Tonatiuh

Tonatiuh, the skull represented at the centre of the Aztec Calendar, was a Sun god.  Responsible for supporting the universe, Tonatiuh was considered the fifth sun in a line of four other suns that had been created for the same purpose and each having died at the end of their own cosmic era.

Tonatiuh was in charge of the Aztec Heaven called Tollan - a place where only women who died during childbirth and dead warriors would be allowed entry.

To sustain Tonatiuh is his movement across the sky as well as attempt to thwart the 'end of days' scenarios and ruthless demons they believed would be unleashed on Earth, the Aztecs felt an obligation to regularly 'feed' the Sun god through human sacrifice.  The end of a 52 year cycle (Round) involved a nation-wide cleansing ritual.  All fires were to be extinguished and there was to be the opened chest of a sacrificial victim in which a fire would be built, to show the symbolic rekindling of the Sun.

On the Aztec Calendar, on either side of Tonatiuh's face there are bird-like claws, clutching human hearts.  His 'tongue', actually a sacrificial flint knife, was the only kind used to slash open the chest of the sacrificial warriors during the ritualistic murders.  These features symbolized Tonatiuh's adamance and insistence on human sacrifice.