{"id":24,"date":"2016-07-11T19:20:15","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T19:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wmreadinganthology\/?post_type=chapter&p=24"},"modified":"2016-07-21T19:21:16","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T19:21:16","slug":"the-aztec-calendar","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-wm-readinganthology\/chapter\/the-aztec-calendar\/","title":{"raw":"The Aztec Calendar","rendered":"The Aztec Calendar"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n\r\nBy Mark Cartwright\r\n\r\nOriginally published April 215, 2016 in Ancient History Encyclopedia<\/em>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe Aztecs of ancient Mexico measured time with a sophisticated and interconnected triple calendar system which adhered to movements of the celestial bodies, provided a comprehensive list of important religious festivals and sacred dates, and gave each day a unique combination of a name and a number. In addition, both individual days and periods of days were given their own gods, highlighting the Aztec view that time and daily life was inseparable from religious beliefs. The date, every 52 years, when the calendars coincided exactly was regarded as particularly significant and auspicious.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1361\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\"]\"photo Aztec Sun Stone[\/caption]\r\n

THE AZTEC VIEW OF TIME<\/h2>\r\nIn the modern world, time is often imagined as a straight line running from a distant past to an infinite future but not so for the Aztecs. As the historian R.F. Townsend describes,\r\n
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Time for the Aztecs was full of energy and motion, the harbinger of change, and always charged with a potent sense of miraculous happening. The cosmogenic myths reveal a preoccupation with the process of creation, destruction and recreation, and the calendrical system reflected these notions about the character of time. (127)<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\nFor the Aztecs, specific times, dates and periods, such as one\u2019s birthday for example, could have an auspicious (or opposite) effect on one\u2019s personality, the success of harvests, the prosperity of a ruler\u2019s reign, and so on. Time was to be kept, measured, and recorded. It is significant that most major Aztec monuments and artworks conspicuously carry a date of some kind.\r\n

TONALPOHUALLI \u2013 \"COUNTING OF THE DAYS\"<\/h2>\r\nThe Aztecs used a sacred calendar known as the tonalpohualli<\/em> or \"counting of the days.\" This went back to great antiquity in Mesoamerica, perhaps to the Olmec civilization of the 1st millennium BCE. It formed a 260-day cycle, in all probability originally based on astronomical observations. The calendar was broken down into units (sometimes referred to as trecenas<\/em>) of 20 days with each day having its own name and symbol:\r\n
    \r\n \t
  • cipactli<\/em> \u2013 crocodile<\/li>\r\n \t
  • ehecatl<\/em> \u2013 wind<\/li>\r\n \t
  • calli<\/em> \u2013 house<\/li>\r\n \t
  • cuetzpalin<\/em> \u2013 lizard<\/li>\r\n \t
  • coatl<\/em> \u2013 snake<\/li>\r\n \t
  • miquiztli<\/em> \u2013 death<\/li>\r\n \t
  • mazatl<\/em> \u2013 deer<\/li>\r\n \t
  • tochtli<\/em> \u2013 rabbit<\/li>\r\n \t
  • atl<\/em> \u2013 water<\/li>\r\n \t
  • itzcuintli<\/em> \u2013 dog<\/li>\r\n \t
  • ozomatli<\/em> \u2013 monkey<\/li>\r\n \t
  • malinalli<\/em> \u2013 dead grass<\/li>\r\n \t
  • acatl<\/em> \u2013 reed<\/li>\r\n \t
  • ocelotl<\/em> \u2013 ocelot<\/li>\r\n \t
  • quauhtli<\/em> \u2013 eagle<\/li>\r\n \t
  • cozcaquauhtli<\/em> \u2013 vulture<\/li>\r\n \t
  • ollin<\/em> \u2013 earthquake<\/li>\r\n \t
  • tecpatl<\/em> \u2013 flint<\/li>\r\n \t
  • quiauitl<\/em> - rain<\/li>\r\n \t
  • xochitl<\/em> - flower<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThe 20-day group ran simultaneously with another group of 13 numbered days (perhaps not coincidentally the Aztec heaven had 13 layers). This meant that each day had both a name and a number (e.g.: 4-Rabbit), with the latter changing as the calendar rotated. After all possible combinations of names and numbers had been achieved, 260 days had passed. The number 260 has multiple significances: it is the approximate human gestation period, the period between the appearance of Venus, and the length of the Mesoamerican agricultural cycle.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1354\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"299\"]\"Drawing Tonalpohualli Mesoamerican Calendar[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn addition to names and numbers, each day was also given its own deity \u2013 one of thirteen day-lords (the levels of heaven) and one from nine night-lords (the levels of the underworld). These were taken from the Aztec pantheon and included Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, Xiuhtecuhtli, and Mictlantecuhtli. Daylight hours also had their own patron birds such as the hummingbird, owl, turkey, and quetzal, and one day had a butterfly patron. On top of that, each group of 13 days was ascribed its own god too. Finally, in yet another layer of meaning, the 20 days were divided into four groups based on the cardinal points: acatl<\/em> (east), tecpatl<\/em> (north), calli<\/em> (west), and tochtli<\/em> (south).\r\n\r\nEVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR HAD ITS OWN UNIQUE NAME AND NUMBER COMBINATION AND SO COULD NOT BE CONFUSED WITH ANY OTHER.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis all seems rather complicated compared to a modern 7-day week of repeating names but it did have the advantage that every single day of the year had its own unique name and number combination and so could not be confused with any other. For this reason, it was possible for Aztec children to be given the name of the day on which they were born. Records were kept of the days in a book made of bark paper, called a tonalamatl<\/em>. There was also a class of official diviners who interpreted which dates were the most auspicious for certain events such as marriages, and agricultural chores such as planting particular crops, and which days should be avoided.\r\n

    XIUHPOHUALLI \u2013 \"COUNTING OF THE YEARS\"<\/h2>\r\nThe second Aztec calendar was the xiuhpohualli<\/em> or \u2018counting of the years\u2019 which was based on a 365-day solar cycle. It was this calendar which signified when particular religious ceremonies and festivals should be held. This calendar was divided into 18 groups of 20 days (each with its own festival). These were:\r\n