The Codex Borgia ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Borg.mess.1), also known as ''Codex Borgianus'', ''Manuscrit de Veletri'' and ''Codex Yohualli Ehecatl'', is a pre-Columbian Middle American pictorial manuscript from Central Mexico featuring calendrical and ritual content, dating from the 16th century. It is named after the 18th century Italian Cardinal,

Stefano Borgia Stefano Borgia (3 December 1731 – 1804) was an Italian Cardinal, theologian, antiquarian, and historian. Life Cardinal Borgia belonged to a well known family of Velletri, where he was born, and was a member of the collateral branch of House ...

, who owned it before it was acquired by the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

after the Cardinal's death in 1804. The Codex Borgia is a member of, and gives its name to, the

Borgia Group The Borgia Group is the scholarly designation of number of mostly pre-Columbian documents from central Mexico. In 1830–1831, they were first published in their entirety as colored lithographs of copies made by an Italian artist, Agustino Aglio, ...

of manuscripts. It is considered to be among the most important sources for the study of Central Mexican gods, ritual, divination, calendar, religion and iconography. It is one of only a handful of pre-Columbian Mexican codices that were not destroyed during the conquest in the 16th century; it was perhaps written near Cholula,

Tlaxcala Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...

, Huejotzingo or the Mixtec region of Puebla. Its ethnic affiliation is unclear, and could either have been produced by

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 ...

-speaking

Tlaxcaltec The Tlaxcalans, or Tlaxcaltecs, are a Nahua people who live in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. Pre-Columbian history The Tlaxcaltecs were originally a conglomeration of three distinct ethnic groups who spoke Nahuatl, Otomi, and Pinome that compr ...

people, Cholulteca people, or by the

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 w ...

Description

The codex is made of animal skins folded into 39 sheets. Each sheet is a square , for a total length of nearly . All but the end sheets are painted on both sides, providing 76 pages. The codex is read from right to left. Pages 29–46 are oriented perpendicular to the rest of the codex. The top of this section is the right side of page 29, and the scenes are read from top to bottom, so the reader must rotate the manuscript 90 degrees in order to view this section correctly. The Codex Borgia is organized into a screen-fold. Single sheets of the hide are attached as a long strip and then folded back and forth. Images were painted on both sides and painted over with a white

gesso Gesso (; "chalk", from the la, gypsum, from el, γύψος) is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these. It is used in painting as a preparation for any number of substrates suc ...

. Stiffened leather is used as end pieces by gluing the first and last strips to create a cover. The edges of the pages are overlapped and glued together, making the sheet edges hardly visible under the white gesso finish. The gesso creates a stiff, smooth, white finished surface that preserves the underlying images.

History

The Codex Borgia was brought to Europe at some point during the Spanish colonial period. The Codex seems to have been property of the Giustiniani family before being donated to Stefano Borgia; indeed, an indigenous book from Mexico is mentioned as being part of the 1600-1611 inventories of the Guardaroba of Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani, although the identification of this catalogue entry with the Borgia itself is still unsure. It could have reached Europe even earlier, for, as noticed by Franz Ehrle, there is a gloss in page 68 of the codex in wrong Italian which suggest a 16th century Spanish priest, which uses a manicule or hand sign typical of the era. The Borgia is first mentioned with certainty as forming part of the collections of Cardinal Stefano Borgia in Veletri, the ''Museum Borgianum Veliternum'', catalogue number 365, "Gran codice messicano in Pelle", valued in 300 scudi. After the death of Borgia, these objects became property of the

Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

, which created a Borgian museum of its own within its headquarters at the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide. Stories about the codex prior to its acquisition by Borgia are difficult to verify: oral tradition at the Congregation asserts that it was saved in 1762 from an

Auto-da-fé An ''auto-da-fé'' ( ; from Portuguese , meaning 'act of faith'; es, auto de fe ) was the ritual of public penance carried out between the 15th and 19th centuries of condemned heretics and apostates imposed by the Spanish, Portuguese, or Mexi ...

in Mexico, while baron von Humboldt mentions that it belonged to the Giustiniani family, eventually falling into the hands of neglectful servants who damaged the manuscript with fire, only to be saved by Borgia. In 21 April 1902, Borgia's collection was moved to the Apostolic Library of the Vatican, where it is currently housed. It has been digitally scanned and mad
available to the public.

