[marktwain]

Cannibalism was part of the religious rituals. It also happened during time of war (in a ritual context).

---

That has become the standard anthropological excuse for cannibalism. It is clear from Diaz’ account that cannibalism was widespread. Sure, the victims were sacrificed to the gods first, but the ritual eating included a lot of people, apparently. The Conquistadors released numerous slaves from cages where they were being fattened prior to being eaten.

That is from the first person account.

All the excuse that were created afterward were made by people far removed from the events, often decades or centuries after the Spanish outlawed the human sacrifice and cannibalism.

[x]

Clearly some anthropologists and historians just dismissed the stories of cannibalism, but it's also true that the Spaniards exaggerated the numbers, as did some more recent scholars (Marvin Harris, for example).

Aside from wanting to counter exaggerations, or just wanting to make the Aztecs look better than they were, I think scholars stress the "ritual" nature of cannibalism to indicate the the average downtrodden Mesoamerican Joe or Jane wasn't feasting on human flesh every night.