Case file · Cosmic event
The last New Fire ceremony, Huixachtlan
In 1507 the Mexica held what proved to be their last New Fire ceremony on the hill of Huixachtlan (Cerro de la Estrella), renewing the world at the end of a 52-year calendar cycle.
1507 CE · 19.34, -99.09 · status: official
The account
All fires in the Valley of Mexico were put out. Priests watched the Pleiades cross the zenith at midnight; when the stars moved on, the world would continue, and a new fire was drilled on the chest of a sacrificed captive and carried to every hearth. The ceremony is described in the Florentine Codex and pictured in the Codex Borbonicus.