Aztec Women

Aztec Women History

All the books written by Aztec and Spanish writers in the 16th century show us that men were the fighters in battle and there are the famous groups of warriors such as the Eagle and Jaguar Knights, all shown as men. But there is at least one bit of information that suggests that women did fight when times were desperate. In this story the authors wrote, 'the women of Tlatelolco joined in the fighting. They struck at the enemy and shot arrows at them; they tucked up their skirts and dressed in the regalia of war'. This described a time during the final attack of the Spanish. The Tlatelolcan people must have been in a terrible state with many people already dead including many warriors. The story shows just how desperate they were by saying even the women had to fight. That would make sense in such a grim situation

Where Aztec Women Ever Warriors?

It seems that they were. This was when women were giving birth. Writers in the 16th century tell us that the Aztecs thought the act of birth was like a battle. The new born child was described as a 'captive' and the mother as a warrior. This stresses how important fighting and capturing enemies were in Aztec society. In the Aztec empire as in the rest of world at the time, giving birth was dangerous to both the mother and newborn child. All too often, one, the other or both did not live. There was great joy and celebrations when there was a healthy newborn baby and well mother. When a mother died giving birth, she was said to be a warrior who died in battle...

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