![Aztec Calendar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Aztec_Calendar.png)
The Aztec or Mexica calendar is the
calendrical system used by the
Aztecs
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
as well as other
Pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
peoples of central Mexico. It is one of the
Mesoamerican calendars
Mesoamerican calendars are the calendrical systems devised and used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. Besides keeping time, Mesoamerican calendars were also used in religious observances and social rituals, such as for divination.
T ...
, sharing the basic structure of calendars from throughout ancient
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...
.
![Monolito de la Piedra del Sol](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Monolito_de_la_Piedra_del_Sol.jpg)
The
Aztec sun stone
The Aztec sun stone ( es, Piedra del Sol) is a late post-classic Mexica sculpture housed in the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, and is perhaps the most famous work of Mexica sculpture. It measures in diameter and thick, and wei ...
, also called the calendar stone, is on display at the
National Museum of Anthropology
The National Museum of Anthropology ( es, Museo Nacional de Antropología, MNA) is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Located in the area between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street withi ...
in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
.
The calendar consists of a 365-day calendar cycle called (year count) and a 260-day ritual cycle called (day count). These two cycles together form a 52-year "century", sometimes called the "
calendar round
The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico.
The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon a system which had ...
". The is considered to be the agricultural calendar, since it is based on the sun, and the is considered to be the sacred calendar.
Tōnalpōhualli
The ("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 which 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 on 1 Crocodile.
Day signs
The set of day signs used in central Mexico is identical to that used by
Mixtec
The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec Culture wa ...
s, and to a lesser degree similar to those of other
Mesoamerican calendars
Mesoamerican calendars are the calendrical systems devised and used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. Besides keeping time, Mesoamerican calendars were also used in religious observances and social rituals, such as for divination.
T ...
. Each of the day signs also bears an association with one of the four cardinal directions.
There is some variation in the way the day signs were drawn or carved. Those here were taken from the .
Wind and Rain are represented by images of their associated gods, and respectively.
Other marks on the stone showed the current world and also 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 because they believed that 52 years was a life cycle and at the end of any given life cycle the gods could take away all that they have 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 , using a
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
term derived from "thirteen" (just as the Spanish term "dozen" is derived from "twelve"). The original
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
term is not known.
Each is named according to the calendar date of the first day of the 13 days in that . In addition, each of the twenty in the 260-day cycle had its own tutelary deity:
is the Aztec year () count (). One year consists of 360 named days and 5 nameless (). 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
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
word for moon is 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 .
Each 20-day period started on (Crocodile) for which a festival was held. The eighteen are listed below. The dates are from early eyewitnesses; each wrote what they saw. 's date precedes the observations of 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 after the Mexica defeat.
Xiuhmolpilli
The ancient ''Mexicans'' counted their years by means of four signs combined with thirteen numbers, thus obtaining periods of 52 years, which are commonly known as ''Xiuhmolpilli'', a popular but incorrect generic name; the most correct Nahuatl word for this cycle is Xiuhnelpilli. The table with the current years:
Reconstruction of the Solar calendar
For many centuries scholars had tried to reconstruct the Calendar. A widely accepted version was proposed by Professor of the , based on the studies of and of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
. His correlation argues that the first day of the Mexica year was February 13 of the old
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
or February 23 of the current
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
.
Using the same count, it has been the date of the birth of , the end of the year and a cycle or "Tie of the Years", and the
New Fire Ceremony, day-sign of the year , corresponding to the date
February 22
Events Pre-1600
* 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
* 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdina ...
. 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]
See also
*
Maya calendar
The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico.
The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon a system which had ...
*
Mesoamerican calendars
Mesoamerican calendars are the calendrical systems devised and used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. Besides keeping time, Mesoamerican calendars were also used in religious observances and social rituals, such as for divination.
T ...
*
Aztec New Year
The Mexica New Year ( es, Año Nuevo Mexicano or ''Año Nuevo Azteca''; nah, Yancuic Xīhuitl, ) is the celebration of the new year according to the Aztec calendar. The date on which the holiday falls in the Gregorian calendar depends on the vers ...
*
Muisca calendar
The Muisca calendar was a lunisolar calendar used by the Muisca. The calendar was composed of a complex combination of months and three types of years were used; rural years (according to Pedro Simón, Chibcha: ''chocan''), holy years (Duquesne, S ...
Notes
References
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External links
The Aztec Calendar - Ancient History EncyclopediaDetailed description of the temalacatlfrom Mexico's
Daily Aztec CalendarAztec Calendar Ruben Ochoa Correlation
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Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...
Obsolete calendars