Aztec and Maya Calendar
In the tonalpohualli, the sacred Aztec calendar, Saturday August 7, 1999 is:
Xihuitl:
solar year
13 - Acatl (reed)
Long Count:
Mayan calendar
12.19.6.7.15
Xiuhpohualli:
365-day calendar
2 - Panquetzaliztli (XVI)
(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 Cuauhtli (Eagle) is governed by Xipe Totec, God of Seedtime, as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. Cuauhtli is a day of fighting for freedom and equality. It is a day of the Warriors of Huitzilopochtli, those who sacrifice their lives willingly to keep the present age, the Fifth Sol, moving. It is a good day for action, a bad day for reflection. A good day for invoking the gods, a bad day for ignoring them.
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.