The manuscript comprises 28 sections. Most of them are devoted to the different aspects of the '' Tonalpohualli'', the Central Mexican divinatory calendar. In general, the codex presents the associations between time periods, gods, and 'mantic images', or iconography with a divinatory content. Section 13, which comprises pages 29–46, has been the subject of differing interpretations throughout the years. The one that claims it depicts a series of rituals is the most agreed upon. The overview offered here follows the division proposed by Karl Anton Nowotny.

Section 1: Tonalpohualli ''in extenso'' (pages 1–8)

The first eight pages list the 260 day-signs of the tonalpohualli, each

trecena A trecena is a 13-day period used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican calendars. The 260-day calendar (the '' tonalpohualli'') was divided into 20 trecenas. Trecena is derived from the Spanish chroniclers and translates to "a group of thirteen" in the ...

or 13-day division forming a horizontal row spanning two pages. Certain days are marked with a

footprint Footprints are the impressions or images left behind by a person walking or running. Hoofprints and pawprints are those left by animals with hooves or paws rather than feet, while "shoeprints" is the specific term for prints made by shoes. The ...

symbol with an unknown purpose.

Mantic Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

images are placed above and below the day signs. Sections parallel to this one are contained in the first eight pages of the Codex Cospi and the Codex Vaticanus B. However, while the Codex Borgia is read from right to left, those codices are read from left to right. Additionally, the Codex Cospi includes the so-called

Lords of the Night In Mesoamerican mythology the Lords of the Night ( nci, Yoalteuctin) are a set of nine gods who each ruled over every ninth night forming a calendrical cycle. Each lord was associated with a particular fortune, bad or good, that was an omen for ...

alongside the day signs (see Section 3). Image:Codex Borgia page 1.jpg, Page 1 Image:Codex Borgia page 2.jpg, Page 2 Image:Codex Borgia page 3.jpg, Page 3 Image:Codex Borgia page 4.jpg, Page 4 Image:Codex Borgia page 5.jpg, Page 5 Image:Codex Borgia page 6.jpg, Page 6 Image:Codex Borgia page 7.jpg, Page 7 Image:Codex Borgia page 8.jpg, Page 8

Section 2: The First 20 day signs with their regents Pages (9–13)

Pages 9 to 13 are divided into four quarters. Each quarter contains one of the twenty day signs, its patron deity, and associated mantic symbols, presumably as prognostications for individuals born in each of those day signs. The list is as follows: # Caiman, Tonacatecuhtli # Wind,

Ehecatl Ehecatl ( nci-IPA, Ehēcatl, eʔˈeːkatɬ, ) is a pre-Columbian deity associated with the wind, who features in Aztec mythology and the mythologies of other cultures from the central Mexico region of Mesoamerica. He is most usually interpreted a ...

# House, Tepeyollotl # Lizard, Huehuecoyotl # Death,

Metztli In Aztec mythology, Mētztli (; also rendered Meztli, Metzi, literally "Moon") was a god or goddess of the moon, the night, and farmers. They were likely the same deity as Yohaulticetl or Coyolxauhqui and the male moon god Tecciztecatl; like ...

# Snake,

Chalchiuhtlicue Chalchiuhtlicue (from ''chālchihuitl'' "jade" and ''cuēitl'' "skirt") (also spelled Chalciuhtlicue, Chalchiuhcueye, or Chalcihuitlicue) ("She of the Jade Skirt") is an Aztec deity of water, rivers, seas, streams, storms, and baptism. Chalch ...

