The Hierarchy of Death, in and out of Human Sacrifice.

The human sacrifice that was omnipresent in Mesoamerican culture was a reflection of the creation myth that was prevalent in these cultures.  The original notion, that the world was created with the violent deaths of gods, was a perfect motivation for the development of a religion that prompted ritualistic violent with many variants and many parameters.

Essentially, to die in battle or in ritual sacrifice was the most honorable thing a person in the indigenous Mesoamerican cultures could do.  It was a person opportunity to interact with the supernatural, with the larger and more stigmatic world.  Mortals who lived and died naturally or of non-violent causes went to an underworld, a land bordered by giant trees, that existed in a perpetual state of fog and twilight, surrounded by minor deities and gods of abstraction, like the gods of direction.  Likewise, each dead soul would there meet their animal alter-egos.

However, a variety of fates awaited those that died violently.  The deaths and post-mortem destinies of the sacrificed varied depending on their social status in life and their circumstances.