The Birth
These mesoamerican cultures used to burrow the belly (umbilical cord)
of their children in two different parts depending of their sex. If the
child was a male, then it was burrowed in the battlefield; but if it was
a girl it was burrowed inside the home, for her not to get used to be far
from home. Also depending on sex they where granted: Bow and Arrows- if
it was a boy to learn to become a warrior. Little Pots made out from clay-
if it was a girl for her to begin learning the home chores (today there
still little pots are made for little girls)
Education
For These cultures the education was taught in the first years by the
parents. The girls were taught how to accomplish the usual home chores,
while the boys where taught to be warriors or to do labors like harvesting,
building, and that kind of abilities.
From the years 6 to 9, the children were raised in schools were they
learned the town rules, the traditions, the society and there they selected
their vocation.
Death
These prehispanic cultures saw death not as the end of life, but as
the beginning of a new one, or as the beginning of a long journey to their
final destiny. To the death they were placed in fetal position, symbolizing
the returning to the maternal womb. With the warriors and the high governors
the cremation method to get rid of the body, while the rest of the population
was buried. In some figures and pictures, a dog appears as men's best friend,
and also the one who help him cross the infraworld river. For them there
where three destinies:
Medicine and Botanic:
In different civilizations of Mesoamerica, there were special medics
that passed their knowledge from father to son. They knew how to recognize
the illness that affected the person and also the medical plants or herbs
and rites to invoke the gods that were appropriate.
Technological Art
The mesoamerican cultures had a textile production that consisted of
cotton, wild silk, rabbit hair, pita, ixtle, henequén, and different
bird's feathers and animal skins. To decorate their art creations, they
used colors that came from different sources like the white out of clay,
red from the "cochinilla de grana", a kind of worm hat grows in the cactus,
purple from a tree called "del brazil"(which means "from brazil"), orange
from the seed of the "achiote" plant and black from the smoke of the wood
of the pine tree. These cultures also produced paper to write books (used
by priests and governors) made out of maguey tissue and the amate plant
skin.
Agricultural Technology:
Of the different agricultural systems utilized by the mesoamerican
cultures, the most important are the "chinampas" which are harvests in
the middle of the lake, the protective "terrazas", their creation of canals
for water distribution, the "barbecho", and the destructive rose. These
cultures had two types of harvests: The temporal and the humidity one.
Their main harvest was made out of: corn, beans, chía, pumpkin,
cacao, tomato, chili, camote, jícamas and amaranto.
Urban Technology:
In most of the cities of mesoamerica an urban planning is appreciated,
separating buildings from the administrative ones from the religion ones,
and also from the ones used for habitation. They used for their constructions
materials such as: palm, "adobe", clay pressings, concrete, that was made
out of lime stones and mixed with cactus drool or egg skin. They made all
their buildings on military or religious themes.