Page "Amaranth" Paragraph 68
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Diego Duran described the festivities for Huitzilopochtli, a blue hummingbird god.
( Real hummingbirds feed on amaranth flowers.
) The Aztec month of Panquetzaliztli ( 7 December to 26 December ) was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli.
People decorated their homes and trees with paper flags ; there were ritual races, processions, dances, songs, prayers, and finally human sacrifices.
This was one of the more important Aztec festivals, and the people prepared for the whole month.
They fasted or ate very little ; a statue of the god was made out of amaranth ( huautli ) seeds and honey, and at the end of the month, it was cut into small pieces so everybody could eat a little piece of the god.
After the Spanish conquest, cultivation of amaranth was outlawed, while some of the festivities were subsumed into the Christmas celebration.
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