Aztec and Maya Calendar
In the tonalpohualli, the sacred Aztec calendar, Monday July 12, 1999 is:
Xihuitl:
solar year
13 - Acatl (reed)
Long Count:
Mayan calendar
12.19.6.6.9
Xiuhpohualli:
365-day calendar
16 - Tepeilhuitl (XIV)
(Correlation: Alfonso Caso [adjust])
The significance of this day
Aztec facts
Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, often combines two terms to create a metaphoric expression (difrasismo). Examples are 'atl-tepetl' ('water, hill') for the concept of a settlement, or 'atl-tlachinolli' (water, fire) for the concept of war.
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-Calli (House) is ruled by Itzpapalotl. The 13 days of this trecena are governed by the conflict between culture and nature: the native desire of human beings to maintain a lineage of customs and beliefs is periodically disrupted by the evolutionary leaps of nature. In this sense, nature is represented as the house into which we are born and culture as the house into which we move. These are 13 days of struggling to decide which house is really home. With every step forward, the warrior still stands at the center of the crossroads: the heart must be trained if it is to be a reliable compass. These are good days to focus on the future; bad days to focus on the past.