The 20 Aztec astrology
Aztec calendar
The Aztec or Mexica calendar is the calendar system that was used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian peoples of central Mexico. It is one of the Mesoamerican calendars, sharing the basic structure of calendars from throughout ancient Mesoamerica.
La Malinche
La Malinche, known also as Malinalli, Malintzin or Doña Marina or Malintze, was a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, who played a key role in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, acting as an interpreter, advisor, and intermediary for the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés. Sh…
Jaguar warrior
Jaguar warriors or jaguar knights, ocēlōtl or ocēlōmeh were members of the Aztec military elite. They were a type of Aztec warrior called a cuāuhocēlōtl. The word cuāuhocēlōtl derives from the eagle warrior cuāuhtli and the Jaguar Warrior ocēlōtl. They were an elite military unit similar to …
Tecpatl
In the Aztec culture, a tecpatl was a flint or obsidian knife with a lanceolate figure and double-edged blade, with elongated ends. Both ends could be rounded or pointed, but other designs were made with a blade attached to a handle. It can be represented with the top half red, reminiscent of …
Maya mythology
Maya mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Maya tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles. The myths of the Pre-Hispanic era have to be reconstructed from iconography. Other parts of Maya oral tradition are not considered here.
Full Answer
What are the 20 Aztec Astrology signs?
The 20 Aztec astrology signs are as follows: Cipactli, Ehecatl, Calli, Cuetzpalin, Coatl, Cimi, Manik, Tochtli, Atl, Itzcuintli, Ozomahtli, Malinalli, Ben, Ocelotl, Cuauhtli, Cib, Ollin, Tecpatl, Cauac and Xochitl.
What was the significance of the days and dates on the Aztec?
So the days and dates on the Aztec calendar not only had a literal significance but also carried a spiritual and mythological significance. Aztec calendar cycles: The Aztec calendar comprised of two cycles. One was a 365-day solar cycle which the Aztecs called the Year Count. The other was a 260-day cycle which was called the Day Count.
What is the Aztec Astrology calendar?
The Aztec Astrology Calendar is made up of 260 days. The name of this calendar is referred to as Tonalpohualli. It is important to note that every single day of the Aztec astrology has got its importance. The particular meaning arises from the division that exists between the gods and goddesses.
What is the 260-day ritual cycle on the Aztec calendar?
The 260-day ritual cycle on the Aztec calendar was called tonalpohualli which means “day count”. On it, each day is represented by a combination of a number from 1 to 13 in addition to one of the twenty day signs.
What do the symbols mean on the Aztec calendar?
Some of the symbols on the Aztec calendar, representing the day, the month and the solar year, via AztecCalendar. The Sun Stone clearly displays the features of a calendar, with periods of time plotted out using symbols and sequences. The Aztec year was made up of 260 days, divided into 13 months, each with 20 days.
Why do both Aztec calendars feature the number 20?
Since their months were made of no more than twenty days, these were all the days contained in a month, because they were not guided by the moon but by the days; therefore, the year had eighteen months. The days of the year were counted twenty by twenty. Xiuhpōhualli is the Aztec year (xihuitl) count (pōhualli).
How many day signs are on the Aztec calendar stone?
The band running immediately around the suns is segmented into the 20 Aztec day-names (hence the Calendar Stone name). Then there is a decorative ring surrounded by another ring depicting symbols which represent turquoise and jade, symbols of the equinoxes and solstices, and the colours of the heavens.
How are the 2 Aztec calendars different?
One calendar, called the xiuhpohualli, has 365 days. It describes the days and rituals related to the seasons, and therefor might be called the agricultural year or the solar year. The other calendar has 260 days. In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, it is called the tonalpohualli or, the day-count.
What is the difference between the Mayan and Aztec calendar?
There are two calendars in Aztecs, whereas there are three calendar systems in Mayans. Aztec calendar is an adaptation of Mayan calendar. Aztec calendar is simpler than the complex Mayan calendar. The dates in Haab in Mayan calendar are comparable to the dates in Xiuhpohuali in Aztec calendar.
How accurate is the Aztec calendar?
