Aztec and Maya Calendar
In the tonalpohualli, the sacred Aztec calendar, Wednesday October 31, 1537 is:
Xihuitl:
solar year
6 - Calli (house)
Long Count:
Mayan calendar
11.15.17.17.8
Xiuhpohualli:
365-day calendar
5 - Quecholli (XV)
(Correlation: Alfonso Caso [adjust])
The significance of this day
Aztec facts
The conqueror Hernán Cortés arrived on the eastern shores of the Aztec empire in the year 1-Acatl (1519). It had been predicted that on such a year Quetzalcoatl would return from the east to retake his rightful share of the throne. This belief probably weakend the defense of the Aztecs.
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.