# Rabbit,

Mayahuel Mayahuel () is the female deity associated with the maguey plant among cultures of central Mexico in the Postclassic era of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican chronology, and in particular of the Aztec cultures. As the personification of the maguey plant, ...

# Water, Tlaloc # Deer,

Xiuhtecuhtli In Aztec mythology, Xiuhtecuhtli ("Turquoise Lord" or "Lord of Fire"), was the god of fire, day and heat. In historical sources he is called by many names, which reflect his varied aspects and dwellings in the three parts of the cosmos. He was t ...

# Dog, Mictlantecuhtli # Monkey, Xochipilli # Grass,

Patecatl In Aztec mythology, Patecatl is a god of healing and fertility and the discoverer of peyote as well as the "lord of the root of pulque Pulque (; nci, metoctli), or octli, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey ...

# Reed,

Itztlacoliuhqui In Aztec mythology, Itztlacoliuhqui is the god of frost. He also represents matter in its lifeless state. The Nahuatl name ''Itztlacoliuhqui'' is usually translated into English as "curved obsidian blade". J. Richard Andrews contends that this ...

# Jaguar, Tlazolteotl # Eagle,

Xipe Totec In Aztec mythology and religion, Xipe Totec (; nci-IPA, Xīpe Totēc, ˈʃiːpe ˈtoteːk(ʷ)) or Xipetotec ("Our Lord the Flayed One") was a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths, ...

# Vulture, Itzpapalotl # Movement,

Xolotl In Aztec mythology, Xolotl () was a god of fire and lightning. He was commonly depicted as a dog-headed man and was a soul-guide for the dead. He was also god of twins, monsters, misfortune, sickness, and deformities. Xolotl is the canine broth ...

# Flint,

Chalchiuhtotolin In Aztec mythology, Chalchiuhtotolin (; Nahuatl for "Jade Turkey") was a god of disease and plague. Chalchihuihtotolin, the Jewelled Fowl, Tezcatlipoca's nahual. Chalchihuihtotolin is a symbol of powerful sorcery. Tezcatlipoca can tempt humans i ...

# Rain, Tonatiuh # Flower, Xochiquetzal File:Codex Borgia page 9.jpg, Page 9 File:Codex Borgia page 10.jpg, Page 10 File:Codex Borgia page 11.jpg, Page 11 File:Codex Borgia page 12.jpg, Page 12 File:Codex Borgia page 13.jpg, Page 13

Section 3: The Lords of the Night (14)

Page 14 is divided into nine sections for each of the nine

, pre-Hispanic deities which ruled nighttime. They are accompanied by a day sign and symbols indicating positive or negative associations. The deities and prognostications according to ''

Codex Ríos ''Codex Ríos'' is an Italian translation and augmentation of a Spanish colonial-era manuscript, Codex Telleriano-Remensis, that is partially attributed to Pedro de los Ríos, a Dominican friar working in Oaxaca and Puebla between 1547 and 1562. ...

'' and Jacinto de la Serna, a Spanish cleric of the XVIIth century, are as follows: # Xiuhtecuhtli (Ríos: good; de la Serna: bad) # Tezcatlipoca (Ríos: bad; de la Serna: bad) # Pilzintecuhtli (Ríos: good; de la Serna: very good) # Chalchiuhtlicue (Ríos: indifferent; de la Serna: very good) # Mictlantecuhtli (Ríos: bad; de la Serna: good) # Centeotl (Ríos: indifferent; de la Serna: very good) # Tlazolteotl (Ríos: bad; de la Serna: bad) # Tepeyolotl (Ríos: good; de la Serna: good) # Tlaloc (Ríos: indifferent; de la Serna: very good) File:Codex Borgia page 14.jpg

Section 4 and 5: Mantics referring to children. Tezcatlipoca, lord of fate (15–17)

Pages 15 to 17 depict deities associated with

childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births globall ...

. Each of the twenty sections contains four day signs. The bottom section of page 17 contains a large depiction of

Tezcatlipoca Tezcatlipoca (; nci, Tēzcatl ihpōca ) was a central deity in Aztec religion, and his main festival was the Toxcatl ceremony celebrated in the month of May. One of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the God of providence, he is a ...

