Appendix 2

The Mayan New Fire Ceremony

"The New Fire ceremony, also known as the ‘binding of the years,’ was carried out upon the 
completion of each 52-year calendar cycle.  The myth of the four suns predicted the 
destruction of the world by earthquakes at the end of a calendar cycle.  Preparation for 
the possible end of the world began with major housecleaning: all household idols, cooking 
implements, clothing, and mats were discarded, and houses and yards were carefully swept 
and cleaned.  During the last five unlucky days of the last year of the cycle, fires were 
extinguished, and the people climbed up on their roofs to await the fate of the world.  

On the final day of the calendar cycle, priests climbed the mountain Citlaltepec near 
Tenochtitlan to observe the heavens.  Today Citlaltepec is called Cerro de la Estrella: 
both names mean ‘Star Mountain.’  The Pleiades constellation was the augury of thesunrise 
of the new cycle.  The preist-astronomers anxiously followed this cluster of stars as it 
rose in the sky.  If the constellation crossed the zenith as it normally does, they knew 
that the sun would rise again and the world would be spared for atleast another 52 years."