Aztec calendar

The {{lang|nci|tōnalpōhualli}} ("day count") consists of a cycle of 260 days, each day signified by a combination of a number from 1 to 13, and one of the twenty day signs. With each new day, both the number and day sign would be incremented: 1. Crocodile is followed by 2. Wind, 3. House, 4. Lizard, and so forth up to 13. Reed. After Reed, the cycle of numbers would restart (though the twenty day signs had not yet been exhausted), resulting in 1. Jaguar, 2. Eagle, and so on, as the days immediately following 13. Reed. This cycle of number and day signs would continue similarly until the 20th week, which would start on 1. Rabbit, and end on 13. Flower. It would take a full 260 days (13×20) for the two cycles (of twenty day signs, and thirteen numbers) to realign and repeat the sequence back to 1. Crocodile.

The set of day signs used in central Mexico is identical to that used by Mixtecs, and to a lesser degree similar to those of other Mesoamerican calendars. Each of the day signs bear an association with one of the four cardinal directions.{{Cite book |title=Ciclos de tiempo y significado en los libros mexicanos del destino |trans-title=Cycles of time and meaning in the Mexican books of destiny |last=Hill Boone |first=Elizabeth |publisher=Fondo de Cultura Económica |year=2016 |isbn=9786071635020 |location=Mexico City }}{{Cite book |title=Manual de arqueología americana |trans-title=Manual of American Archeology |last=Beuchat |first=Henri |publisher=Daniel Jorro |year=1918 |location=Madrid |pages=349–352}}

There is some variation in the way the day signs were drawn or carved. Those here were taken from the {{lang|la|Codex Magliabechiano}}.

|-

| x50px || {{lang|nci|Ehēcatl|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|eʔˈéːkatɬ|}} || Wind || North

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|calli|Calli|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|ˈkálːi|}} || House || West

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|cuetzpalin|Cuetzpalin|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|kʷetsˈpálin̥|}} || Lizard || South

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|cōātl|Cōātl|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|ˈkóːwaːtɬ|}} || Serpent
Snake || East

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|miquiztli|Miquiztli|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|miˈkístɬi|}} || Death || North

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|mazātl|Mazātl|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|ˈmásaːtɬ|}} || Deer
Animal || West

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|tōchtli|Tōchtli|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|ˈtóːtʃtɬi|}} || Rabbit || South

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|atl|Ātl|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|ˈaːtɬ|}} || Water || East

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|itzcuīntli|Itzcuīntli|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|itsˈkʷíːn̥tɬi|}} || Dog || North

|}

|style="vertical-align: top"|

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|malīnalli|Malīnalli|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|maliːˈnálːi|}} || Grass || South

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|acatl|Ācatl|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|ˈáːkatɬ|}} || Reed || East

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|ocēlōtl|Ocēlōtl|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|oːˈséːloːtɬ|}} || Ocelot
Jaguar || North

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|cuāuhtli|Cuāuhtli|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|ˈkʷáːʍtɬi|}} || Eagle || West

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|cōzcacuāuhtli|Cōzcacuāuhtli|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|koːskaˈkʷáːʍtɬi|}} || Vulture || South

|-

| x50px || {{lang|nci|Ōlīn|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|ˈoːliːn̥|}} || Movement
Quake
Earthquake || East

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|tecpatl|Tecpatl|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|ˈtékpatɬ|}} || Flint
Flint Knife || North

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|quiyahuitl|Quiyahuitl|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|kiˈjáwitɬ|}} || Rain || West

|-

| x50px || {{wikt-lang|nci|xōchitl|Xōchitl|italic=no}} || {{IPA|nah|ˈʃoːtʃitɬ|}} || Flower || South

|}

|}

Wind and Rain are represented by images of their associated gods, {{lang|nci|Ehēcatl|italic=no}} and {{lang|nci|Tlāloc|italic=no}} respectively.

Other marks on the stone showed the current world, and the worlds before this one. Each world was called a sun, and each sun had its own species of inhabitants. The Aztecs believed that they were in the Fifth Sun, and like all of the suns before them, they would also eventually perish due to their own imperfections. Every 52 years was marked out due to the belief that 52 years was a life cycle and at the end of any given life cycle, the gods could take all they had, and destroy the world.

