Aztec and Maya Calendar
In the tonalpohualli, the sacred Aztec calendar, Wednesday October 24, 2018 is:
Xihuitl:
solar year
6 - Tochtli (rabbit)
Xiuhpohualli:
365-day calendar
5 - Nemontemi (-)
Long Count:
Mayan calendar
13.0.5.16.13
(Correlation: Alfonso Caso - Nicholson's veintena alignment [adjust])
The significance of this day
This is the last 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. A New Fire ceremony will be held in the night after the fifth day to make sure the sun will rise again in a new xihuitl.
Day Acatl (Reed, known as Ben in Maya) is governed by Tezcatlipoca as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. Acatl is the scepter of authority which is, paradoxically, hollow. It is a day when the arrows of fate fall from the sky like lightningbolts. A good day to seek justice, a bad day to act against others.
The thirteen day period (trecena) that starts with day 1-Atl (Water) is ruled by Chalchihuihtotolin. These are 13 days of instability and unexpected events, of accidents and coincidences: these are good days to gamble a little on a long-shot; bad days to gamble a lot on a sure thing. Every day rollercoasters between all-good and all-bad, between rapture and terror. This trecena advises the priest-warrior to perfect the art of shapeshifting: only by mimicking the nature of water do we become an agent of change rather than a target of it. The purified heart casts no reflection in the smoking mirror.
Aztec facts
The last New Fire ceremony rituals (performed at the end of a 52-year calendar round or xiuhmolpilli) under Aztec reign were probably held from January 23 to February 4, 1507.