In this sacred story about the Aztec solar year, the gods give sacrifices to ring in a new cosmic era. To mark this moment of transition, Teotihuacanos conducted a New Fire Ceremony at the base of the sun pyramid. In the course of this ceremony, the gods put out all existing fires across the land, and the Fire Priest built a new fire. Runners carried this fire to all the temples and houses, meaning all fires in the land were lit from the same original fire at the sun pyramid. This ceremony reset the calendar cycle, renewing the world. The Aztec detail this story in one of their few surviving texts.

The New Fire Ceremony was a ritual held every 52 years in November upon the completion of a full cycle of the Aztec solar year (xiuhmopilli). The ceremony’s purpose was to renew the sun and bring another cycle. This was the single most important event on the Aztec religious calendar because if the ceremony was not successful, Aztec civilization would end.