, with day signs associated with different parts of his body. Image:Codex Borgia page 15.jpg, Page 15 Image:Codex Borgia page 16.jpg, Page 16 Image:Codex Borgia page 17.jpg, Page 17

Section 6: Different prognostications (18–21)

Prognostications related to different activities being performed by gods, including religious activities (Tonatiuh, Ehecatl), woodcutting (Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli), agriculture (Tlaloc), crossing a river (Chalchiuhtlicue) travelling (red Tezcatlipoca), and the ball-game (black Tezcatlipoca). Image:Codex Borgia page 18.jpg, Page 18 Image:Codex Borgia page 19.jpg, Page 19 Image:Codex Borgia page 20.jpg, Page 20 Image:Codex Borgia page 21.jpg, Page 21

Section 7 and 8: Wounded deer and the cultic qualities of the 20 day-signs (22–24)

The upper side of page 22 presents two deer, one white, with closed eyes and surrounded by precious regalia, and other being pierced by a dart or arrow, which gives its name to the section. Pages 22–24 present the ritual qualities of the 20 day-signs. File:Codex Borgia page 22.jpg, Page 22 File:Codex Borgia page 23.jpg, Page 23 File:Codex Borgia page 24.jpg, Page 24

Section 9 and 10: The four quarters and the region of the dead

Two directional almanacs, one depicting four deities (Tlaloc, Xipe Totec, an unidentified Mixtec god, and Mixcoatl), and a directional almanac related to death, associated with four deities. File:Codex Borgia page 25.jpg, Page 25 File:Codex Borgia page 26.jpg, Page 26

Section 11 and 12: The rain gods of the 4 quarters and the centre (27–28)

Pages 27 and 28 center on the Postclassical period central Mexican rain god Tlaloc, associated to the 4 quarters and the centre, as well as the qualities of the rains that he will bring, some destructive, some beneficial. File:Codex Borgia page 27.jpg, Page 27 File:Codex Borgia page 28.jpg, Page 28

Section 13 (pages 29–46): The Cultic Part

Having no discernible parallels with other manuscripts within the Borgia Group, the interpretation of this section has varied strongly throughout the years. Its first interpreter, the jesuit Lino Fábrega, considered it to be a native

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the Sun path, apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. ...

, divided in 18 signs.

Eduard Seler Eduard Georg Seler (December 5, 1849 – November 23, 1922) was a prominent German anthropologist, ethnohistorian, linguist, epigrapher, academic and Americanist scholar, who made extensive contributions in these fields towards the study of ...

, its first modern interpreter, considered it to be the journey of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

