During the year, in preparation for the sacrifice to take place the warrior would assume and take on the role of one of the Gods. He would be honored, worshipped and treated with uttermost respect as if he were a God. On the day of the sacrifice he would dress as a God and walk with courage and lifted spirits to the stone upon which he was to be sacrificed at the ceremony. The Aztec priest would give him final instructions on what messages needed to reach God. He was then killed and a priest cut out his heart. Since there were many Gods, the sacrifice strictly depended on what God they were conduction the worship to. A variety of methods were used in order to commit the ritual act such as drowning, burning, strangulation or beheading, and in addition, the "typical ritual included the dramatic heart sacrifice and the placing of the heart in a ceremonial vessel in order to nourish the Gods" (Carrasco). In the course of a year, the death toll rose to more than several hundreds. .
The valley of Mexico is the site of volcanic mountains that has experienced many earthquakes and other natural disasters. At times, the lakes in the valley would dry up, and not to mention the fact that winter frost could come at the wrong time and easily destroy all the crops. In 1454, the Aztecs learned these truths the hard way when a great famine began. "Famine was a major problem in Aztec times, shortages occurred and nature would make matters worse by droughts, snow storms, and plagues" (Kastenbaum). For three years in a row the crops of the valley were ruined and food became very scarce, causing many people to starve to death. In desperation, the nobles and priests kept increasing their human sacrifice ceremonies so that the Gods could grant them blessings. By the third year of the terrible occurrence, they were practicing mass sacrifices on a frequent basis. The idea was that the more sacrifices they were able to offer to the Gods, the happier they would make them and the more they would receive.
