Why It's NOT "Ingenious People's Day"

October 8, 2018

Like it or not, it's Columbus Day. In honesty, I think we should celebrate those who came to the US, itself, and not the West Indies, but liva la vi la loco.

Many of the ignorant seem to forget many of the horrors that existed in the "new world," before Europeans came. Not one group of people, on a whole, is guilt-free, and most, if not all, have committed atrocities on others, considering them less than human, or otherwise justifying them as being expendable.

Perhaps the most infamous would be the Aztecs, who would sacrifice (murder) thousands of men, women, and children, annually, to their "gods." Somehow, appeasing gods was justification for the murder of fellow humans, who in and of themselves, being made in His image, should be holy and free from such actions.

This article on Wikipedia shows some drawings of this, with one (scrolling down) showing the eating of parts of the victims:

"They strike open the wretched Indian's chest with flint knives and hastily tear out the palpitating heart which, with the blood, they present to the idols ... They cut off the arms, thighs and head, eating the arms and thighs at ceremonial banquets. The head they hang up on a beam, and the body is ... given to the beasts of prey." I will also add a small follow up: "According to Bernal Díaz, the chiefs of the surrounding towns, for example Cempoala, would complain on numerous occasions to Cortés about the perennial need to supply the Aztecs with victims for human sacrifice. It is clear from his description of their fear and resentment toward the Mexicas that, in their opinion, it was no honor to surrender their kinsmen to be sacrificed by them."

There were also, at least by my understanding, strange reasons to go to war.

Among the more densely populated Eastern Woodland cultures, warfare often served as a means of coping with grief and depopulation...usually began at the behest of women who had lost a son or husband and desired the group's male warriors to capture individuals from other groups who could replace those they had lost...if the women of the tribe so demanded, captives would be ritually tortured, sometimes to death if the captive was deemed unfit for adoption into the tribe...Trade contacts with Europeans changed this situation by creating economic motives to fight, as Indians sought European goods...In the seventeenth century, Algonquian and Iroquoian groups fought a series of “beaver wars” to control access to pelts, which could be traded for iron tools and firearms from Europe.

So much for it being all because of "evil Europeans." The daily sacrifices, made infamous by Aztecs, were happening even before they came onto the scene, and the oppressed in the region resented being forced to give up members of the community as sacrifices to the tyrannical powers. In some cases, raids were happen, in what amounts to women being depressed. Worse, if those poor victims didn't meet these depressed women's approval, they would be ritually tortured, and sometimes to death! And for what? To appease PMS, or postpartum depression?!?

Let me clarify that this is to bring attention to what has been. For those who can't face facts and truths, this is not for you. No one people are worse, or better, than another. To dump all crimes on one people is ignorant and irresponsible. We must all recognize the wrongs we have done, not hold the wrongs that others did to others against them, and repent, and ask forgiveness to become better in His eyes.