2. Growth is always a kind of rebirth and rebirth implies that somebody has to die first. Without death the world would be overcrowded.

"And they were sacrificed and buried. They were buried at the Place of Ball Game Sacrifice, as it is called. The head of One Hunaphu was cut off; only his body was buried with his younger brother. 'Put his head in the fork of the tree that stands by the road', said One and Seven Death.

And when his head was put in the fork of the tree, the tree bore fruit. It would not have had any fruit, had not the head of One Hunaphu been put in the fork of the tree. This is the calabash, as we call it today, or 'the skull of One Hunaphu', as it is said. And then One and Seven Death were amazed at the fruit of the tree. The fruit grows out everywhere, and it isn't clear where the head of One Hunaphu is; now it looks just the way the calabashes look. All the Xibalbans see this, when they come to look." (Popol Vuh)

Rapa Nui cranium (USNM 31064a) according to Van Tilburg