The society of the Mexica was complex, hierarchical, and richly developed. On the eve of the Spanish conquest in 1519, the Valley of Mexico contained several million people organized into a network of cities, towns, and villages, each with its own government and its own place in the political and economic order. At the top of the social hierarchy was the Tlatoani, the divine ruler of Tenochtitlan, supported by a hereditary nobility, a large priesthood, and an elaborate bureaucracy. Below the nobility were the commoners, who formed the great majority of the population and who worked as farmers, artisans, merchants, and laborers. At the bottom of the formal social order were the slaves, who were drawn from debtors, criminals, and war captives and who occupied a status somewhere between servitude and indentured labor. Despite the rigid hierarchy of the formal social order, Mexica society offered considerable social mobility, and successful merchants, warriors, and artisans could rise to the highest levels of the social order.
The daily life of the Mexica varied considerably by class, by region, and by occupation. The great Tlatelolco market was the commercial center of the empire, where goods from across Mesoamerica were traded. The chinampas around Tenochtitlan fed the city’s population, and the great stone causeways that connected the city to the mainland were among the most impressive engineering works of pre-Columbian America. The Mexica diet was based on maize, beans, and squash, supplemented by chocolate, chili peppers, tomatoes, turkey, fish, and a remarkable variety of insects. Their clothing was simple but distinct, and their education system, divided between the calmecac for priests and nobles and the telpochcalli for commoners, was rigorous and demanding. They held the highest offices of state, including the Cihuacoatl and the heads of the major temple priesthoods, and they were granted large estates in the form of tribute from the subject provinces. They wore distinctive clothing, lived in stone houses in the wealthier neighborhoods of Tenochtitlan, and ate from decorated pottery rather than from the gourds used by commoners.
The macehualtin were the common people who made up the great majority of the Mexica population. They lived in reed-and-thatch houses, worked the chinampas or worked as artisans and laborers, and paid tribute to the state in the form of goods and labor service. Despite their formal subordination, the macehualtin had important rights and privileges. They could own land, they could hold public office in the local community, and they could rise to the nobility through distinguished service in war. Many macehualtin were able to rise to positions of real wealth and influence through distinguished service, particularly in the military or in long-distance trade. The great merchants of the pochteca, though technically commoners, lived in considerable luxury and wielded significant political influence.
Below the macehualtin were the mayeque, who were tied to the land and worked the estates of the pipiltin, and the slaves, called tlacohtin, who occupied the bottom of the social order. Slavery in Mexica society was not the same as chattel slavery in the European and American sense. Slaves had legal rights, could own property, and could purchase their freedom. Most slaves were criminals, debtors, or war captives, and crucially, slavery was not a hereditary condition — the children of slaves were born free, and most slaves were eventually able to purchase their freedom. The condition of slavery was, in many cases, temporary, and many slaves were incorporated into the households of their owners, where they performed a wide range of domestic and agricultural tasks.
Family Life and the Household
The basic unit of Mexica society was the calpulli, a kin-based social group that combined elements of the family, the clan, and the neighborhood. The calpulli was led by a chief, who was chosen from among the senior men of the group, and it was responsible for the distribution of land, the organization of labor, the maintenance of the local temple, and the administration of justice. Each calpulli had its own lands, its own temple, and its own patron deity, and members of the calpulli were expected to marry within the group, although exceptions were common.
Within the calpulli, the basic unit was the extended family, which typically included a husband and wife, their unmarried children, and their married sons and their families. The Mexica practiced a form of marriage that was monogamous in principle, although polygamy was permitted for nobles and for those who could afford it. Marriage was arranged by the families, and the bride and groom were expected to enter into the union with the consent of their parents. The Mexica also had a clear distinction between legitimate marriage and informal unions, and the children of informal unions were considered to be of lower social status.
The birth of a child was a major event, marked by a series of rituals that began before birth and continued through early childhood. The Mexica believed that the day of birth determined much of a person’s destiny, and the Tonalpohualli was consulted to determine the child’s name and the rituals required to protect it. The midwife shaped the birth, and she was responsible for the prayers, the rituals, and the practical care of the mother and the newborn. Childhood was divided into several stages, each with its own rituals and obligations, and the education of the young was a major preoccupation of Mexica society.
Food, Drink, and Cuisine
The Mexica diet was based on maize, which was prepared in a wide variety of forms, including tortillas, tamales, atole, and pozol. Maize was supplemented by beans, squash, chili peppers, tomatoes, amaranth, and chayote, and by a remarkable variety of other foods, including turkey, dog, fish, frogs, snakes, and insects such as grasshoppers, ant larvae, and water bugs. The Mexica were skilled farmers, and they developed agricultural techniques that allowed them to feed a large urban population on relatively limited land. The chinampas, in particular, were extraordinarily productive, and they remain a notably successful examples of intensive agriculture in world history.
The Mexica drank a wide variety of beverages, including water, pulque (the fermented juice of the maguey plant), and chocolate, which was prepared from cacao beans, water, chili, and various spices. Chocolate was a prestige drink, reserved for the elites and for religious occasions, and cacao beans were used as a form of currency. The Mexica also consumed tamales, often with honey, on religious occasions, and a wide range of ritual foods were prepared for the great festivals of the religious year.
