Flower war

The flower war (or flowery war) was the name given by the Aztec to a planned war, where the objective was not to kill enemies or conquer territory, but to capture as many prisoners as possible, which would then be sacrificed in religious ceremonies and maybe eaten.

This sacred wars were planned for both sides involved, not neccesary willingly. Sometimes the rulers of the cities in war were invited to the sacrifice of their own people. The victims were well treated and well feed, since they were considered messenger to the gods. There were 18 festivities a year that requiered human sacrifice, but not all requiered prisioners.

This institution was created by Tlacaelel when he reformed the Aztec religion. Tlacaelel wanted to give a sense of purpose to the Aztec people, he create a religion where the demand of sacrifices was constant and the honor of a warrior was proportional to the number of prisoners he could taken. This demanded a constant state of war, it also was a way to have demostrations of the Aztec power and in turn it became a way of political control. Tlacalelel build this institution over old mesoamerican beliefs, incorporating the elements for the cult of old nahua god Tezcatlipoca into the cult of their local god Huitzilopochtli.

In all the mesoamerican cultures, blood had a very important place, it was provided not only by human sacrifice, but also by self sacrifice. But in the new aztec religion, it became a necesity to offer blood, to keep the sun running in the sky, after his daily battle.

So, For the Aztec warriors, to provide blood was a sacred duty, So it was a precious ocupation, and for the aztecs flowers and feathers were the most precious things. So the word "flowers" was used as and adjetive to the activity of war. The blood flowing from a wound was described as a flower of war.

This is a fragment of a war poem:

Quetzalxochitl oo Tlachinol xochitli zan iyyo tonequimilol yahoxochitl Ohunteppilhuan anchuaht amocelo xi moquimilocan ixtlahuac quitequi yaoxochitl

Flowers of divine liquor flowers of fire: only they can be our garment: flowers of war O mi friends, noble friends you, eagles, tigers: get dressed he (the god) will cut them on the meadowland flowers of war.

(anonymous poem from "Romances de los señores de la Nueva España", Translated form nahuatl by Angel Ma. Garibay)