through the underworld. His astronomical interpretation was continued by his disciple, Friedrich Röck, as well as modern scholars such as Susan Milbrath. It was Karl Anton Nowotny, a disciple of Röck, who first questioned the 'astral interpretation' of Seler's school, partly inspired by Alfonso Caso's work on Mixtec codices, where it was demonstrated that those documents were not astronomical, but historical. Nowotny proposed that each of the 18 pages of this section describes a different ritual, proposing the following internal division: # Cult of the wind gods (p. 29) # Cult of the rain gods (p. 30) # Cult of the maguey (p. 31, above) # Cult of the corn (p. 31, below) # Cult of Tezcatlipoca (p. 32) # The black temple (p. 33) # The red temple (p. 34) # Opening of a ritual bundle (p. 33) # Sacrifice to the sun (p. 39-40) # Sacrifice to the Cihuapipiltin (pp. 41–42) # A corn festival (p. 43) # Enthronement of a prince (p. 44) # Cult of the Morning Star (p. 45) # Fire-Drilling (p. 46) Nowotny's interpretation has become the basis of many subsequent readings, such as those of Ferdinand Anders, Maarten Jansen, and Luis Reyes (1993), who complemented Nowotny's interpretation with ethnographic data and re-interpreted some of the rituals; that of Bruce Byland and John Pohl, who researched the relationship between the rites depicted in this section and the rituals of Mixtec kings; and that of Samantha Gerritse, who offers a narratological analysis. Other diverging models are that offered by Elizabeth Hill Boone, who considers these pages to be a cosmological narrative, and that of Juan José Batalla Rosado, who considers them to be a series of hallucinations that pre-Hispanic priests would have to endure during initiation. File:Codex Borgia page 29.jpg, Page 29 File:Codex Borgia page 30.jpg, Page 30 File:Codex Borgia page 31.jpg, Page 31 File:Codex Borgia page 32.jpg, Page 32 File:Codex Borgia page 33.jpg, Page 33 File:Codex Borgia page 34.jpg, Page 34 File:Codex Borgia page 35.jpg, Page 35 File:Codex Borgia page 36.jpg, Page 36 File:Codex Borgia page 37.jpg, Page 37 File:Codex Borgia page 38.jpg, Page 38 File:Codex Borgia page 39.jpg, Page 39 File:Codex Borgia page 40.jpg, Page 40 File:Codex Borgia page 41.jpg, Page 41 File:Codex Borgia page 42.jpg, Page 42 File:Codex Borgia page 43.jpg, Page 43 File:Codex Borgia page 44.jpg, Page 44 File:Codex Borgia page 45.jpg, Page 45 File:Codex Borgia page 46.jpg, Page 46

Section 14: The Cihuateteo and the Macuitonaleque (47-48)

This section depicts the

Cihuateteo In Aztec mythology Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoam ...

, the divinized spirits of the women that died in child-birth, and the Macuiltonaleque, minor spirits of excess, pleasure and violence. File:Codex Borgia page 47.jpg File:Codex Borgia page 48.jpg

Section 15, 16, and 17: Directional Almanacs and the 'deer of our flesh' (50-53)

The directional almanacs depict the four quarters of the universe and the centre, and their corresponding day signs, sacred trees, and 'mantic images'. The 'deer of our flesh' or ''tonacayo mazatl'' is a corporeal almanac, associating parts of the human body figured as a deer with day-signs. Its meaning is not agreed: according to ''Codex Tudela'', they are mere prognostications for people born at those birth signs, while ''Codex Rios'' suggest a medical use. File:Codex Borgia page 49.jpg File:Codex Borgia page 50.jpg File:Codex Borgia page 51.jpg File:Codex Borgia page 52.jpg File:Codex Borgia page 53.jpg

Section 18: The morning star (53-54)

This section starts in the lower left part of page 53 and continues throughout page 54. It is generally considered, following Seler, that the iconography depicts Venus as the morning star, piercing different characters or iconographic elements in different day-signs. Due to the mechanics of the Tonalpohualli, the heliacal rising of Venus can only happen in five day signs: Crocodile, Snake, Water, Reed and Movement. Thus, the prognostications associated to the rising of the planet in each day, as well as the next three days, are presented. The interpretation of the iconography of each unit has been related to water (Caiman, Wind, House, Lizard), polities (Snake, Death, Deer, Rabbit), earth and agriculture (Water, Dog, Monkey, Grass), rulers (Reed, Jaguar, Eagle and Vulture), and war (Movement, Flint, Storm, Flower). Recently the scholar Ana Díaz has questioned the calendrical mechanism present in these pages, which don't seem to be fit for this astronomical calculation; however, hieroglyphic evidence from Seibal in the Maya area and the heavily Toltec-influenced

Maya Codex of Mexico The ''Maya Codex of Mexico'' (MCM) is a Maya screenfold codex manuscript of a pre-Columbian type. Long known as the ''Grolier Codex'' or ''Sáenz Codex'', in 2018 it was officially renamed the ''Códice Maya de México'' (CMM) by the National I ...

