Dec 08

2010 The Aztec Calendar Stone

Posted by: josh prestin on Dec 8, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged 
 
The Aztec calendar stone is a massive 25 ton stone that was carved with an image of the
Aztec calendar. It is twelve feet across, and the stone is over three feet thick! 

The edges of the giant stone are inscribed with 365 symbols for days, and 260 days for
religious calendars. Combined, these symbols establish the calendar round, and make up
the Aztec "century" which was 52 years long. The manner by which each day was called
was a combination of the aligning symbols. The symbols for calling each day also aligned
with one of the four compass directions. 
At the center of the calendar stone is the face of Tonatiuh, the Aztec Sun god. They
believed that all circled around him and created their calendar to reflect this. I find this
particularly interested because at this time in history, the Europeans still believed in a
geogentric theory rather than a Sun-centered solar system. 
One of the circular rings depicting the 20 day cycle of each month has symbols for each
specific day. The days go as follows: Snake - Coatl, Lizard - Cuetzpallin, House - Calli,
Wind - Ehecatl, Crocodile - Cipactli, Flower - Xochitl, Rain - Quiahuitl, Flint -
Tecpatl,Movement - Ollin, Vulture - Cozcacuauhtli, Eagle - Cuauhtle, Jaguar - Ocelotl,
Cane - Acatl, Herb - Malinalli, Monkey - Ozomatli, Hairless Dog - Itzquintli, Water - Atl,
Rabbit - Tochtli, Deer - Mazatl, Skull - Miquiztli.

Around the outermost circle, the 52 year symbols act as the body of a snake that you
follow from head to tail when completing each century.

The Aztec name for this stone is Cuauhxicalli, or the Eagle Bowl. Many other
representations of this are found around the Aztec empire, but none are as large or
elaborate as this Sun Stone (another name for the calendar stone). The Aztec Sun Stone
was buried eventually, and was discovered in the midst of Mexico City on December 17,
1790. It was then implanted into a wall of one of the cathedrals there until it was finally
removed and sent to the National Museum of Archaeology and History in 1885. 
Sources:
http://www.crystalinks.com/aztecalendar.html
http://www.aztec-history.com/aztec-calendar-stone.html
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/class/oconnell/astr121/azcalImages.html
 Aztec Calendar Wheels

The Aztec calendar wheels have been a source of fascination for

centuries.  It wasn't just a way to keep time - it was a complete
philosophy of time.  The Aztecs felt that there was religious significance in
every day.  They also believed that time went in cycles - ultimately in the
repeated destruction and recreation of the world.

The Aztecs weren't the only people that thought this way.  Many
peoples around the world have thought of time as cyclic.  The belief in
reincarnation, for example, is a reflection of this - and the idea of karma
("what goes around comes around").  In contrast, a linear system has a
progression (as in Darwin's concept of evolution) and/or an end or
consummation (as in the Christian concept of time).  The idea of cycles of
time was common in Mesoamerica for hundreds of years.  The Aztec
calendar was a variation of earlier calendars, such as the well known (and
extremely accurate) ancient Mayan calendar.

Of course, many people today combine the two systems of time, which is
possible if you imagine that there is repetition in time, but it has an
ultimate end (or it's ultimately in cycles, but there are long "linear"
periods).

The roots of the Aztec calendar wheels

The earliest calendars in Mesoamerica used a 260 day cycle, as did the
Aztec calendars.  Not only was it the basis for the ancient Mayan calendar,
but also the calendars of the Olmec, Toltec, Zapotec, and many more.

It could be argued that the system reached its height in the ancient
Mayan calendar.  Their system was used to keep their many records.  It
was also used to plan events - to ensure that everyone used "lucky" and
"unlucky" days to their advantage.  E. G. Richards, in his book Mapping
Time (see below), tells of one prisoner captured by the Mayans who had
to remain on "death row" for 12 years while he waited for a proper
conjunction of Venus for his execution!  (The calendar was not always
directly tied to the movement of the planets (as is claimed in astrology),
but they did use the planets to measure time.)

How the Aztec calendar wheels work

When you think of a mechanical clock, you can see that the idea of a
calendar wheel is not so unusual.  A mechanical clock has gears, like the
gears on a bike.  A smaller gear (or wheel) moves a larger gear.  That's
basically how the Aztec calendar wheels work.

There are, in a sense, three wheels in the Aztec system, each

representing a different calendar.  There was a 260 day cycle, a 365 day
cycle, and a 52 year cycle - three "wheels" that worked together.

The Aztec date-keeping was sometimes less precise than the Mayan
system.  For example, a certain date could refer to a couple of different
times in a year.  To this day there is disagreement about when events
occurred in the Aztec empire, for this very reason.

The tonalpohualli
The 260 day system was called thetonalpohualli.  It was broken up into 20
periods of 13 days (trecenas) each (20x13=260).  Each period had a
name, and each of the 13 days had a name.
This was a religious calendar, which the
priests used to find the luckiest days for
various activities.  The Aztecs weren't
concerned that the years (or 260 days)
always coincide with the seasons (their
years "wandered").

