What is the AZTEC CALENDAR and what does it represent?

One of the most recognized and important elements of the Aztec culture is its calendar, being very interesting to know their symbols and what they represent to understand what life was like for such an important and interesting civilization as the Aztec. To delve into this topic in this lesson from a teacher we must talk about what is the Aztec Calendar and what does it represent.

The Aztec calendar is the way the aztecs they measured time of their culture. It is a very special and unique type of measurement, being very interesting to analyze it to understand the Aztec people.

Although we are not totally sure of the origin of the Aztec calendar, we can say that it could be born from the influence of other similar mechanisms of peoples such as the mayan, since the Mayan calendar bears a great resemblance with the Aztec in many respects.

We must say that the Aztec calendar has almost nothing to do with the well-known Sun Stone, since although For centuries it has been thought that they had some kind of relationship, the reality is that they are two elements totally different.

2 types of Aztec calendars

The Aztecs had two different calendars and due to their relevance it is necessary to speak of the two in a different way:

• The ritual calendar: Used by priests as a divination value. With 260 days divided into twenty 13-day months, it was used for elements such as the best dates for sowing or traveling.
• The solar or civil calendar: With 365 days divided into 18 months of 20 days each, basically used to guide the Aztecs in everyday life.

To continue with this lesson from A Teacher and understand what the Aztec Calendar is and what it represents, we must talk about the different months of the Aztec calendar, being named depending on the god of the month to which they worshiped. The months of the Aztec calendar are as follows:

1. Cuahuitlehua: In this month they worshiped the aztec godTlaloc, being a water deity that helped the abundant rains to stop and the trees to grow. Among the rituals of this month we find sacrifices in the water or raising of huge wooden stakes referring to the growth of trees.
2. Tlacaxipehualiztli: In this month they worshiped the god Xipe Totec, being the god of life and death. Being one of the gods with the bloodiest rituals in them, war criminals were sacrificed and the cure of complicated diseases was requested.
3. Tozoztontli: The Goddess Centered Month Coatlicue, being when boys and girls were initiated into social life. Among the rituals of this month we find vigilance in the crops at all hours to ask that it grow well, and dances and offering flowers to the deity.
4. Huey Tozoztli: Month related to gods Cinteotl and Chicomecóatl, to which rituals related to the sacrifice of birds and great celebrations related to the corn field were performed.
5. Toxcatl: This month was focused on Huitzilopochtli, God of the Sun and one of the main deities of the Aztecs. During this month there was a procession with a large figure representing the deity to try to stop the drought.
6. Etzalcualiztli: Month used to thank Tlaloc the abundance of water and that thanks to it a lot of harvest had appeared. It was a month with festivities based on eating food generated by the harvest.
7. Tecuilhuitontli: Month centered on Huixtocíhuatl, goddess of salt. For a month a daughter of the salt workers dressed as a goddess and she was treated as such, but at the end of the month she was sacrificed to honor the goddess.
8. Huey Tecuilhuitl: Similar to the previous month, this time the gods represented were Xilonen, goddess of sweet corn, and Xochipilli, god of joy, being sacrificed two citizens who for a month pretended to be the gods.
9. Tlaxochimaco: Month in which the god of darkness was worshiped Tezcatlipoca, the god of the sun and war Huitzilopochtli, and Mictlantecuhtli representative of the dead. During the month the gods received many tributes, especially flowers.
10. Xocotlhuetzi: Month centered on the gods of heat and merchants, being the time when fasting for a few days to honor the deceased.
11. Ochpaniztli: This month was considered the change of cycle, cleaning statues, temples and other buildings to purify the entire city and be able to change to a new cycle.
12. Teotleco: Month centered on numerous sacrifices of prisoners of war, since it was considered that during This month is when the gods would come to the world of the living and the sacrifices helped them in their road.
13. Tepeilhuitl: Month focused on honoring the mountains and mountains, since it was considered that when the water came out of there is where life was born thanks to the gods.
14. Quecholli: Month centered on the god of war Mixcoatl, being an era based on the creation of spears to honor the graves of fallen soldiers.
15. Panquetzaliztli: The month centered on Huitzilopochtli, being the main god of the Mexica. It was a month based on songs and dances that ended with the sacrifice of about twenty people.
16. Atemoztli: Being a month with little water, numerous rituals and sacrifices were performed to the god Tlaloc.
17. Title: Month in which he had a sour bread and a sour drink to honor the gods.
18. Izcalli: This month was the last of the year, so it was a kind of celebration of the end of the cycle and the beginning of another.