Binding of the Years (new fire ceremony) : Among the Mexica, this ritual ceremony took place outside of Tenochtitlán when the solar and the divinatory calendars both ended on the same day. This coincided with the rising of the Pleiades and the beginning of the dry season. It was a pre-Conquest Nahua ceremony that was performed every 52 years, and it was celebrated to give new life to the Sun so that it could travel its celestial path for yet another span of 52 years.
The fires in all of the area were extinguished, and a new fire was set in the chest of a sacrificial offering whose heart had been taken out. If there was any difficulty starting the fire, it was feared that a new Sun would not be born and everyone would be eaten alive during the night. When the fire was finally lit, a runner took it to Tenochtitlán, where a new fire was also lit, and then on to other temples, and from these individual household hearths were relit.
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SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow – Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante
New fire ceremony : An Aztec ceremony held every 52 years to ensure that the Sun would rise for another 52 years and that the world would be safe; also known as the Binding of the Years. The ceremony was held when the 260-day sacred and 365-day solar calendars ended on the same day and coincided with the beginning of the dry season and when the constellation Pleiades began to rise. In preparation, houses were cleaned, pots were smashed, and all fires were put out. Priests and other religious officials waited on a mountaintop near the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán and watched the sky.
At midnight, if the path of the Pleiades—which the Aztec called Tianquiztli (Market)—was directly overhead, a new fire was built in the chest of someone who had been sacrificed and whose heart had been removed and offered to the gods. A runner then lit a torch with the new fire and brought it to all the temples. Then each household received new fire from these temples. If the priests could not build a new fire on the mountain, the Aztec believed, the Sun would not rise, and in the darkness, the much-feared star Demons, the TziTzimimE, would come down to Earth to eat all humans.
The New Fire Ceremony included a bird dance called voladores (fliers). A high pole stood in the center of a plaza. One dancer sat on top of the pole while four others, tied to the pole with long ropes attached to their waists, “flew” around the pole with their heads down and arms out wide. The dancers dressed in costumes that represented birds of the Sun—eagles and macaws. Each of the four dancers attempted to fly around the pole 13 times to represent the 52 years.
If they were successful, the Aztec believed that the Sun would continue to shine. A version of voladores is still performed in parts of Mexico and Guatemala. Four dancers start from a platform at the top of the pole. When they launch themselves off the platform they try to circle the pole 13 times before landing on their feet on the ground.
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SOURCE:
South and Meso-American Mythology A to Z – by Ann Bingham (Author) and Jeremy Roberts (Author)