As the people of Nahuatlaca stock advanced economically and politically, they applied the results of their experience to their primitive tribal religion. Along with the system of tributes which maintained the dominant pueblo, there were expeditions made for securing the tribute to the sun god, called in the language of religious imagery “the plucking of flowers.” As the service of the god was connected with military expeditions, Huitzilopochtli was the Aztec god of war, the tutelar divinity of the warrior class. Twice a year in Mexico there were special rites in the building called the Abode of the Eagles, where the warriors assembled to send a messenger to their patron. In the principal court of the building there was a colossal symbol of the sun, in the shape of a solar wheel sending forth rays of gold. Before it was a great stone at the top of forty steps, called the cap of the eagles; the middle of the altar was hollowed out to receive the victim’s blood, and here the poor captive was brought dressed in the colors of the sun. He carried a staff, a shield, and a bundle of coloring matter, the purpose of which seems to have been to enable the sun to decorate his face. Just before the immolation the victim was addressed in the following words: “Sir, we pray you go to our god, the sun, and greet him on our behalf; tell him that his sons and warriors and chiefs, those who remain here, pray for him to remember them and to favor them from that place where he is, and to receive this small offering which we send him. Give him this staff to help him on his journey and this shield for his defense, and all the rest you have in this bundle.” Those who fell on the field of battle were believed, as a reward, to be transported into the house of the sun, where they became his servants and shared in his constant banquets. With the eclecticism common to all religions and that specially marks its primitive type, an ancient god of the Toltecs, Quetzalcohuatl, also a solar deity, was adopted as a member of the Aztec divine hierarchy. According to tradition, this divine being left his abode in heaven for the purpose of showing beneficence to mankind. From him man learnt the arts of life, and while he was on earth the age of gold prevailed. Unlike the other deities, his character was mild and kindly, for he was described as being averse to war and sacrifice. Constantly crossed in his purposes by wizards, he floated away on a raft. There was a general belief that he would return and restore the reign of peace, an anticipation which was popular among the tribes who felt the burden of the Aztec domination. Each year, with an inconsistency not foreign to higher forms of religion, human sacrifices were offered under the guise of messengers sent to inform the benign Quetzalcohuatl of the need of a speedy deliverance.