_= (Manual, p. 490.)
From "Mexico, Aztec," &c.
=_136._= REKINDLING THE SACRED FIRE.
At the end of the Aztec or Toltec cycle of fifty-two years,--for it
is not accurately ascertained to which of the tribes the astronomical
science of Tenochtitlan is to be attributed,--these primitive children
of the New World believed that the world was in danger of instant
destruction. Accordingly, its termination became one of their most
serious and awful epochs, and they anxiously awaited the moment when the
sun would be blotted out from the heavens, and the globe itself resolved
once more into chaos. As the cycle ended in the winter, the season of
the year, with its drearier sky and colder air, in the lofty regions of
the valley, added to the gloom that fell upon the hearts of the people.
On the last day of the fifty-two years, all the fires in temples and
dwellings were extinguished, and the natives devoted themselves to
fasting and prayer. They destroyed alike their valuable and worthless
wares; rent their garments, put out their lights, and hid themselves for
awhile in solitude....
At dark on the last dread evening,--as soon as the sun had set, as they
imagined, forever,--a sad and solemn procession of priests and people
marched forth from the city to a neighboring hill, to rekindle the "New
Fire.
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