Why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice?

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Aztec manuscript illustration showing figures in elaborate costumes dancing in a circle, with two larger deities, Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl, at the center, from Codex Borbonicus. — Aztec Aztec round dance for Quetzalcóatl and Xolotl (a dog-headed god who is Quetzalcóatl's companion), detail from a facsimile Codex Borbonicus (folio 26), c. 1520; original in the Chamber of Deputies, Paris, France.

The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice as a fundamental aspect of their religion, believing it was necessary to sustain the gods and maintain cosmic order. They believed the universe was inherently unstable and constantly threatened by destruction. Specifically, they thought the sun required human nourishment to continue its movement across the sky, and that the gods themselves had sacrificed to create the sun and moon. Therefore, offering human hearts to the sun god, Tonatiuh, was a common practice, as was bloodletting. This practice was deeply intertwined with Aztec warfare, which was often waged to obtain sacrificial victims.1234