The sun rises on Aztec New Year

If the Aztecs had hot air balloons, they may have greeted the new year like this, floating above the massive Pyramid of the Sun at sunrise on the first day of the year, according to the Aztec calendar. Also known as Yancuic Xihuitl, the Aztec New Year is still celebrated by some Indigenous Nahua communities here in central Mexico with songs, dances and the flames of ocote (Mexican pine) candles. Dancers wear traditional costumes topped by quetzal feather headdresses, and people greet the New Year by making loud noises with seashells, just as Aztecs did centuries ago.
© Marco Ugarte/AP Photo