Letting go of the old to enter the new year is a metaphorical custom that is quite rooted in some corners of Italy, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. In the transalpine country, and more specifically in places like Naples, Calabria, or Sicily, objects of all kinds (even furniture, for which there are specific hours ad hoc) are thrown out of windows, while in certain regions of the mentioned Latin American countries, a stuffed rag doll filled with firecrackers is usually burned. The Mexican case is particularly interesting because it recalls an ancient Aztec tradition: the New Fire Ceremony.

In reality, this ritual was not performed every year but every 52, which was when a cycle in the calendar ended. In the pre-Hispanic Nahua world, the counting of time was carried out through a dual system. On one hand, there was the Xiuhpohualli, a solar calendar that counted 360 days divided into 18 metztli or months of 20 days each (that’s why the Spaniards called them twenties), to which were added the nemontemi, five extra days considered ominous. The Maya used something similar that they called Haab.

On the other hand, there was the Tonalpohualli, divided into 20 trecenas or weeks of 13 days each, totaling 260 days. If the former was a chronological calendar, this one had a religious character, not based on astronomy, which is why each day symbolized an existential concept: Beginning, Consistency, Decision, Concreteness, Realization, Introspection, Restlessness, Development, Search, Balance, Rest, Clarity, and Knowledge. In turn, each trecena was associated with a deity and a cardinal point. As in the previous case, the Maya had their version, the Tzolkin.

New Fire Ceremony
The Xiuhmolpilli or Aztec Calendar Wheel in an eighteenth-century book. Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

What is interesting, aside from the fact that the Xiuhpohualli was a few hours more accurate than the European Gregorian calendar, is that both interacted like a gear, forming what is known in Nahuatl as Xiuhmolpilli or Calendar Wheel (the Maya name is unknown). This wheel completed its turn every 52 solar years and 73 rituals, forming a cycle. At the end of this cycle, and to avoid confusion, during the Classic Period (between our 4th and 10th centuries), the Maya added a broader periodization in which the Calendar Wheel was framed: the Baktún or Long Count, which equaled 394 years and started counting from August 13, 3114 BC, to end on December 20, 2012 (that was the reason for the millenarian frenzy that year).

However, the Mexica did not adopt the Long Count and, consequently, instead of fearing the end of the world in 2012, they expected it every time a cycle of 52 years ended. Coincidentally, the Spaniards arrived precisely in one of those cycles, but that is another story. What interests us today is to know how they faced the terrible prospect of witnessing the end of existence every so often and what they did to prevent it. And the answer is the New Fire Ceremony, with which they sought to restore balance in the universe.

The Mexica cosmogony consisted of a complex framework of concepts aimed at maintaining universal order through the interaction of Man with the gods and nature. Since the calendar was based on the observation of the sun, which was identified with Huitzilopóchtli during the day, it was necessary to feed it each morning; moreover, to maintain that harmony, it was necessary to return to the deities a part of what they had offered to facilitate human existence, their own blood, which is why the human sacrifices made to them had that retributive sense.

But every 52 years that order ended, and that implied acting accordingly. First, all fires were extinguished, so the cities were left in total darkness to facilitate the ceremony that would follow. The clergy, dressed in the garments of deities and walking solemnly, began at sunset a procession to a hill called Huixachtecatl, located in Iztapalapa (an ancient Culhua city on the southern part of Lake Texcoco), on whose summit was the sanctuary designated to celebrate the event; in fact, Huixachtecatl means Hill of the Star because that night attention was focused on the sky, since it was thought that if Yohualtecuhtli (Aldebaran) did not pass the zenith, the era of the Fifth Sun would end, and with it, the world.

maya calendar
The Maya calendar and the Long Count. Credit: Navelegante / Wikimedia Commons

During the journey to Iztapalapa, sporadic stops were made to light small bonfires as a test. Meanwhile, the people waited on the rooftops of their houses, expectant and practicing their own rites, such as fasting five days prior (only eating tzohuatl -amaranth with honey- and not drinking anything until noon), putting maguey masks on pregnant women to prevent them from transforming into tzitzimime (minor deities with a skeletal appearance who were cannibals and usually appeared during critical moments such as earthquakes or other disasters; the Spaniards considered them demons) or keeping children -also masked- awake so they wouldn’t turn into mice.

