The tōnalpōhualli (Nahuatl pronunciation: [toːnaɬpoːˈwalːi] ), meaning "count of days" in Nahuatl, is a Mexica version of the 260-day calendar in use in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. This calendar is solar and consists of 20 13-day ( trecena ) periods. Each trecena is ruled by a different deity. Graphic representations for the twenty day names have existed among certain ethnic, linguistic, or archaeologically identified peoples. [1]
The term for the Aztec day signs, tōnalpōhualli, comes from the root word Tona which means to give light or heat. [2] Tōnalpōhualli refers to the count of the days, made up of 20 day signs and a 260 day cycle. In Aztec society there were multiple intertwining calendars, the tōnalpōhualli, and the xiuhpōhualli which refers to the solar year of 365 days. The xiuhpōhualli was divided into eighteen twenty day months, and then an extra five days at the end of the cycle. Each day denoted by a different day sign and number, the double calendars were intertwined so that every 52 years the same combination of day signs and numbers would appear again. [2] The full tōnalpōhualli cycle would take place over 260 days and since each day was unique in number and symbol each had its own intrinsic meaning. [3] It is likely that the root of these units comes from the human body: the Aztecs would count using all digits on their body consisting of the 20 day signs. [4] The 260 cycle likely originated from womans’ gestational cycle, as from the time of the first missed menstruation cycle to the time of giving birth is roughly 260 days. [4]
The tōnalpōhualli as aforementioned consists of twenty different day signs or Trecenas, which in almost all representations are accompanied with a glyph depicting its character. The Aztec form of writing is largely pictorial and was a semasiographic system, meaning writing existed separately from spoken word. [5] The glyphs were recognizable to their meaning, and members of the population would understand what day it was and their current position in time. [5] Since the Trecenas would repeat every twenty days they were accompanied by a number from 1-13. Usually the day count was depicted by small circles next to the main glyph adding up to the juncture of that day. [2] The glyphs had to be understood by the population so there is a strong level of similarity in depiction of each trecena. However, the day count seems to be up to the discretion of the artist. [2] The first day of the 13 day cycle would be one crocodile (Cipactli) and continue until 13 reeds (Acatl). The next 13 day cycle would begin with one jaguar (Ocelotl) and continue until 13 death (Miquiztli). During this cycle the Trecenas would repeat making the day eight crocodile (Cipactli) and so forth. This pattern would continue until all 20 day signs had been associated with numbers 1 through 13. The Trecenas and numbers were two separate identities, the day five deer (Mazatl) did not represent there being five deer, nor was there any significance to the number five other than as a defining number. The five relates to the juncture of the day, it comes after day 4 and before day 6 in this specific 13 day cycle. [4] The 13 day cycles are subdivisions of the larger 260 day calendar, and they pertain to different rituals and times of the year. [6] The order of the days related to all aspects of life, they dictated when was the right time to plant maize and when to harvest. People felt that they would be vulnerable if the plantings and festivals didn't take place on the specified days. [3] The gods were also associated with different days, dictating when to hold a feast in each one's honor and which god to pray to. [4] For example, One reed is associated with Quetzalcoatl , while two reeds are associated with Omacatl. [7] The larger rituals would be on the first half of the 13 day cycles, but other important religious activities were done on specific Tonalpohualli days. [4] For instance, the feast of the sun was held on four movement. [4] Most things in day to day life were dependent on the correlating tōnalpōhualli—even given name. When born, formal names would be the day you were born; for example, 5 lizard (Cuetzpalin), and this would determine the child’s destiny. [4] Furthermore, marriages were dependent on the compatibility of the couple’s day signs and numbers.
