Mexican X-plainer: The Aztec Calendar(s)

Good morning! It’s December 30, 2018 … or rather, day 7-Flower of “trecena” 1-Jaguar in the solar year 7-Reed, which is also the fourth day of the “veintena” or month Huēyi Tōzōztli.

“Wait … what?”

It’s the “Aztec” calendar(s), friends. Want to learn more?

Okay, basics first.

Most major Mesoamerican civilizations used TWO calendars simultaneously:

• a ritual calendar that was 260 days long, divided into 20 “weeks” of 13 days, known by their Spanish name, trecenas
• a solar calendar of 365 days, 18 “months” of 20 days each, known by their Spanish name, veintenas.

“That’s only 360 days, vato.”

Yeah, I know. Those five leftover days didn’t belong to any month. They just kind of lurked at the end of the year, bringing bad luck and chaos to people’s lives. More about them later.

Please note that the Nahuas (Toltecs and “Aztecs,” etc.) ADOPTED this system. It had been in use for thousands of years before the first speakers of Nahuatl arrived in Central Mexico (in the 7th century CE or so).

The Mesoamerican calendar got its start in what is now Southern Mexico and Guatemala before the rise of Maya kingdoms. Evidence suggests the Olmecs developed it. The Maya calendar is perhaps the most famous and complex. They called the ritual year tzolk’in and the solar year haab’. The 5 Empty Days were known as wayeb’. The Maya also…