The Aztec had different calendars to summarise time

The Aztec had several different calendars to summarise time. Famously their "long count" finished in 2012 and was due for renewal. A much more common calendar was a 52-year cycle.

When this 52-year cycle ended there was a festival called Xiuhmolpilli—the Binding of the Years. There was then a five-day ceremony where it was "out with the old and in with the new". Old objects and items that were worn were to be destroyed and most poetically, all fires were to be extinguished. It was a tense time of flux, there was even a fear that a goddess may descend on the world and destroy it.

The ceremony would then go to Huixachtlan on the eastern bank of Lake Texcoco. This extinct volcano could be seen for miles around and had a temple platform built on it. Here a man was sacrificed and his chest cavity was hollowed out and in there a new fire would be created. This new flame would then be shared and light would be returned to the towns and city of the empire. A beautifully poetic (if you ignore the human sacrifice) ceremony to see in a new era.