The preparation of food was a daily task, and the Mexica kitchen was a center of household life. The preparation of maize, in particular, was a complex process that involved soaking the kernels in an alkaline solution, called nixtamal, before grinding them on a stone metate. The grinding was usually done by the women of the household, and it was a daily task that occupied several hours. The Mexica also used a wide range of cooking techniques, including boiling, roasting, steaming, and frying, and they produced a remarkable variety of foods, many of which have survived in Mexican cuisine to the present day.
Clothing, Dress, and Adornment
The Mexica dressed simply but distinctively. Men typically wore a loincloth, called a maxtlatl, and a cloak, called a tilmatli, which was tied over one shoulder. Women wore a long skirt, called a cueitl, and a blouse, called a huipil. The clothing of the nobility was more elaborate than that of the commoners, and the elite wore cotton clothing decorated with feathers and embroidery. The clothing of the Mexica was regulated by sumptuary laws, and commoners were forbidden from wearing the clothing of the nobles.
The Mexica were famous for their adornments, which included ear spools, lip plugs, nose ornaments, necklaces, bracelets, and ankle bands. These ornaments were made from a wide range of materials, including gold, silver, copper, jade, obsidian, bone, shell, and feathers. The most prestigious feathers were the long green feathers of the quetzal bird, which were reserved for the elite and used in the great headdresses of the Tlatoani and in the religious regalia of the high priests. The Mexica also used a wide range of cosmetics, including a red dye made from the cochineal insect and a black dye made from lead ore.
Education and the Training of the Young
The Mexica had a formal system of education that was both rigorous and demanding. All Mexica children, male and female, were expected to receive some form of formal training, and the state took a direct interest in the education of the young. There were two main types of school, the calmecac for the children of the nobles and the priesthood, and the telpochcalli for the children of the commoners. The calmecac provided advanced training in religion, writing, mathematics, and astronomy, and it prepared its students for careers in the priesthood, the bureaucracy, and the higher ranks of the military. The telpochcalli prepared young Mexica men for lives as warriors and as citizens, with instruction in the martial arts, in civic duties, and in the everyday skills of Mexica life.
The curriculum of the Mexica schools was demanding, and it included both intellectual and physical training. Students were expected to memorize large bodies of material, including prayers, songs, and historical traditions, and they were subjected to harsh physical discipline. The Mexica also placed great emphasis on the development of public speaking, and the training of orators was a major part of the curriculum. The Mexica believed that public speaking was a key to social and political success, and the greatest orators were among the most respected figures in Mexica society.
Daily Rhythms and the Religious Year
The daily life of the Mexica was organized around the rhythm of the religious calendar, and the great festivals of the religious year structured the agricultural and economic life of the population. The typical day began before dawn, with prayers and offerings to the household gods. The women of the household would prepare the morning meal, which was usually a simple porridge of maize, while the men would set out for the fields or for their work. The midday meal was the main meal of the day, and it was followed by a period of rest during the heat of the afternoon. The evening meal was lighter, and the evening was often devoted to family activities, religious devotions, and the preparation of materials for the next day.
The great festivals of the religious year provided the rhythm of the agricultural and ritual year. Each month of the solar calendar had its own festival, with its own rituals, sacrifices, and foods. The most important festivals were the monthly celebrations of the eighteen veintenas, the great New Fire ceremony that occurred every fifty-two years, and the long calendar round ceremonies that marked the major transitions of life and the cosmos. These festivals involved the entire community, and they were the occasion for public ritual, theatrical performance, feasting, and the reaffirmation of the social and religious order.
The Persistence of Mexica Culture
The Spanish conquest of 1521 was followed by three centuries of colonial rule, in which Mexica society was gradually transformed. The formal social order of Mexica civilization was dismantled, and the surviving indigenous population was incorporated into the Spanish colonial system as a labor force and as a religious minority. Yet many elements of Mexica daily life survived, often in disguised form, in the customs and practices of the modern Mexican population. The Mexican cuisine of the present day is a direct descendant of Mexica cooking, and the basic ingredients of maize, beans, squash, and chili remain central to the Mexican diet. The traditional Mexican family structure, with its emphasis on extended family, on the authority of the parents, and on the importance of religious observance, is in many respects a continuation of Mexica patterns. The modern Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, the annual festival that honors the deceased, has clear pre-conquest antecedents, and the rural Nahua communities of central Mexico still speak a language and observe customs that derive from the Mexica past.
The articles linked throughout this overview, and gathered in this section of the encyclopedia, offer more detailed treatments of every aspect of Mexica social and daily life, from the social classes to the clothing, from the cuisine to the education.
Related Articles
See also:
- Social Classes and Structure in Aztec Society — the hierarchy of pipiltin and macehualtin
- Family Life and Childhood in the Aztec World — birth, marriage, and the household
- Aztec Cuisine, Food, and Drink — the foods and beverages of Mexica life
- Clothing, Dress, and Adornment — the textiles and ornaments of the Mexica
- Education in Aztec Civilization — the calmecac and telpochcalli
- History of the Aztec Civilization — the historical context of Mexica life
- Aztec Economy, Agriculture, and Trade — the economic basis of daily life