The Aztec expert Kim Richter gives us her more secular understanding of the statue: "I've argued that the sculptures represent the Huastec elite, who dressed up with these fancy costume elements ...

Xiuhtecuhtli, whose name means "turquoise lord" in the Nahuatl language, was the Aztec "new fire" god. The Aztecs kept a "holy fire" continuously burning in the Fire Temple at Tenochtitlan ...