This calendar can be imagined as two

interlocking wheels, one with the numbers
1-20, or in this case 20 symbols, and
another with the numbers 1-13.  On the
first day you have the first symbol and the
number 1.  After 14 days, you're on number
1 and symbol 14.  After 21 days, you're at number 8 and symbol 1.  And
so on.

We don't know how this cycle came into being.  It has been suggested
that the period of 260 days is close to the length of human pregnancy.

See a picture of Aztec calendar wheels from Smith College.

The xiuhpohualli
The year count was called the xiuhpohualli.  This was actually kept to the
365 day count that we're more familiar with.  Naturally, this was more
related to the seasons, and so was used as an agricultural calendar.  It
was divided into 18 periods (meztli), 20 days (veintenas) each.
18x20=360.  Yes, 5 days were left over.  These were called nemontemi,
and they were festival days.  This calendar was also used for ceremonies
and festivals.  This can be imagined as a wheel with 20 and another with
18, except that every 360 days the wheel is "reset" for 5 days.

A wheel within a wheel

But there are actually 3 Aztec calendar wheels - there is a third big wheel
called the calendar round.  The two major cycles (the tonalpohualli and
the xiuhpohualli) were interlocking, and every 52 years they would align
again.  This was a sort of Aztec "century", and was a reason for more
 religious celebration.  Any day in this system (used by the Mayans and
Aztecs) would not be repeated for 18,980 day, or, 52 years.  You can read
more about Aztec religious festivals here.

Aztec Calendar Wheels, Central America, 1000 BCE

by Kate McCloskey, '97

From 1000 BCE, most of Central America used similar types of calendars
based on material objects and celestial constellations. The two most common
calendars were the 260-day festival calendar and the 365-day solar calendar.
The correlation between the two occurs every 52 years when both begin their
new years. This is called the "Calendar Round" and the number became
important in Central American cultures. 

The 260-day calendar, called a tzolkin, consists of two wheels, a larger one of
twenty days and a smaller one with the numbers one through thirteen. The
number twenty was based on the digits of a "whole man" (i.e., fingers and
toes) and the thirteen numbers represented their philosophy of thirteen
directions in space. The early Central Americans believed that this ritualistic
calendarrepresented an archetypal state of human and cosmic harmony.

Each rotation through the thirteen numbers represents one "week" in this
system. The first, sixth, eleventh, and sixteenth weeks were special and very
important; they created the four divisions of their year. Each of the twenty
days was associated with tangible objects or animals and a deity. This created
a sort of permanent fortune-telling machine and guided their destinies.

The following is a list of the objects and deities associated with each day. The
designation of the start of the year changes from Aztec to Zapotec to Mayan,
though the order that the days follow seems to be consistent among them.

1. Cipactli (alligator) -- god of feasts

2. Ehecatl (wind) -- god of fire, life, spirit
3. Calli (house) -- god of darkness, night
4. Cuetzpallin (lizard) -- god of harvest
5. Coatl (serpent) -- serpent god
6. Miquiztli (death) -- god of death
7. Mazatl (deer) -- hunting god
8. Tochtli (rabbit) -- fertility god
9. Atl (water) -- storm god
10.Itzcuintl (dog) -- lightning beast
11.Ozomatli (monkey) -- god of the north1
12.Malinalli (grass) -- god of cleansing
13.Acatl (reed) -- god of dwellings
14.Ocelotl (jaguar) -- god of the heavens
15.Cuachtli (eagle) -- great mother earth
16.Cozcauauhtli (vulture) -- hunting god
17.Ollin (motion) -- the cardinal directions
18.Tecpatl (flint) -- serpent god
19.Quiauitl (rain) -- god of thunderstorms
20.Xochitl (flower) -- sun god

      AZTEC DAY-COUNT CONCEPTUAL

ILLUSTRATION
Animation of  Native Time-keeping System follows the concepts as explained in the
illustration reprint directly below. The basis for this meshing-gear interpretive
representation is derived from Diego Duran's eyewitness statements and so configured
to produce similar results.  The icon that is refered to as the Aztec Calendar is in fact
from Toltec science arriving at Tenochtitlan from Cholula in 1375, originating from
Teotihuacan before that. It is the calendar of the Fifth Sun, whose days were counted
in darkness. It began when two self-sacrificing human messengers were transformed
into spirits and woke up the sun and moon, thus saving the Earth.
..
 Tabela de unidades da contagem longa

Dias Período da contagem longa Período da contagem longa Anos solares aproximados

1 = 1 K'in    

20 = 20 K'in = 1 Winal 0.055

360 = 18 Winal = 1 Tun 1

7,200 = 20 Tun = 1 K'atun 19.7

144,00
= 20 K'atun = 1 B'ak'tun 394.3
0