It turns out that the Aztec calculation of an average 365.2420 days per year is actually closer to the real value of 365.2422 days than the old Julian value of 365.2500 days or even our current Gregorian value of 365.2425 days. The Sun Stone was hand-carved in the 52-year period from 1427 to 1479.
What are Aztec numbers?
Scientists long ago deciphered the Aztec number system, a vigesimal system (using 20 as its base) as opposed to our decimal system. In Aztec arithmetic, a dot equals 1, a bar represents 5, and there are other symbols for 20 and various multiples thereof.
What was an unlucky day in the Aztec year?
Unlucky days: The end of each 365-day cycle in the Aztec calendar was marked by 360 named days and 5 nameless days. The Aztecs considered these last five days as unlucky days. 260-day ritual cycle: The 260-day cycle on the Aztec calendar was called the ritual cycle.
What God is on the Aztec calendar?
The Aztec calendar The most important figure in the stone is Tonatiuh, the sun god, located in the center.
How do you read Aztec glyphs?
Aztec Glyphs do not have a set reading order, unlike Maya hieroglyphs. As such, they may be read in any direction which forms the correct sound values in the context of the glyph.
How does Aztec calendar work?
Like the Mayan calendar, the Aztec calendar consisted of a ritual cycle of 260 days and a 365-day civil cycle. The ritual cycle, or tonalpohualli, contained two smaller cycles, an ordered sequence of 20 named days and a sequence of days numbered from 1 to 13.
What was the Aztec prophecy?
The Aztec religion was full of gloom and doom as it were. They lived with such fear that they offered blood sacrifices to the Sun god in hopes that he would assure the rising of the sun each day. One of Montezuma's contemporaries told him that his fortune-tellers had predicted that strangers would one day rule Mexico.
What is the 20 day period of the Aztec calendar?
Through Spanish usage, the 20-day period of the Aztec calendar has become commonly known as a veintena . Each 20-day period started on Cipactli (Crocodile) for which a festival was held. The eighteen veintena are listed below. The dates are from early eyewitnesses; each wrote what they saw.
What is the Aztec calendar?
The Aztec or Mexica calendar is the calendrical system used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian peoples of central Mexico. It is one of the Mesoamerican calendars, sharing the basic structure of calendars from throughout ancient Mesoamerica . The Aztec sun stone, also called the calendar stone, is on display at the National Museum ...
How many trecenas are there in Nahuatl?
Each trecena is named according to the calendar date of the first day of the 13 days in that trecena. In addition, each of the twenty trecenas in the 260-day cycle had its own tutelary deity: Trecena. Deity.
What is the date of the first day of the year in Mexico?
His correlation argues that the first day of the Mexica year was February 13 of the old Julian calendar or February 23 of the current Gregorian calendar . Using the same count, it has been the date of the birth of Huitzilopochtli, the end of the year and a cycle or "Tie of the Years", and the New Fire Ceremony, day-sign 1 Tecpatl of the year 2 Acatl, corresponding to the date February 22. Another correlation by Ruben Ochoa uses pre-Columbian sources to reconstruct the calendar, using a method that fixes the year count to the vernal equinox and placing the first day of the year on the first day after the equinox.
How many days are in a year in Aztec?
Xiuhpōhualli is the Aztec year ( xihuitl) count ( pōhualli ). One year consists of 360 named days and 5 nameless ( nēmontēmi ). These 'extra' days are thought to be unlucky. The year was broken into 18 periods of twenty days each, sometimes compared to the Julian month.
How many days are in the tinalphualli?
Tōnalpōhualli. The tōnalpōhualli ("day count") consists of a cycle of 260 days, each day signified by a combination of a number from 1 to 13, and one of the twenty day signs.
What are the day signs in Mexico?
Day signs. The set of day signs used in central Mexico is identical to that used by Mixtecs, and to a lesser degree similar to those of other Mesoamerican calendars. Each of the day signs also bears an association with one of the four cardinal directions. There is some variation in the way the day signs were drawn or carved.
What were the Aztec calendar signs?
Most of these signs made use of animal symbolism. One of the days, for instance, was marked by Crocodile, another by the Serpent, yet others were denoted by Rabbit, Dog, Monkey, Jaguar and a whole range of other animals.
