aztec calendar logo
  • aztec calendar logo Aztec Calendar
  • Introduction
  • Pantheon
  • FAQ
  • Settings
  • About

Aztec and Maya Calendar

/ /

In the tonalpohualli, the sacred Aztec calendar, Thursday October 2, 2014 is:

Tonalli: − +

day

Nahui Itzcuintli

4 - Itzcuintli (dog)

Trecena: − +

13-day period

Ce Mazatl

Mazatl (deer)

Xihuitl: − +

solar year

Ome Tochtli

2 - Tochtli (rabbit)


Yoaltecuhtli:

Lord of the Night

Piltzintecuhtli

Long Count:

Mayan calendar

13.0.1.14.10

Xiuhpohualli:

365-day calendar

2 - Nemontemi (-)

(Correlation: Alfonso Caso [adjust])

The significance of this day

Aztec facts

The Aztecs did not use a leap year correction but they knew the length of a solar year is neither 365 nor 365.25 days. Presumably they kept some count of days to register astronomical events but no evidence of an Aztec Long Count exists.

This is the second of the five unlucky days (nemontemi) at the end of a year (xihuitl). It is better not to carry out any activity during these unfortunate and useless days. These nemontemi are extra dangerous because they are at the end of a calendar round of 52 years (xiuhmolpilli or bundle). All fires are to be extinguished. No public events are organized. After the nemontemi, there are seven days to prepare for the New Fire ceremony, held before the start of the day 1-Cipactli, the first day of the new bundle of years.

Day Itzcuintli (Dog) is governed by Mictlantecuhtli, God of Death, as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. Itzcuintli is the guide for the dead, the spirit world's link with the living. Itzcuintli is a good day for funerals and wakes and remembering the dead. It is a good day for being trustworthy, a bad day for trusting others of questionable intent.

The thirteen day period (trecena) that starts with day 1-Mazatl (Deer) is ruled by Tepeyollotl, the Heart of the Mountain, the Jaguar of Night, lord of the animals and darkened caves. Tepeyollotl is Tezcatlipoca disguised in a jaguar hide, whose voice is the echo in the wilderness and whose word is the darkness itself, calls to the heart in the voice of the conch. These are 13 days associated with the hunt: whether one is the hunter or the game, this trecena reminds us that our lives are determined by the act of stalking. The arts of tracking and back-tracking, of spotting and camouflaging, of following tracks and covering tracks, rule our lives to the degree that we master them. These are good days to study the routines of others; bad days to keep to your routines.

Kevin Bacon was born on day 4-Itzcuintli.

This website contains copyrighted material licensed under a Creative Commons License. See the About page.