The procession to the top of Huixachtecatl lasted about six hours. Then, when the Tianquiztli (Pleiades) were in the right position -approximately at midnight-, a priest designated ex profeso lit a large bonfire on the terrace of the teocalli; to do this, he used the prehistoric technique of rubbing two sticks over another with a hole filled with tinder, with the particularity that he did it on the open torso of a sacrificial victim.

If the flames were maintained, as always happened, the world was assured. With the pyre being so large and the valley of Anáhuac entirely in darkness, the light was visible from a great distance, and everyone knew they were safe, knowing that the ceremony had gone well. Then fear turned into happiness. It was no small matter, for this experience only happened once in a lifetime, and that is why it is possible that the patolli, an ancient board game with roots in previous Teotihuacan, Toltec, and Maya cultures, was related to the rite and the Xiuhmolpilli, as it can be considered a kind of goose game.

The fact is that before celebrating the beginning of a new cycle, it was necessary to show penitence for the ending, and if in Huixachtecatl the mentioned victim was incinerated, the whole town did likewise by piercing their ears with cactus thorns—including children and infants—until they bled, splashing blood towards the distant fire. Then came the moment to part with material goods to renew completely: clothes, household items, tools…

Everything was destroyed, even the figurines of gods, as the priests did in the temples with the large ones, replacing them with new ones. And what could not be burned, which was the ideal way to dispose of things, was thrown into ditches or to the bottoms of lakes, around which most towns and cities were located.

The priests lit torches with the New Fire and gave them to heralds, whose mission was to take them to the temples of Huitzilopochtli in each locality, where firewood was already prepared to make more so that all the neighbors could take lit torches to illuminate their homes. Thus, successively, light was recovered in a chain everywhere. Sadness and fear gave way to joy, dance, and music. The critical moment had been overcome, and another 52 years lay ahead.

New Fire Ceremony
Outline of the seven overlapping constructive stages of the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlán. Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

At least in theory, as this was repeated in a reduced and less dramatic version each year-end to overcome the nemontemi or ill-fated days that closed it. By the way, the exact date and time are also unclear. The latter is usually assumed to be midnight due to the testimony left by Bernardino de Sahagún, although the truth is that today we do not know if the Aztecs had any way to keep track of hours.

Furthermore, the day changes according to versions; first, because a star can be seen at its zenith several nights in a row; second, because apparently, the New Fire was assimilated with Panquetzaliztli, a festival in honor of Huitzilopochtli that took place a few days later but also every 52 years. It lasted twenty days, from November 30 to December 18, and on this occasion, the Templo Mayor was rebuilt by adding a new structure that expanded its size. It was also the time to perform a series of large-scale sacrifices, although since that only occurred after the Aztecs became independent from the Tepanecs in 1428, there probably was only one great holocaust (the famous one with the long lines of victims that became lost from view) at the inauguration in 1487.

It does seem that the ceremony fell in what is our autumn, between November and December. Nowadays, for example, some groups that want to recover old traditions have chosen November 19; it should be noted that, from the 16th century until now, the zenith of the Pleiades has changed, being delayed by thirteen days. This is a good indication of the difficulty in establishing the rite with precision, not only in that but also the very cyclical frequency of the ceremony. The reason lies in the scarcity of sources, as the huey tlatoani Itzcóatl ordered the destruction of all books and documents regarding the Mexica past to favor a new foundational mythology, in accordance with the new character of dominant power that his people had achieved.

The chronicler Domingo Francisco Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, a noble Chalca who wrote in Nahuatl a work titled Relaciones, of a historical nature, states that the first New Fire Ceremony of which there is record took place in the year 1091. However, the codices give other dates. That is why only the last four are accepted with certainty, celebrated in 1351, 1403, 1455, and 1507. Some even reduce the count to those of 1455 and 1507: the next would have been in 1559, but by then Mexico was already Spanish territory and therefore Christian.

This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on October 24, 2018: La Ceremonia del Fuego Nuevo que practicaban los mexicas para impedir el fin del mundo

SOURCES

Carleton Beals, Stories Told by the Aztecs

Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España

Danièle Dehouve, El Fuego Nuevo: interpretación de una «ofrenda contada» tlapaneca (Guerrero, México)

Christina M. Elson, Michael E. Smith, Archaeological Deposits from the Aztec New Fire Ceremony

Xavier Noguez, Alfredo López Austin, De hombres y dioses

Linda Manzanilla, Leonardo López Luján, Historia antigua de México

Wikipedia, Ceremonia del Fuego Nuevo

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