People revered Huitzilopochtli, known as the Aztec sun god and the patron god of the Aztecs, as the god of war, sun and human sacrifice. A central deity in their religious practices ...

In fact, the mask's raised turquoise may depict the wart-faced god Nanahuatzin, who, according to Aztec mythology, sacrificed himself to the fire and emerged to become the sun.

The story begins with the Aztec God of death and lightning, the Xolotl. As legends have it, he was a monstrous dog that guarded the sun god and ushered souls to the underworld every night.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Aztec deity, he’s the literal god of human sacrifice. Oh, and cannibalism. Just to give you a sense of what kind of culture the California Board of ...