Speech to Inform Outline: Temple of Blood
Specific purpose: This speech will give my audience the summation of the Aztec Indians in Mexico beliefs and practices of sacrifice.
Thesis: To explain the Aztec’s sacrificial philosophy is look into their history, religious beliefs and ceremonial rituals that are constantly misunderstood.
I. Introduction: Mahatma Gandhi quotes:
“A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.”
According to the Webster’s dictionary, Sacrifice is the act of offering something to a divine being in propitiation, especially the ritual slaughter of an animal or person. When most imagine the Aztec Empire, many will think of pyramids of gold or worse a picture of a blood thirsty murdering priest holding a heart up over a sacrificial victim. These images are ethnocentric (tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own) because the Aztec Empire was much more than gold or sacrifice. My ancestors, the Aztec Indians lived a spiritual lifestyle based on pleasing their Gods through many religious ceremonies, including frequent human sacrifices. To explain the Aztec’s sacrificial philosophy is look into their history, religious beliefs and ceremonial rituals that are constantly misunderstood.
Transition: So, let’s get started with where the Aztecs came from.
II. Body:
A. Aztec History:
1. Legends says they originated in Central Mexico; known as Mesoamerica,
a. Nomadic hunter-gatherers
b. Migrated from Northern Mexico in the 6th century and spread south.
2. Came from certain ethnic groups who spoke the “Nahuatl” language and were called the Mexica people.
a. In their language “Aztec” came from their word “Aztecatl”