The 260 days of the sacred calendar were grouped into twenty periods of 13 days each. Scholars usually refer to these thirteen-day "weeks" as {{lang|es|trecenas}}, using a Spanish term derived from {{wikt-lang|es|trece}} "thirteen" (just as the Spanish term {{wikt-lang|es|docena}} "dozen" is derived from {{wikt-lang|es|doce}} "twelve"). The original Nahuatl term was "in cencalli tonalli" (a family of days), according to Book IV of the Florentine Codex.

Each {{lang|es|trecena}} is named according to the calendar date of the first day of the 13 days in that {{lang|es|trecena}}. In addition, each of the twenty {{lang|es|trecenas}} in the 260-day cycle had its own tutelary deity:

{{quote |text=In ancient times the year was composed of eighteen months, and thus it was observed by the native people. Since their months were made of no more than twenty days, these were all the days contained in a month, because they were not guided by the moon but by the days; therefore, the year had eighteen months. The days of the year were counted twenty by twenty. |author={{lang|es|Diego Durán|italic=no}} }}

{{lang|nci|Xiuhpōhualli}} is the Aztec year ({{wikt-lang|nci|xihuitl}}) count ({{wikt-lang|nci|pōhualli}}). One year consists of 360 named days and 5 nameless ({{lang|nci|nēmontēmi}}). These 'extra' days are thought to be unlucky. The year was broken into 18 periods of twenty days each, sometimes compared to the Julian month. The Nahuatl word for moon is {{lang|nci|metztli}} but whatever name was used for these periods is unknown. Through Spanish usage, the 20-day period of the Aztec calendar has become commonly known as a {{lang|es|veintena}}.

Each 20-day period started on {{lang|nci|Cipactli}} (Crocodile) for which a festival was held. The eighteen {{lang|es|veintena}} are listed below. The dates are from early eyewitnesses; each wrote what they saw. {{lang|es|Bernardino de Sahagún|italic=no}}'s date precedes the observations of {{lang|es|Diego Durán|italic=no}} by several decades and is before recent to the surrender. Both are shown to emphasize the fact that the beginning of the Native new year became non-uniform as a result of an absence of the unifying force of {{lang|es|Tenochtitlan|italic=no}} after the Mexica defeat.

The ancient Mexicans counted their years by means of four signs combined with thirteen numbers, thus obtaining periods of 52 years,Tena, 2008: 103. There he shows us a table. which are commonly known as Xiuhmolpilli, a popular but incorrect generic name; the most correct Nahuatl word for this cycle is Xiuhnelpilli.Tena, 2008:9. The table with the current years:

For many centuries scholars had tried to reconstruct the Calendar. A widely accepted version was proposed by Professor {{lang|es|Rafael Tena|italic=no}} of the {{lang|es|Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia}},The Mexica Calendar and the Chronography, Rafael Tena. INAH-CONACULTA. 2008 based on the studies of {{lang|es|Sahagún|italic=no}} and {{lang|es|Alfonso Caso|italic=no}} of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. His correlation argues that the first day of the Mexica year was February 13 of the old Julian calendar or February 23 of the current Gregorian calendar.

Using the same count, it has been the date of the birth of {{lang|nci|Huitzilopochtli}}, the end of the year and a cycle or "Tie of the Years", and the New Fire Ceremony, day-sign {{lang|nci|1 Tecpatl}} of the year {{lang|nci|2 Acatl}},Crónica Mexicayotl, Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc p 36 corresponding to the date February 22. A correlation by independent researcher Ruben Ochoa interprets pre-Columbian codices, to reconstruct the calendar, while ignoring most primary colonial sources that contradict this idea, using a method that proposes to connect the year count to the vernal equinox and placing the first day of the year on the first day after the equinox.Azteca/Mexica Calendar Correlations: the Good, the Bad, and the Completely Useless, Itztli Ehecatl. http://www.calmecacanahuac.com/blog/calendar/aztecamexica-calendar-correlations-the-good-the-bad-and-the-completely-useless/. 2015

