A flower war or flowery war (, ) was a ritual war fought intermittently between the Aztec Triple Alliance and its enemies from the "mid-1450s to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1519." Enemies included the city-states of Tlaxcala, Huejotzingo, and Cholula in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley in central Mexico. In these wars, participants would fight according to a set of conventions.
During the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Tlaxcala allied with the Spaniards against the Aztecs, being eager to see their longtime flower war enemies overthrown.
Origins
Texcocan nobleman Ixtlilxochitl gives the "fullest early statement concerning the origin as well as the initial rationale" of the flower war. From 1450 to 1454, the Aztecs had suffered from crop failure and severe drought; this led to famine and many deaths in the central Mexican highlands. Ixtlilxochitl reports that the flower war began "as a response" to the famine: "the priests ... of Mexico [Tenochtitlan] said that the gods were angry at the empire, and that to placate them it was necessary to sacrifice many men, and that this had to be done regularly." Thus, Tenochtitlan (the Aztec capital), Texcoco, Tlaxcala, Cholula, and Huejotzingo agreed to engage in flower war for the purpose of obtaining human sacrifices for the gods. However, scholars such as Frederic Hicks disagree with using Ixlilxochitl's writings as the origin story of the flower war, due to Ixtlilxochitl not specifically mentioning "flower war" and being the only known source to record these events.
Practice
Flower wars differed from typical wars in a number of important aspects. In typical Aztec warfare, the main objectives were political, religious, and socioeconomic reasons. The flower war was a secondary type of warfare that was practiced by the Aztecs and differed from typical warfare. While engaging in a flower war, competing armies would meet on a "preset date at a preselected place". These places became sacred sites and were called cuauhtlalli or yaotlalli. Combatants signaled the start of war by burning a large "pyre of paper and incense" between the armies. Actual battle tactics also differed from typical warfare. In typical warfare, the Aztecs used atlatl darts, stones, and other ranged weapons to weaken enemy forces from afar. However, in flower wars, the Aztecs neglected to use ranged weapons and instead used weapons such as the macuahuitl that required skill and close proximity to the enemy. The use of these kinds of weapons allowed the Aztecs to display their individual combat ability, which was an important part of the flower war.
Flower wars involved fewer soldiers than typical Aztec wars did. A larger proportion of the soldiers would be drawn from nobility than during a typical war. These characteristics allowed the Aztecs to engage in flower wars during any time of the year. In contrast, the Aztecs could fight larger wars of conquest only from late autumn to early spring, because Aztec citizens were needed for farming purposes during the rest of the year. Additionally, flower wars differed from typical wars in that there were equal numbers of soldiers on each side of the battle; this was also related to the Aztecs wanting to show off their military prowess. They had the ability to participate in small warfare more frequently than others so it was used as practice to prepare their warriors for typical warfare.
Flower wars were generally less lethal than typical wars, but a long-running flower war could become increasingly deadly over time. For example, in a long-running flower war between the Aztecs and the Chalcas, there were few battle deaths at the start. After time had passed, captured commoners started to be killed, but captured nobles were frequently released; sacrifice was not always the fate of captives. However, after further time had passed, captive nobles were killed along with the commoners. This increased the cost of the flower war for both the Aztecs and the Chalcas. The Aztecs considered flower war death to be more noble than dying in a typical war; this can be seen in the word for a flower war death, xochimiquiztli, which translates to "flowery death, blissful death, fortunate death". Further, the Aztecs thought that their own warriors who died in a flower war would be transported to the heaven where Huitzilopochtli (the supreme god of sun, fire, and war) lived.