Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar

"Some of our best information about Aztec culture and society is from the Spanish friars, who wanted to convert the natives to Christianity . They thought that the more they learned about native religion and native culture, the easier conversions would be. Among these friars was Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, who wrote a 12-volume work, the Florentine Codex , that is often singled out. It’s very extensive and detailed. Diego Duran, another Spanish friar, was an ethnographer. He went around documenting what he saw of Aztec culture. He interviewed people, and he recorded information about religion and ritual. But he also went out to the markets and observed that they sold dogs. They had all these dogs in cages, and it just smelled awful. Also from him, we know about the Aztec ball game and how people gambled on it. He gives us fascinating glimpses into many aspects of Aztec life, recorded by an inquisitive Spanish friar. There was a lot of interaction. Most of the early Europeans to come over were men, and a lot of them married indigenous women. Society soon became a blend, and a process of mixing went on. Today, most scholars would say that almost everybody in Mexico is a mestizo, a blend of the indigenous and the European, with some blacks from Africa in there, too."