Aztec calendars

16th century Mexica sculpture

calendar

right|280px|thumb|Page 11 reverse from , showing four day-symbols of the : ( = one) Flint/Knife , ( = two) Rain , ( = three) Flower , and ( = four) Caiman/Crocodile (), with Spanish descriptions. thumb|Above is the Codex Telleriano-Remensis: Folio 10r annotated to identify the day signs (Tonalpohualli) and counts on the page. This page includes the later half of a Trecena, starting with 6 grass (6 Malinalli) and ending with 13 rain (13 Quiyahuitl). The Trecena progresses from the second row and the first column and continues to the right. Once it is five columns in the order it progresses down

thumb|Cipactli

The xiuhpōhualli (, from (“year”) + (“count”)) is a 365-day calendar used by the Aztecs and other pre-Columbian Nahua peoples in central Mexico. It is composed of eighteen 20-day "months," which through Spanish usage came to be known as (“scores, groups of twenty”), with an inauspicious, separate 5-day period at the end of the year called the . The name given to the 20-day periods in pre-Columbian times is unknown, and though the Nahuatl word for moon or month, , is sometimes used today to describe them, the sixteenth-century missionary and ethnographer, Diego Durán explained that:

set of nine gods in Mesoamerican mythology

right|400px|thumb|The original page 13 of the Codex Borbonicus, showing the 13th trecena of the Aztec sacred calendar. This 13th trecena was under the auspices of the goddess [[Tlazolteotl, who is shown on the upper left wearing a flayed skin, giving birth to Cinteotl. The 13 day-signs of this trecena, starting with 1 Earthquake, 2 Flint/Knife, 3 Rain, etc., are shown on the bottom row and the left column.]]

Aztec religious ceremony of renewal held every 52 years

250px|right|thumb|The Aztec "Sun stone" presenting elements of the Aztec calendar.

Aztec mythology belief

thumb|right Atemoztli is the sixteenth month of the Aztec calendar. It is also a festival in the Aztec religion dedicated to Tlaloc and Tlaloque.

thumb | right | An illustration of the God, Huitzilopochtli, and description of the Nemontemi days In the Aztec (Mexica) culture, the Nahuatl word '''''' refers to a period of five intercalary days inserted between the 360 days labeled with numbers and day-names in the main part of the Aztec seasonal calendar. Their location was roughly around 5–18 March every Gregorian year.

thumb| Izcalli is the name of the eighteenth and last month of the Aztec calendar. It is also a festival in the Aztec religion, for which the principal deity is Xiuhtecuhtli the fire God. Old people are honored this month and it is known as Rebirth Month.