Before Spain, the Purépecha crowned their rulers with fire from Curicaueri—the living sun of Michoacán. Curicaueri, Purépecha fire god, Purépecha empire, Michoacán history, Tarascan religion, Mesoamerican sun god, Indigenous kingship, Tzintzuntzan temple, pre-Hispanic Mexico, sacred fire, Spanish conquest, lost Mexican history, Indigenous sovereignty, colonial erasure, Purépecha mythology Mexican American history before 1848, Lost Mexican land grants, Forgotten Mexican towns in America, Mexican