So apparently there was a major Aztec holiday where for a week every eight years they would make tamales with no filling and no spices in order to not overwork the maize
this description (which is from wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamale#Aztecs) makes me think they had a holiday where they just gave the corn a week off
that may in fact have been the point, too! I don't know a ton about Aztec culture but I wouldn't be too surprised to learn that they gave their foodstuffs a day off