The Importance of Warfare in Mesoamerica

For my posting this week I will be discussing the concept and theme of war in the culture of Mesoamerica, particularly how the warrior motif related to gender as a whole in the region. I took great interest and was attentive in taking note that in early Mesoamerican societies women were generally viewed as “warriors of the household,” rather than simple keepers of the home or servants of their husband or patriarch. This distinguished war based view of a woman’s role in life was vital and extremely ceremonious. This began upon the birth of a woman, immediately after the completion of the birth her placenta was cut and buried under the hearth. This was representative of where she would be “battling” throughout life. The birth itself was even considered a form of warfare. Should the mother successfully deliver the child, she was considered victorious in her battle against the cosmos. These battles were of an extensive series. For instance, keeping the home tidy and clean was not simply a daily task that a woman was obligated to perform, rather it was viewed as a part of her ongoing battle against chaos and disorder. I also found it interesting that in order to reinforce the notion that women must be prepared to “fight for their home,” they were given toy brooms and household appliances to play with in their infancy. Naturally the warrior motif was by no means exclusive to the females of societies, the men were also taught from birth that their primary roles were to be warriors above all else. Similarly to women, shortly following the birth of a male child their placenta was symbolically buried in the fields. This was done as a representation of their coming battles both of physical labor as well as the battles that they would fight with warring peoples. Their upbringing also showed an unsurprising parallelism with that of women in that in infancy boys were given toy shields and weapons to which they were to become accustomed. I find this intertwined relationship of warfare and life in early Mesoamerica very intriguing. It seems that it was necessitated by multiple reasons. One which seems apparent to me is the desire, or rather need for purpose in life. Perhaps it was easier for people to confidently live their lives, even for societies to function when they were given a direct and straightforward purpose from birth. It is clearly a much simpler system in terms of organizing a civilization and identifying roles for its people. Rather than people going through the gradual process of finding roles or purposes for themselves, they were raised for specific purposes from birth. But I have little doubt that this poorly received by people. From what I can gather this system would, at least on some level, have a foundation of pride. Given the importance that was placed on being successful in battle, it seems logical to assume that masterful performance in all facets of warfare was highly regarded and endlessly pursued by Mesoamerican peoples.