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Aztec and Maya Calendar

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In the tonalpohualli, the sacred Aztec calendar, Thursday January 13, 1547 is:

Tonalli: − +

day

Yei Atl

3 - Atl (water)

Trecena: − +

13-day period

Ce Mazatl

Mazatl (deer)

Xihuitl: − +

solar year

Ome Tochtli

2 - Tochtli (rabbit)


Yoaltecuhtli:

Lord of the Night

Itztli

Long Count:

Mayan calendar

11.16.7.5.9

Xiuhpohualli:

365-day calendar

1 - Nemontemi (-)

(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).

This is the first of the five unlucky days (nemontemi) at the end of a year (xihuitl). It is better not to carry out any activity during these unfortunate and useless days. These nemontemi are extra dangerous because they are at the end of a calendar round of 52 years (xiuhmolpilli or bundle). All fires are to be extinguished. No public events are organized. After the nemontemi, there are seven days to prepare for the New Fire ceremony, held before the start of the day 1-Cipactli, the first day of the new bundle of years.

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-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.

Terrence Howard was born on day 3-Atl.

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