Page:Pedagogía Tolteca.djvu/40

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special for those young women who wished to become priestesses, midwives or matchmakers.

So the following Anahuac institution, was reserved for an elite of girls and boys, who were willing to work and discipline, beyond the ordinary. For these young people there was the calmecac, which literally means "house of measure". As it has been said, for the toltecáyotl or toltec wisdom, the equilibrium concept was the base and sustainment, the root of their philosophical thought. As a result, "equilibrium" is achieved through "the measure".

The Calmécac was a higher level educational institution, which formed the leadership of the society. Remember that we are referring to the Classical period (200 BCE to 850 CE), in which there were no "Lordships", nor wars and human sacrifices. In the Postclassical period (850 to 1521 CE), in particular, the imperialist aztecs warrior society, made war and human sacrifice gained momentum from 1440 CE with the Moctezuma Ilhuicamina coming to power. During that period the ancient toltec education institutions became military schools in the aztec society; the telpochcalli formed troops and the calmecac, to train officers. But this "degradation" was at the end and for a very short time.

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