Creative Historians
The Creative Historians segment is all about historical fiction writing and Shakespeare's famous novel, "Shakespeare's Julius Caesar." As a class, we delved into this book, and debated on whether Caesar was a tyrant or a hero. While debating about Caesar, we wrote In-Class Essay's about what our view on the matter was. The essay titled, "Was Julius Caesar a Hero or a Tyrant?" is my opinion on Julius Caesar and his reign.
After finishing Julius Caesar segment, we started to learn about Historical Fiction, but we were not only learning about it... we were creating it. Everyone in our class got into a group of four and chose a civilization to study, my group and I chose the ancient Moche Civilization. We began by writing our individual stories and then intertwined the characters in a single story.
The Sacrifice
(A Historical Fiction about the ancient Moche Civilization)
Right before blackness cloaked my vision and death helped release me from the pain, the memories came flooding in. All of the tears, the happiness, the fear; every emotion from my short life became brutally real. But, out of everything that I had experienced, the memory of
learning about what was to become of my future was the strongest.
Like every other morning, I awoke to brilliant rays of golden sun beams pouring through my window. Climbing out of bed I prayed to the goddess of rain to fix the drought that had been causing our people suffer and less and less food present itself at their tables. When I was done praying, I proceeded with my morning as usual… until I heard my mother’s beautiful voice pleading with my father. Curious, I crept through the magnificent hallways of Huaca de Sol, where we lived. When I finally reached the
grand entrance of the temple, I quietly leaned against the sandy adobe wall and eavesdropped on the words that were going to drastically change my life.
“She is only 16! Just a young girl that needs to see what else life can present!” My mother’s voice had an edge of tension that I had never heard before. Right as she was about to say another word, I stepped into the room. “Hush wife!” My father said, then, turning to me he began.
“We have been honored by the Gods. For today, they have picked you, and there is no greater honor than that! I don’t know if you have heard yet, but today, there is a sacrifice. You are no longer a little girl watching in the stands. You are a woman, and you should be a proud one at that, for you are to be sacrificed today. Your mother will help prepare you for the ritual. You will arrive at Huaca de la Luna at sunset. Then you will say goodbye.”
In shock I collapsed to the ground, numbness overtaking any feeling I had left. Before long, my mother had knelt to the ground in surrender and without words, expressed that she would rather die than sacrifice me. Disgusted with our behavior, my superior father brushed past my sullen figure being guarded by my loving mother and out the door.
I don’t know how long I laid there; it could have been an hour…it could have been five. I wouldn't know either way. The whole time that I was laying there, I was hoping that somehow, the gods would hear me through my pleading silent prayers. Begging that in someway, something in my father’s heart would fix itself and I would no longer be the victim of the god’s brutal wishes. My head kept telling me it would happen, but sadly, my heart knew that because he was the high priest, this was the proudest moment in his life, and nothing would stand in the way. Until this, I had thought of the priests and warriors in our civilization great and kind leaders, but then I realized it was just their arrogant ways. Granted, they were the best, not because of kindness, but because the gods wanted it to be that way. The gods ruled everyone’s life. Last morsels of food would be presented to the gods, as opposed to hungry bodies.The last of precious water was bathed in, so that the gods would be satisfied, mornings and nights were spent worshiping, and countless ceremonies had killed the innocent, in hopes of pleasing them. It was a vicious cycle, one that was only added to by the superiority of our leaders.
I heard my father’s deep steps coming my way, undoubtedly checking to see if my mother was helping prepare me or not. Not wanting to see his cruel features, I hurriedly got up, and ran to my room where my mother was waiting. Gently she told me to take a bath and rid myself of anything unpleasant that the gods would not be content with. Next, she led me to a chair and softly brushed out the knots in my long dark hair. Piece by piece, strand by strand, my perfectly straight hair was guided into a long and elegant braid. Finally, I was expected to wear a simple light blue gown, so that horribly enough, the blood would be apparent.
Right before the sun released its brilliant colors; my father stepped in the room, to let us know
that it was time. My mother anxiously grabbed my hand as we walked outside. As if seeing through a distorter, I watched every priest in our civilization walk me towards the temple, Huaca de la Luna. All of the masks they wore to conceal their harsh features seemed to begin to swirl around me in a confusing pattern. Dizziness began to prevent the ability to take a step further. The only things that I was able to focus on were those terrifying masks looming above me. One man adorned his face with a fierce feline face, snakes weaving themselves in and out throughout the fangs and holes in the mask; celebrating the god of combat. The next mask to enter my line of vision was the god of the mountains. A beautiful sun headdress had a jaguar carving mounted on the front, symbolizing the beauty yet fierceness of the huge rock beasts that had been there thousands of ears before us. Many more masks zoomed in and out of my observant eyes rolling back and forth with every image flashed before them.