What is the symbol of death in Aztec calendar?
The 6th day in the Aztec calendar, for instance, was assigned the symbol of death and it was associated with the North. The 20th day on the calendar, which was the final day of the month, was represented by a flower and associated with the South.
How many phases are there in the Sun Stone?
The Sun Stone is divided into five portions, or five eras which are associated with five different Suns. This is in compliance with the Aztec mythology which says that mankind has perished at the end of four previous Sun cycles and that we are currently living in the fifth cycle of the Sun.
How many cycles were there in the Aztec calendar?
Aztec calendar cycles: The Aztec calendar comprised of two cycles. One was a 365-day solar cycle which the Aztecs called the Year Count. The other was a 260-day cycle which was called the Day Count. Together, these cycles aligned after every 52 years which the Aztecs called a century.
What is the 52 year cycle?
52-year cycle: Cycles are a prominent feature of Aztec mythology as well as their notions about time and space. The Aztec calendar comprises of several cycles. Among these is the 52-year cycle which marks the end of the Year Count and Day Count.
What was the 260 day cycle?
260-day ritual cycle: The 260-day cycle on the Aztec calendar was called the ritual cycle . This cycle had immense religious significance for the Aztecs and they used it to mark different religious ceremonies and rituals. Priests also used this calendar to perform divination and predict future events.
Why did the Aztecs perform rituals and sacrifices?
So they performed rituals and sacrifices to ensure that the transition from one cycle to another happened without any catastrophes.
What is the meaning of the day of Quiahuitl?
Quiahuitl is a day of relying on the unpredictable fortunes of fate. It is a good day for traveling and learning, a bad day for business and planning.
What is the 13 day period?
The thirteen day period ( trecena) that starts with day 1-Itzcuintli (Dog) is ruled by Xipe Totec, Lord of Shedding, god of seedtime. These are 13 days of devotion, companionship, self-sacrifice and love.
Did the Aztecs use leap year correction?
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.
What is the meaning of the Aztec calendar?
The particular meaning arises from the division that exists between the gods and goddesses. In western astrology, ‘signs’ is a term that used to indicate the different zodiacs existing within ...
How many glyphs are there in the Aztec zodiac sign?
As for the Aztec zodiac signs, the name used here is glyphs. Having understood this, there are 20 different glyphs in the Tonalpohualli. So the corresponding glyphs are ruled over by various goddesses or gods.
Overview
Tōnalpōhualli
The tōnalpōhualli ("day count") consists of a cycle of 260 days, each day signified by a combination of a number from 1 to 13, and one of the twenty day signs. With each new day, both the number and day sign would be incremented: 1 Crocodile is followed by 2 Wind, 3 House, 4 Lizard, and so forth up to 13 Reed, after which the cycle of numbers would restart (though the twenty day signs had not yet been exhausted) resulting in 1 Jaguar, 2 Eagle, and so on, as the days immediately f…
Xiuhpōhualli
In ancient times the year was composed of eighteen months, and thus it was observed by the native people. Since their months were made of no more than twenty days, these were all the days contained in a month, because they were not guided by the moon but by the days; therefore, the year had eighteen months. The days of the year were counted twenty by twenty.— Diego Durán
Xiuhpōhualli is the Aztec year (xihuitl) count (pōhualli). One year consists of 360 named days an…
Reconstruction of the Solar calendar
For many centuries scholars had tried to reconstruct the Calendar. A widely accepted version was proposed by Professor Rafael Tena of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, based on the studies of Sahagún and Alfonso Caso of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. His correlation argues that the first day of the Mexica year was February 13 of the old Julian calendar or February 23 of the current Gregorian calendar. Using the same count, it has been the date of t…
See also
• Maya calendar
• Mesoamerican calendars
• Aztec New Year
• Muisca calendar
External links
• The Aztec Calendar - Ancient History Encyclopedia
• (in Spanish) Detailed description of the temalacatl from Mexico's Museo Nacional de Antropología
• Daily Aztec Calendar
• Aztec Calendar Ruben Ochoa Correlation