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The original ‘pull-ups’?

The last of the 18 festivals in the Aztecs’ agricultural calendar (based on the sun, like ours) was called Izcalli, meaning ‘Sprout’ or ‘Growth’...

The Aztecs encouraged not just children but trees and plants to grow more speedily by literally stretching them - by the necks! To make up, it was the one time in the year when children were allowed to drink the fermented cactus juice ‘pulque’ (bit like getting a sweet for going to the dentist??)

The festival was dedicated to Tlaloc (rain god) and Xiuhtecuhtli (fire god - shown here). Worshippers sculpted figures of Xiuhtecuhtli with herb paste, and heated trees (gently!) to make them grow.

Part of the ritual asscociated with feasts at this time of the calendar was the ear-piercing of children using cactus spines: nasty!