Becoming impatient with my pause in the progression, the adults dragged me along to the temple. What was one a ten minute walk had turned into a day’s worth. Everything was moving in slow motion, the steps of people were turned to a sloths pace, birds looked like they were suspended in the air. Sandy and barren lands were completely still. After what seemed like eternity, we reached Huaca de la Luna. The brilliant temple stood dauntingly above everyone surrounding it. It seems as if everyone in our village had showed up to cheer my death. I could see the blood lust in their eyes, and though they would not be allowed to watch the ceremony, to them, it was still a glorious event that had to be celebrated.
After making our way through the throngs of people, we finally shoved our way to the doors of the temple. The only people that were allowed in were my mother and father, a guard, the priestess who was to collect my blood, and all of the priests. By this time my mother was to the point of hysteria, so my father ordered her to leave the room and leave us at peace. Slowly, she made her way to me. I could tell she was getting a final image of me. When she finally did reach me, she rushed into my arms saying, “I love you so much, you will never be forgotten. I love you.” She was still saying I love you when my horrible father ordered a guard to take her away.
Trying to block out her bloody screams of the pain of leaving her child, I allowed my father to lead me to a raised platform and force me to kneel before a wood block. He was handed a spear,which he then started to bang on the ground, slowly gaining pace. He and the other priests started to dance in a circle around me, singing a haunting song.When they stopped, it was as if time stood still. Except for the wails of my mother, the only sounds in the room were the heavy breaths emitted from theise and falls of the priests’ chests. Before I knew it, my father had onceagain come up to me and sprinkled herbs on my body. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a guard hand him a heavy wood mace. His heavy steps echoed through my mind as he got closer and closer. The last thing I heard was his whispers of a good bye, and then a heavy wood mace landed on my head. Though only a few short seconds, the pain was unbearable, it was as if a roaring fire had been lit in my head. Every second that passed brought a new element of torture, but fortunately, I did not have to suffer for long. A final burst of flames was all it took to darken my world in an instant and release my soul from its lifeless human binds.
After finishing Julius Caesar segment, we started to learn about Historical Fiction, but we were not only learning about it... we were creating it. Everyone in our class got into a group of four and chose a civilization to study, my group and I chose the ancient Moche Civilization. We began by writing our individual stories and then intertwined the characters in a single story.
The Sacrifice
(A Historical Fiction about the ancient Moche Civilization)
Right before blackness cloaked my vision and death helped release me from the pain, the memories came flooding in. All of the tears, the happiness, the fear; every emotion from my short life became brutally real. But, out of everything that I had experienced, the memory of
learning about what was to become of my future was the strongest.
Like every other morning, I awoke to brilliant rays of golden sun beams pouring through my window. Climbing out of bed I prayed to the goddess of rain to fix the drought that had been causing our people suffer and less and less food present itself at their tables. When I was done praying, I proceeded with my morning as usual… until I heard my mother’s beautiful voice pleading with my father. Curious, I crept through the magnificent hallways of Huaca de Sol, where we lived. When I finally reached the
grand entrance of the temple, I quietly leaned against the sandy adobe wall and eavesdropped on the words that were going to drastically change my life.
“She is only 16! Just a young girl that needs to see what else life can present!” My mother’s voice had an edge of tension that I had never heard before. Right as she was about to say another word, I stepped into the room. “Hush wife!” My father said, then, turning to me he began.
“We have been honored by the Gods. For today, they have picked you, and there is no greater honor than that! I don’t know if you have heard yet, but today, there is a sacrifice. You are no longer a little girl watching in the stands. You are a woman, and you should be a proud one at that, for you are to be sacrificed today. Your mother will help prepare you for the ritual. You will arrive at Huaca de la Luna at sunset. Then you will say goodbye.”
In shock I collapsed to the ground, numbness overtaking any feeling I had left. Before long, my mother had knelt to the ground in surrender and without words, expressed that she would rather die than sacrifice me. Disgusted with our behavior, my superior father brushed past my sullen figure being guarded by my loving mother and out the door.
