Tonatiuh wages eternal war against the Tzitzimimeh, the skeletal star demons who seek to devour him during eclipses and threaten to overwhelm the world at the end of each fifty-two-year cycle if the New Fire ceremony fails.
The Tzitzimimeh pursued Mayahuel to earth after Ehecatl stole her from the sky, catching the lovers in their tree-form and tearing Mayahuel's branches apart, devouring her flesh and leaving only bare bones for Ehecatl to bury.
Itzpapalotl reigns as queen of the Tzitzimimeh, the obsidian butterfly commanding the host of star demons who wait in darkness for the sun to fail.
Itzpapalotl, the obsidian butterfly, is counted among the Tzitzimimeh — the skeletal star demons who descend during eclipses and threaten to devour the world at the end of each calendar cycle.
Every fifty-two years at the New Fire Ceremony, Xiuhtecuhtli's flame was kindled anew in the chest of a sacrificial victim atop Huixachtlan hill — if the fire failed to catch, the Tzitzimimeh would descend from the stars and devour all humanity.
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