Aztec and Maya Calendar
In the tonalpohualli, the sacred Aztec calendar, Monday November 20, 1989 is:
Xihuitl:
solar year
4 - Tochtli (rabbit)
Long Count:
Mayan calendar
12.18.16.10.8
Xiuhpohualli:
365-day calendar
20 - Cuauhuitlehua (II)
(Correlation: Alfonso Caso [adjust])
The significance of this day
Aztec facts
In the years after the conquest of Mexico, the xiuhpohualli (solar calendar) became tied to the Julian calendar as used by the Spaniards. This effectively introduced a leap year to the Aztec calendar every four years (this site provides the pre-conquest calendar).
Day Tochtli (Rabbit) is governed by Mayahuel, Goddess of the Maguey and of Fertility, as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. Tochtli is a day of self-sacrifice and service to something greater than oneself. It signifies the religious attitude which holds everything sacred and results in experiences of self-transcendence. It is a mystical day, associated by the passages of the moon. It is a good day for communing with nature and spirit, a bad day for acting against others.
The thirteen day period (trecena) that starts with day 1-Xochitl (Flower) is ruled by Huehuecoyotl, Old Coyote, the Trickster, god of deception. This trecena signifies the sacred role of the jester: revealing the truth of the old ways by treating them as irreverantly as the gods do, the jester treats nothing as sacred and so points out the sacredness of everything. These are 13 days profoundly influenced by creativity and playfulness: music, dance, art and poetry are simply masks worn by the jester to tear away the away the masks of civilization. The trickster-jester-clown is the final mask of human beings: at one with the divine absurdity of the world, the mortal creator moves toward becoming an immortal force of nature. These are good days to make things; bad days to fear what others might think.