Daily Life

The Maple Ceremony

2 June 2014

Haudenosaunee People (Iroquois nations) did not spare on festivals and thanksgiving events, ready to celebrate the beginning of each season or each new agricultural undertaking, ready to thank the Great Spirits for their generosity and their good will. The winters were harsh, difficult to endure,... Read More

Lacrosse – the sacred game to please the creators

4 February 2014

Wandering around upstate New York early in the previous millennia, you might have enjoyed hospitality of many towns and settlements spread all over the land. Haudenosaunee people, whom we today know as various Iroquois nations, lived there for centuries, growing crops of maize, squash and... Read More

Dragged into a court? Bring a friend to witness for you

22 October 2013

While living in Tenochtitlan or any other important altepetl of the 15th century Mesoamerica, you should be careful to break no law. Whether selling your goods on the marketplace, pursuing your career as an engineer or an artisan, working the land or aspiring to a... Read More

Sold into slavery? Not the end of the world

21 July 2013

Living in a beautiful, rich and well regulated altepetl (city-sate) of the Mexican Valley might have been a pleasant experience unless you and your family were extremely poor. To be a pipiltin, a noble, was good. Whether residing next to the imposing cultural center, among... Read More

Take a stroll on the marketplace

4 March 2013

If you happened to miss a large scale ceremony while touring prominent cities of the 14th-15th centuries Central Mexico, don’t think your trip was ruined. Stay for some time and wait for the arrival of the market day. Such day would be well spent and,... Read More

Prepared to gamble?

2 December 2012

What wouldn’t you bet while watching a fierce ball game where the players were not afraid to hurt themselves? A kernel of maize? A good obsidian knife? A golden necklace studded with precious stones? Well, why not? Like anywhere else around the globe, people of... Read More

Whatever you do, do not drop the ball

14 August 2012

While wandering the broad, perfectly clean streets of Azcapotzalco, Tenochtitlan or Texcoco, you could be surprised to find them nearly deserted, with even the main road leading to the marketplace empty of passersby. In such large altepetls this occurrence would be highly unusual, even when large... Read More

Bathing twice a day

26 June 2012

In Mesoamerica of 16th century the dilemma was simple. Was it better to bath once a day or once a month? The state policy of reorganized by the Spanish authorities Tenochtitlan stated that once a month was more than enough. Any more frequent visits to... Read More

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