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№ | Trecena | Glyph [8] | Spirit | Cardinal point |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 Cipactli (Caiman or aquatic monster) | Tōnacātēcuhtli | East | |
2 | 1 Ehēcatl (Wind) | Quetzalcoatl | North | |
3 | 1 Calli (House) | Tepēyōllōtl | West | |
4 | 1 Cuetzpalin (Lizard) | Huēhuecoyōtl | South | |
5 | 1 Cōātl (Snake) | Chalchiuhtlicue | East | |
6 | 1 Miquiztli (Death) | Tecuciztecatl | North | |
7 | 1 Mazātl (Deer) | Tlāloc | West | |
8 | 1 Tōchtli (Rabbit) | Mayahuel | South | |
9 | 1 Ātl (Water) | Xiuhtecuhtli | East | |
10 | 1 Itzcuintli (Dog) | Mictlāntēcutli | North | |
11 | 1 Ozomahtli (Monkey) | Xochipilli | West | |
12 | 1 Malīnalli (Grass) | Patecatl | South | |
13 | 1 Ācatl (Reed) | Tezcatlipōca | East | |
14 | 1 Ocēlōtl (Ocelot or Jaguar) | Tlazōlteōtl | North | |
15 | 1 Cuāuhtli (Eagle) | Xīpe Totēc | West | |
16 | 1 Cōzcacuāuhtli (Vulture) | Itzpapalotl | South | |
17 | 1 Olīn (Movement or Earthquake) | Xolotl | East | |
18 | 1 Tecpatl (Flint or Knife) | Chalchiuhtotolin | North | |
19 | 1 Quiyahuitl (Rain) | Tōnatiuh | West | |
20 | 1 Xōchitl (Flower) | Xōchiquetzal | South |
Note that the symbols are arranged counterclockwise around the calendar stone.
Tezcatlipoca or Tezcatl Ipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion. He is associated with a variety of concepts, including the night sky, hurricanes, obsidian, and conflict. He was considered one of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the primordial dual deity. His main festival was Toxcatl, which, like most religious festivals of Aztec culture, involved human sacrifice.
Tlāhuizcalpantēcuhtli is a principal member of the pantheon of gods within the Aztec religion, representing the Morning Star Venus. The name comes from the Nahuatl words tlāhuizcalpan "dawn" and tēcuhtli "lord". Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is one of the thirteen Lords of the Day, representing the 12th day of the Aztec trecena.
In Aztec mythology, Tonacatecuhtli was a creator and fertility god, worshipped for populating the earth and making it fruitful. Most Colonial-era manuscripts equate him with Ōmetēcuhtli. His consort was Tonacacihuatl.
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The tzolkʼin is the 260-day Mesoamerican calendar used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
The calendrical systems devised and used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica, primarily a 260-day year, were used in religious observances and social rituals, such as divination.
In Aztec mythology, Huēhuehcoyōtl is the auspicious Pre-Columbian god of music, dance, mischief, and song. He is the patron of uninhibited sexuality and rules over the day sign in the Aztec calendar named cuetzpallin (lizard) and the fourth trecena Xochitl.
A trecena is a 13-day period used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican calendars. The 260-day calendar was divided into 20 trecenas. Trecena is derived from the Spanish chroniclers and translates to "a group of thirteen" in the same way that a dozen relates to the number twelve. It is associated with the Aztecs, but is called different names in the calendars of the Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, and others of the region.
A veintena is the Spanish-derived name for a 20-day period used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican calendars. The division is often casually referred to as a "month", although it is not coordinated with the lunar cycle. The term is most frequently used with respect to the 365-day Aztec calendar, the xiuhpohualli, although 20-day periods are also used in the 365-day Maya calendar, as well as by other Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Zapotec and Mixtec.
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The Codex Magliabechiano is a pictorial Aztec codex created during the mid-16th century, in the early Spanish colonial period. It is representative of a set of codices known collectively as the Magliabechiano Group. The Codex Magliabechiano is based on an earlier unknown codex, which is assumed to have been the prototype for the Magliabechiano Group. It is named after Antonio Magliabechi, a 17th-century Italian manuscript collector, and is held in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence, Italy.
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The xiuhpōhualli is a 365-day calendar used by the Aztecs and other pre-Columbian Nahua peoples in central Mexico. It is composed of eighteen 20-day "months," which through Spanish usage came to be known as veintenas, with an inauspicious, separate 5-day period at the end of the year called the nēmontēmi. The name given to the 20-day periods in pre-Columbian times is unknown, and though the Nahuatl word for moon or month, mētztli, is sometimes used today to describe them, the sixteenth-century missionary and ethnographer, Diego Durán explained that:
In ancient times the year was composed of eighteen months, and thus it was observed by these Indian 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.
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The Aubin Tonalamatl is a Nahuatl screenfold manuscript painted on native paper. It was made sometime in the early 16th century, but after 1520. The word "tonalamatl" is made up of two Nahuatl words, "tonalli" meaning day, and "amatl" referring to the paper substrate that this codex is written on. While it originally consisted of 20 pages, only 18 remain today as 2 have gone missing. The physical document itself has had an interesting history as it was taken from the original owners in Mexico and since the retrieved from the French. Today, the Aubin Tonalamatl is entrusted in the hands of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The content held within this codex has been significant to our understanding of Aztec culture and time keeping systems.