, the oldest Venus almanac in Mesoamerica, suggest that these calculations are central Mexican in origin, rather than Maya. File:Codex Borgia page 53.jpg File:Codex Borgia page 54.jpg

Section 19: The gods of the merchants (55)

This section depicts day-signs associated to different deities represented as travellers or merchants, and their associated prognostications. File:Codex Borgia page 55.jpg

Section 20: The Tonalpohualli divided among Quetzalcoatl and Mictlantecuhtli (56)

This page depicts Mictlantecuhtli and Quetzalcoatl back to back. The purpose is unknown, but perhaps it was related to life and death prognostications in medicine. File:Codex Borgia page 56.jpg

Section 21 and 22: Marriage Prognostications

This section comprises prognostications for marriages. The coefficient of the Tonalpohualli birth-sign of the groom and the bride (comprising from 1 to 13) are added, and the resulting sum is compared to each of the images, which go from 2, the lowest result, to 26, the highest. The prognostication is given by the iconography: in general, even numbers are unlucky, odd, lucky. File:Codex Borgia page 57.jpg File:Codex Borgia page 58.jpg File:Codex Borgia page 59.jpg File:Codex Borgia page 60.jpg

Section 23 and 24: The twenty 13-day 'weeks' or ''trecenas'' of the Tonalpohualli, and the auguric birds of each day (61-70)

A complete tonalpohualli, comprising the twenty 13-day periods which were known as ''trecenas'' in Spanish, which some chroniclers considered equivalent to weeks in the Gregorian calendar. Each trecena is named after its initial day-sign, and each has a patron god which determines if it is either lucky or unlucky. Trecenas, patron gods and prognostications are the following, according to the glosses in ''Codex Borbonicus'': # One Caiman, Tonacatecuhtli # One Jaguar, Ehecatl # One Deer, Tepeyollotl # One Flower, Huehuecoyotl # One Reed, Chalchiuhtlicue # One Death, Tonatiuh # One Rain, Tlaloc # One Grass, Mayahuel # One Snake, Xiuhtecuhtli # One Flint, Mictlantecuhtli # One Monkey, Patecatl # One Lizard, Ixtlacoliuhqui # One Movement, Tlazolteotl # One Dog, Xipe Totec # One House, Itzpapalotl # One Vulture, Xolotl # One Water, Chalchiuhtotolin # One Wind, Chantico # One Eagle, Xochiquetzal # One Rabbit, Xiuhtecuhtli The final page of this section depics the sun god, Tonatiuh, receiving offerings, and states the sacred flying animals associated to each day. File:Codex Borgia page 61.jpg, Page 61 File:Codex Borgia page 62.jpg, Page 62 File:Codex Borgia page 63.jpg, Page 63 File:Codex Borgia page 64.jpg, Page 64 File:Codex Borgia page 65.jpg, Page 65 File:Codex Borgia page 66.jpg, Page 66 File:Codex Borgia page 67.jpg, Page 67 File:Codex Borgia page 68.jpg, Page 68 File:Codex Borgia page 69.jpg, Page 69 File:Codex Borgia page 70.jpg, Page 70 File:Codex Borgia page 71.jpg

Section 25 The 20 'weeks', the quarters of the universe and the centre

This almanac divides the 20 day-signs into quarters associated with deities and snakes forming a xicalcoliuhqui or meandering pattern. File:Codex Borgia page 72.jpg

Section 26: 20 and 26 day-signs related to Quetzalcoatl and Mictlantecuhtli

Similar to section 20, but divided in four quarters rather than two halves. File:Codex Borgia page 73.jpg

Section 27: 20 day signs referred to men and women

This almanac presents a Cihuapilli and a Macuiltonaleque, each associated with day-signs. File:Codex Borgia page 74.jpg

Section 28: Gods of the half-''trecenas''

This almanac depicts the ruling deities of half-''trecena'' periods, enthroned, receiving cult and with associated mantic images. File:Codex Borgia page 75.jpg File:Codex Borgia page 76.jpg

References

;Bibliography * * * * * * *

External links

* * * {{Borgia Group Borgia 16th-century manuscripts Middle American pictorial manuscripts