In this regard, José Genaro Emiliano Medina Ramos, a senior native nahua philosopher from San Lucas Atzala in the state of Puebla, proposes a multidisciplinary calendar reconstruction in náhuatl (‘centro de Puebla’ variant) according with his own nahua cosmosvision;{{Cite book |last=Medina Ramos |first=José Genaro Emiliano |url=https://filosofia.buap.mx/sites/default/files/Libros%20electr%C3%B3nicos/Antropolog%C3%ADa/calmecac%20dig.pdf |title=CALMECAC Tradiciones y pensamiento del pueblo de San Lucas Atzala |publisher=BUAP |year=2012 |edition=Digital |location=Puebla, México |language=Spanish}} and relying precisely on Ochoa's smart correlation and on Tena's presuppositions as well. His proposal was translated to Spanish and English, and codified as an academic webpage in 2023.{{Cite web |last=phk |first=phk |date=2023-01-01 |title=tonalamatlahtolcuepalli: tlahtolcuepalli itech tonalamatl gregoriano itech mexihca tonalamatl / Convertidor calendario gregoriano -> sistema calendárico mexica / Gregorian calendar -> mexica calendrical system converter |url=https://sites.google.com/view/tonalamatlahtolcuepalli/ |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=tonalamatlahtolcuepalli |language=en-US}}

