. 42; 202).