I don’t know how long I laid there; it could have been an hour…it could have been five. I wouldn't know either way. The whole time that I was laying there, I was hoping that somehow, the gods would hear me through my pleading silent prayers. Begging that in someway, something in my father’s heart would fix itself and I would no longer be the victim of the god’s brutal wishes. My head kept telling me it would happen, but sadly, my heart knew that because he was the high priest, this was the proudest moment in his life, and nothing would stand in the way. Until this, I had thought of the priests and warriors in our civilization great and kind leaders, but then I realized it was just their arrogant ways. Granted, they were the best, not because of kindness, but because the gods wanted it to be that way. The gods ruled everyone’s life. Last morsels of food would be presented to the gods, as opposed to hungry bodies.The last of precious water was bathed in, so that the gods would be satisfied, mornings and nights were spent worshiping, and countless ceremonies had killed the innocent, in hopes of pleasing them. It was a vicious cycle, one that was only added to by the superiority of our leaders.
I heard my father’s deep steps coming my way, undoubtedly checking to see if my mother was helping prepare me or not. Not wanting to see his cruel features, I hurriedly got up, and ran to my room where my mother was waiting. Gently she told me to take a bath and rid myself of anything unpleasant that the gods would not be content with. Next, she led me to a chair and softly brushed out the knots in my long dark hair. Piece by piece, strand by strand, my perfectly straight hair was guided into a long and elegant braid. Finally, I was expected to wear a simple light blue gown, so that horribly enough, the blood would be apparent.
Right before the sun released its brilliant colors; my father stepped in the room, to let us know
that it was time. My mother anxiously grabbed my hand as we walked outside. As if seeing through a distorter, I watched every priest in our civilization walk me towards the temple, Huaca de la Luna. All of the masks they wore to conceal their harsh features seemed to begin to swirl around me in a confusing pattern. Dizziness began to prevent the ability to take a step further. The only things that I was able to focus on were those terrifying masks looming above me. One man adorned his face with a fierce feline face, snakes weaving themselves in and out throughout the fangs and holes in the mask; celebrating the god of combat. The next mask to enter my line of vision was the god of the mountains. A beautiful sun headdress had a jaguar carving mounted on the front, symbolizing the beauty yet fierceness of the huge rock beasts that had been there thousands of ears before us. Many more masks zoomed in and out of my observant eyes rolling back and forth with every image flashed before them.
Becoming impatient with my pause in the progression, the adults dragged me along to the temple. What was one a ten minute walk had turned into a day’s worth. Everything was moving in slow motion, the steps of people were turned to a sloths pace, birds looked like they were suspended in the air. Sandy and barren lands were completely still. After what seemed like eternity, we reached Huaca de la Luna. The brilliant temple stood dauntingly above everyone surrounding it. It seems as if everyone in our village had showed up to cheer my death. I could see the blood lust in their eyes, and though they would not be allowed to watch the ceremony, to them, it was still a glorious event that had to be celebrated.
After making our way through the throngs of people, we finally shoved our way to the doors of the temple. The only people that were allowed in were my mother and father, a guard, the priestess who was to collect my blood, and all of the priests. By this time my mother was to the point of hysteria, so my father ordered her to leave the room and leave us at peace. Slowly, she made her way to me. I could tell she was getting a final image of me. When she finally did reach me, she rushed into my arms saying, “I love you so much, you will never be forgotten. I love you.” She was still saying I love you when my horrible father ordered a guard to take her away.
Trying to block out her bloody screams of the pain of leaving her child, I allowed my father to lead me to a raised platform and force me to kneel before a wood block. He was handed a spear,which he then started to bang on the ground, slowly gaining pace. He and the other priests started to dance in a circle around me, singing a haunting song.When they stopped, it was as if time stood still. Except for the wails of my mother, the only sounds in the room were the heavy breaths emitted from theise and falls of the priests’ chests. Before I knew it, my father had onceagain come up to me and sprinkled herbs on my body. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a guard hand him a heavy wood mace. His heavy steps echoed through my mind as he got closer and closer. The last thing I heard was his whispers of a good bye, and then a heavy wood mace landed on my head. Though only a few short seconds, the pain was unbearable, it was as if a roaring fire had been lit in my head. Every second that passed brought a new element of torture, but fortunately, I did not have to suffer for long. A final burst of flames was all it took to darken my world in an instant and release my soul from its lifeless human binds.