CIRCUMCISION
Not
particularly associated with Christianity but certainly bearing association
with the Old Testament and with the Jewish religious practices is circumcision.
(Leviticus 12:2, 3)
Among
the Indians was found an interesting practice. “The priests also performed another
rite connected with new-born babes, whose ears and genital organs were slashed,
in the manner of circumcision. Above all, [this was dune] to the sons of the lords
and rulers.” (Duran, Book of the Gods, p. 124)
The
practice of circumcision is given in more details:
In
the fourth month of the year “was the feast of the purification of women who
had given birth to children and an act similar to the circumcision of little
boys. I shall explain why. On reaching the Great Temple of Huitzilopochtli, the
women took the child, no matter how small, and delivered it to the priest, who
took the child and with a stone blade brought by the mother made an incision in
his ear and the bud of his virile member. Thus on the ear and on the other
place a slight cut was made, so delicate that blood barely came to the surface.
The little girls were incised only on the eat. Once the priest had finished
cutting with the blade, he cast it down at the feet of the idol, and the mother
requested a name for her offering.” (Durah, The Ancient Calendar, pp. 422, 423,
424)
Juan
Diaz, Chaplain with Grijalva, in writing of the Island of Ulua said, “And it is
noteworthy that all the Indians of this island are circumcised.” (The Conquistadors,
p. 16)
From
a letter written in 1820: “The following is the copy of a letter written by a
servant to his mater from the new found land called Yucatan. . . . The writer
of this letter traveled in the company of a knight named Fernando Cortes. . . ‘New
tidings from the land named Yucatan which we have discovered, E. G. Should know
that it is the richest land in the world where were found the following things.’”
Then follows descriptions of the gold, silver and precious stones, buildings,
houses, cities, larger than Seville. . . . From the descriptions of things the
writer turns to a description of the people: “the natives are of fairly good
conservation and beautiful of body and face; very wealthy; they are
circumcised; they worship idols and eat only [certain] bread. . . It is
believed that these natives have peopled the land originally when Rome was destroyed.
It is a very friendly people, and they have (manifested) great joy that they
have seen Christians, and they themselves have brought the Christians among
their people, and shown them the land.” (Indian Notes and Monographs, Vol. IX,
p. 30)
Bancroft
commented: “Whether the custom of circumcision, which has been the great prop
or argument in favor of the Jewish origin of the Aztecs, really obtained among
these people, has been doubted by numerous authors. Although circumcision was
certainly not by any means general, yet sufficient proof exists to show that it
was in use in some form among certain tribes. Las Casas and Mendieta state that
the Aztecs and Totonacs practiced it, and Brasseur de Bourbourg has discovered
traces of it among the Mijes, Las Casas affirms that the child was carried to
the temple on the twenty-eight or twenty-ninth day after birth; there the
high-priest and his assistant placed it upon a stone, and cut off the prepuce
at the root; the part amputated they afterwards burned to ashes. . . Zuazo adds
that these rites were only performed upon the children of great men, and that
there was no compulsion in the matter, the parents having the option of having
their children defloured or circumcised at any time within five years.”
(Bancroft, Vol. 2, p. 278, 279)
Landra
raised a question concerning the practice when performed as part of a sacrifice:
“At times they sacrificed their own blood, cutting all around the ears in
strips which they let remain as a sign. At other times they perforated their
cheeks or the lower lip; again they made cuts in part of the body, or pierced
the tongue crossways and passed stalks through, causing extreme pain; again
they cut away the superfluous part of the member, leaving the flesh in the form
of eats. It was this custom which led the historian of the Indies to say that
they practiced circumcision.” (Landa, Gates, p. 47, For examples see Kingsborough,
Mexican Antiquities, Vol. II, Mexican paintings at the Imperial Library of
Vienna, Plate 37, and Vol. III, Collection at the Royal library at Dresden,
page 3) (Donald W. Hemingway, Christianity In America Before Columbus? [Salt
Lake City: Hawkes Publishing, Inc., 1988], 129-32)
