Book of Days: An Introduction to the Aztec Calendar with Jesse Hathaway Diaz

The tonalpohualli,  or count-of-days, is the sacred calendar of the Mexica, also known as  the Aztecs. While a 365 day agricultural secular calendar, the xiuhpohualli,  was used to determine important seasonal agricultural festivals and  rituals, its was the day-count of the the tonalpohualli that described the flow of energies that permeated all existence. This  ritual calendar both described and created an equilibrium of forces that  kept the world in motion. Intimate knowledge of the Count-of-Days  permeated all facets of Mexica life, but was itself an inheritance of a  larger MesoAmerican calendric tradition, developed over millennia by the  Zapotec and Olmec, truly blossoming with the Mayan Tzolk’in (Mayan Count-of-Days), and ultimately used by the Mexica and their contemporaries like the Mixtec.

This  260 day calendar is an interaction of 20 day signs (such as Crocodile,   House, Water, Flower, etc.) and 13 numbers. It is the interaction of  these two components describes…