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Aztec and Maya Calendar

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In the tonalpohualli, the sacred Aztec calendar, Wednesday December 3, 1539 is:

Tonalli: − +

day

Mahcuilli Ozomahtli

5 - Ozomahtli (monkey)

Trecena: − +

13-day period

Ce Mazatl

Mazatl (deer)

Xihuitl: − +

solar year

Chicuei Acatl

8 - Acatl (reed)


Yoaltecuhtli:

Lord of the Night

Centeotl

Long Count:

Mayan calendar

11.16.0.1.11

Xiuhpohualli:

365-day calendar

18 - Panquetzaliztli (XVI)

(Correlation: Alfonso Caso [adjust])

The significance of this day

Aztec facts

The Aztecs did not use a leap year correction but they knew the length of a solar year is neither 365 nor 365.25 days. Presumably they kept some count of days to register astronomical events but no evidence of an Aztec Long Count exists.

Day Ozomahtli (Monkey) is governed by Xochipili, the Flower Prince, as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. Ozomahtli is a day for creating, for play, for celebrating. A good day for lightheartedness, a bad day for seriousness. Ozomahtli is a warning about how easily the noble person can be trapped by the lures of public life.

The thirteen day period (trecena) that starts with day 1-Mazatl (Deer) is ruled by Tepeyollotl, the Heart of the Mountain, the Jaguar of Night, lord of the animals and darkened caves. Tepeyollotl is Tezcatlipoca disguised in a jaguar hide, whose voice is the echo in the wilderness and whose word is the darkness itself, calls to the heart in the voice of the conch. These are 13 days associated with the hunt: whether one is the hunter or the game, this trecena reminds us that our lives are determined by the act of stalking. The arts of tracking and back-tracking, of spotting and camouflaging, of following tracks and covering tracks, rule our lives to the degree that we master them. These are good days to study the routines of others; bad days to keep to your routines.

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