Human Sacrifice: Interesting Parallels

Both the Aztecs and Calusa used human sacrifice, so how do I cover it?

I started my Research on Calusa Gold with a general idea of portraying the Calusas as the good guys, and the Aztecs and Spanish as the bad guys. To certain amount, I am still going this way, but when I started looking at human sacrifice, I ran into an interesting problem.

I was always aware that the Aztecs sacrificed people on a broad scale. There are many accounts and drawings of scenes of Aztec priests cutting the hearts out of their victims and throwing the corpses down the steep stairs of the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan (Mexico City).

However, when I planned to have my Calusa prince be shocked when he visits Montezuma and watches the sacrifices, I found that the Calusas also killed people in this way, and even children at times.

According to Lopez de Velasco, as quoted in an Access Genealogy website article, “Every time that the son of a cacique dies, each neighbor sacrifices (or kills) his sons or daughters who have accompanied the dead body of the cacique’s son.” Access Geneology Article

I also found other mentions of Calusa sacrifices.

So where does this leave me? I planned on making this a big issue in my plot, but the more I think about it, the more interesting it becomes. Without directly planning for it to happen, my story is turning into a series of interesting parallels as I do more research.

I have found several sources that suggest the Ancient Mayans may have settled in Florida, so it is not impossible to think that Aztecs and Calusas could have been in contact.

Hey, I’m writing historical fiction here, and most of the details I am including in Calusa Gold are based on real evidence. What do you think? Please share your thoughts and ideas. Also, please consider subscribing to my newsletter here. Thanks.