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Aztec and Maya Calendar

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In the tonalpohualli, the sacred Aztec calendar, Friday January 18, 1527 is:

Tonalli: − +

day

Chicunahui Atl

9 - Atl (water)

Trecena: − +

13-day period

Ce Cipactli

Cipactli (crocodile)

Xihuitl: − +

solar year

Chicuei Tochtli

8 - Tochtli (rabbit)


Yoaltecuhtli:

Lord of the Night

Tlaloc

Long Count:

Mayan calendar

11.15.7.0.9

Xiuhpohualli:

365-day calendar

1 - 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 first 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 Atl (Water) is governed by Xiuhtecuhtli, God of Fire, as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. Atl is a day for purification by subjecting oneself to the ordeal of conflict. It is a good day for battle, a bad day for rest. Water brings out the scorpion, who must sting its enemies or else sting itself. Atl is the day of the holy war, which is always a battle with one's own enemies within.

The thirteen day period (trecena) that starts with day 1-Cipactli (Crocodile) is ruled by Tonacatecuhtli, Lord of Nurturance, the primordial god of creation and fertility. Cipactli is god of the land, the great earth monster, floating on the sea of stars. This is the first trecena of the sacred year. The 13 days of this trecena are governed by the primordial urge to create order out of chaos. The three means by which the Old Ones established order are still our most important treasures: speech, agriculture, and the family. The lineage of thought runs from seed to fruit to seed: these are good days to participate in the community; bad days for solitude.

Robbie Williams was born on day 9-Atl.

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