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Originally Posted by Manolo
About your sword obtaining a ritual significance, I have a small anecdote first recounted by a researcher oh some human psychology...when making meatloaf for the family, she had the constant practice of cutting the ends of the piece of meat when she put it in the oven; her mother had done it and so had her grandmother...why? There was no reason to do it, but the family felt that the roast was somehow better if she did cut the ends off. After some research, she uncovered that her great-great grandmother had started cutting the ends of the roast because it didn't fit in the pan! The anecdote is to illustrate that original cause or intent may be lost with each subsequent generation. The Aztec priest may have used a knife simply because it was useful, but each new generation of priest may have have had a new perception of it stemming from lack of understanding or from desire for something greater.
Regards,
Emanuel
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It is fascinating how rituals evolve and are perpetuated.
A woman I know lived in an apartment complex. One cold morning she got in her car and when she started the engine she heard a short-lived scream from under the hood ("bonnet" for you Brits).
She opened the hood and saw the remains of a cat. Apparently the animal. seeking warmth had gotten into the engine the previous night after she arrived home, fell asleep and was caught in the fan blades when she started the engine the next morning.
She was very afraid this would happen again, so every morning thereafter, before she started the engine, she would thump the hood with her hands a few times to be sure another cat had not fallen asleep on her engine.
Chlidren nearby saw this and asked her why she was doing this. Not wanting to tell them about the cat's horrible death, she told them that she was just "Waking up the car's engine."
Soon after, she noticed that children all over her apartment complex were thumping their families' car hoods to "wake up the engine" before the family left on an outing.
Thus a new ritual began.