• Aztec New Year
• Maya calendar
• Mesoamerican calendars
• Muisca calendar

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin|indent=yes}}

• {{cite web |author=Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel |date=n.d. |title=Aztec Art |url=http://www.famsi.org/research/aguilar/Aztec_Art_Bib.pdf |work=Aztec Art and Architecture |publisher=Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI) |access-date=2008-05-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625221516/http://www.famsi.org/research/aguilar/Aztec_Art_Bib.pdf |archive-date=2008-06-25}}
• {{cite book |author=Andrews, J. Richard |author-link=J. Richard Andrews |year=2003 |title=Introduction to Classical Nahuatl |edition=revised |location=Norman |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=0-8061-3452-6 |oclc=50090230}}
• {{cite book |author=Aveni, Anthony F. |author-link=Anthony Aveni |year=2000 |title=Empires of Time: Calendars, Clocks, and Cultures |edition=reprint of 1990 original |location=London |publisher=Tauris Parke |isbn=1-86064-602-6 |oclc=45144264}}
• {{cite book |author=Boone, Elizabeth Hill |author-link=Elizabeth Hill Boone |year=1998 |title=Native Traditions in the Postconquest World, A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks 2nd through 4th October 1992 |chapter=Pictorial Documents and Visual Thinking in Postconquest Mexico |chapter-url=http://www.doaks.org/Native/trad07.pdf |chapter-format=PDF Reprint |editor=Elizabeth Hill Boone |editor2=Tom Cubbins |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection |location=Washington D.C. |pages=149–199 |isbn=0-88402-239-0 |oclc=34354931 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927000719/http://www.doaks.org/Native/trad07.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-27}}
• {{cite book |author=Boone, Elizabeth Hill |author-link=Elizabeth Hill Boone |year=2000 |title=Stories in Red and Black: Pictorial Histories of the Aztec and Mixtec |location=Austin |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=0-292-70876-9 |oclc=40939882}}
• {{cite book |author=Boone, Elizabeth Hill |author-link=Elizabeth Hill Boone |year=2007 |title=Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate |series=Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture |location=Austin |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-71263-8 |oclc=71632174}}
• {{cite book |author=Clavigero, Francesco Saverio |author-link=Francisco Javier Clavijero |year=1807 |orig-year=1787 |title=The history of Mexico. Collected from Spanish and Mexican historians, from manuscripts, and ancient paintings of the Indians. Illustrated by charts, and other copper plates. To which are added, critical dissertations on the land, the animals, and inhabitants of Mexico, 2 vols. |edition=2nd |others=Translated from the original Italian, by Charles Cullen, Esq. |location=London |publisher=J. Johnson |oclc=54014738}}
• {{cite book |author=Coe, Michael D. |author-link=Michael D. Coe |year=1994 |orig-year=1962 |title=Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London and New York |edition=4th, Revised and Enlarged |isbn=0-500-27722-2 |oclc=29708907 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mexicofromolmecs00coem}}
• {{cite book |author=Hassig, Ross |author-link=Ross Hassig |year=2001 |title=Time, History, and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico |location=Austin |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=0-292-73139-6 |oclc=44167649}}
• {{cite journal |author=Hernández de León-Portilla, Ascención |year=2004 |title=Lenguas y escrituras mesoamericanas |url=http://arqueomex.com/S2N3nLENGUA70.html |journal=Arqueología Mexicana |location=México, D.F. |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Editorial Raíces |issn=0188-8218 |volume=12 |issue=70 |pages=20–25 |access-date=2008-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515150042/http://www.arqueomex.com/S2N3nLENGUA70.html |archive-date=15 May 2008 |url-status=dead |language=es}}
• {{cite journal |author=Klein, Cecelia F. |year=2002 |title=La iconografía y el arte mesoamericano |url=http://arqueomex.com/S8N4ICONKlein55.pdf |journal=Arqueología Mexicana |location=México, D.F. |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Editorial Raíces |issn=0188-8218 |volume=10 |issue=55 |pages=28–35 |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103090214/http://www.arqueomex.com/S8N4ICONKlein55.pdf |archive-date=2006-01-03}}
• {{cite book |author=León-Portilla, Miguel |author-link=Miguel León-Portilla |year=1963 |title=Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Náhuatl Mind |series=Civilization of the American Indian series, no. 67 |others=Jack Emory Davis (trans.) |location=Norman |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |oclc=181727}}
• {{cite journal |author=Malmström, Vincent H. |author-link=Vincent H. Malmström |date=1973-09-17 |title=Origin of the Mesoamerican 260-Day Calendar |journal=Science |location=Lancaster, PA |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |volume=181 |issue=4103 |pages=939–941 |url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~izapa/M-1.pdf |format=PDF Reprinted |doi=10.1126/science.181.4103.939 |access-date=2008-05-14 |pmid=17835843 |bibcode=1973Sci...181..939M |s2cid=41562003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528152046/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~izapa/M-1.pdf |archive-date=28 May 2008 |url-status=live}}
• {{cite book |author=Medina, Genaro |title=CALMECAC Tradiciones y pensamiento del pueblo de San Lucas Atzala |publisher=Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla |location=México |url=https://filosofia.buap.mx/sites/default/files/Libros%20electr%C3%B3nicos/Antropolog%C3%ADa/calmecac%20dig.pdf}}
• {{cite book |author=Miller, Mary |author-link=Mary Miller (art historian) |author2=Karl Taube |author2-link=Karl Taube |year=1993 |title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |isbn=0-500-05068-6 |oclc=27667317 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill}}
• {{cite book |author=Prem, Hanns J. |author-link=Hanns J. Prem |year=2008 |title=Manual de la antigua cronología Mexicana |publisher=Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social |location=Mexico |isbn=978-968-496-694-9}}
• {{cite book |author=Read, Kay Almere |year=1998 |title=Time and Sacrifice in the Aztec Cosmos |location=Bloomington |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0-253-33400-4 |oclc=37909790}}
• {{cite book |author=Sahagún, Bernardino de |author-link=Bernardino de Sahagún |year=1950–82 |orig-year=ca. 1540–85 |title=Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain, 13 vols. in 12 |edition=translation of Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva España |others=Charles E. Dibble and Arthur J.O. Anderson (eds., trans., notes and illus.) |series=vols. I-XII |location=Santa Fe, NM and Salt Lake City |publisher=School of American Research and the University of Utah Press |isbn=0-87480-082-X |oclc=276351}}
• {{cite book |author=Smith, Michael E. |author-link=Michael E. Smith (archaeologist) |year=2003 |title=The Aztecs |edition=2nd |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=0-631-23015-7 |oclc=48579073}}
• {{cite book |author=Tena, Rafael |year=2008 |title=El calendario mexica y la cronografía |location=Mexico |publisher=INAH |isbn=978-968-03-0293-2}}
• {{cite book |author=Townsend, Richard F. |year=2000 |title=The Aztecs |edition=Revised 2nd |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |isbn=0-500-28132-7 |oclc=43337963}}
• {{cite web |author=Wimmer, Alexis |year=2006 |url=http://sites.estvideo.net/malinal/nahuatl.page.html |title=Dictionnaire de la langue nahuatl classique |format=online version, incorporating reproductions from {{lang|fr|Dictionnaire de la langue nahuatl ou mexicaine|italic=yes}} [1885], by Rémi Siméon}} {{in lang|fr|nah}}
• {{cite book |author=Zantwijk, Rudolph van |year=1985 |title=The Aztec Arrangement: The Social History of Pre-Spanish Mexico |location=Norman |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=0-8061-1677-3 |oclc=11261299 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/aztecarrangement0000zant}}

{{refend}}

{{Calendars}}

{{Authority control}}

Calendar

Calendar

Category:Obsolete calendars