The gods of Mexico

The tonalamatl was composed of 20 day-signs or hieroglyphs repeated 13 times, or 260 day-signs in all. The origin of these has already been treated of by Seler in Bulletin 28 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 38 ff. These 260 days were usually divided into 20 groups of 13 days each, sometimes called “weeks.” To effect this division the numbers 1 to 13 were added to the 20 day-signs in continuous series as follow:

and so on. It will be seen from this list that the fourteenth day-sign takes the number 1 again. Each of the day-signs under this arrangement has a number that does not recur in connection with that sign for a space of 260 days, as is proved by the circumstance that the numbers2 of the day-signs and [361]figures (20 to 13), if multiplied together, give as a product 260, the exact number of days in the tonalamatl.

The combination of signs and figures thus provided each day in the tonalamatl with an entirely distinct description. For example: the first day, cipactli, was in its first occurrence 1 cipactli; in its second 8 cipactli; in its third 2 cipactli; in its fourth 9 cipactli, and so on.

No day in the tonalamatl was simply described as cipactli, coatl, or calli, and before its name was complete it was necessary to prefix to it one of the numbers from 1 to 13 as its incidence chanced to fall. Thus it was designated as ce cipactli (one crocodile) or ome coatl (two snake) as the case might be. Each of the 20 groups of 13 days (which are sometimes called “weeks”) was known as a division by the name of the first day of the group, as ce cipactli (one crocodile), ce ocelotl (one ocelot), ce mazatl (one deer), and so on. A model tonalamatl would thus have appeared as follows:

Each of the day-signs of the tonalamatl was presided over by a god who was supposed to exercise a special influence over it. These patron gods were as follow:

There are slight divergencies from the standard list in some of the codices, but such are usually accounted for by the interpolation of variant phases of the deities given. Illustrations of these signs will be found in the several codices.

Each of the 20 tonalamatl divisions, or “weeks” of 13 days each, as they are sometimes erroneously but usefully designated, had also a patron god of its own which ruled over its fortunes. The initial days of these “weeks” gave the name to the entire “week,” therefore the designation of the 20 weeks was the same as that of the 20 day-signs; but the “weeks,” or rather the week-names, did not follow each other in the same incidence as the days, as will be seen from the foregoing table. The patron gods of the 20 weeks were, however, the same as those of the 20 days, with this exception, that whereas the gods of the first 10 day-signs were taken also as the rulers of the first ten weeks,3 the god of the eleventh day, Xochipilli, was allowed to drop out, the god of the twelfth day, Patecatl, taking his place, the god of the thirteenth day taking the twelfth place, and so on, the deficiency in the twentieth place being made up by adopting Itztli and Xiuhtecutli as joint gods of the twentieth “week.” The list of gods of the “weeks” would thus be as follows:

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Besides the patron gods of the days and the weeks there were nine “Lords of the Night,” which, I am inclined to think with Seler, were not “lords” or governors of nine consecutive nights, but of nine hours of each night. Perhaps the best example of these is in the tonalamatl of the Aubin collection, where they are displayed in continuous and unbroken squares in the same small, square compartments as the day-signs and ciphers, and occupy the third and second last vertical row of the upper and the third cross-row of the lower half. In Codex Telleriano-Remensis and Codex Vaticanus A they form a special series above or else facing the day-signs. We also find them displayed on sheet 14 of Codex Borgia, on sheets 19–23 of Codex Vaticanus B, and on sheets 2–4 of Codex Fejérváry-Mayer. We know the names of these gods from the first interpreter of Codex Vaticanus A, who gives them as follows, with their influences:

Gama describes these nine gods as Acompañados (Companions) and as Señores de la Noche (Lords of the Night), and from his obscure rendering of Cristoval de Castillo, as well as from the Manuel de Ministros de Indios of Jacinto de la Serna, we gather that they held sway over the night from sunset to sunrise. The Mexicans divided the night into nine hours, and it is obvious from the astrological point of view that the Mexican soothsayers who used the tonalamatl must have found it necessary to estimate not only the “fate” of the several days, but also that of the several hours and times of the day and night.4

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This of course applies with equal force to the thirteen so-called “Lords of the Day,” who almost certainly acted as gods of the thirteen hours of the day. They were5:

Seler, in his Commentary on the Aubin Tonalamatl, gives the following table of the gods of the night and day hours:

This casts light on the method of augury of the priests. Thus the hour of noon was auspicious because it was connected with the mystic number 7, and 9 was a number of good augury with sorcerers because it gave the number of the underworlds and of the night-hours.6 [366]

Although the tonalamatl has been called the “ritual calendar,” most of the feast-days theoretically vested in the “months” of the solar calendar and were called after them; but certain of the festivals appear to have been connected with the tonalamatl, to have vested in it, so to speak. We know these by their names, as they are called after the several tonalamatl dates on which they fall. Thus a festival taking the name of a day-sign theoretically belongs to the tonalamatl, and one called after a month-name to the solar calendar proper. Moreover, the former were known as “movable,” the latter as “fixed,” feasts. Occasionally these clashed, as Sahagun states, with the result that the tonalamatl feasts usurped the place of the calendar celebrations.7

Recapitulating, we find:

1. That the tonalamatl was a “Book of Fate,” and not in itself a calendar or time-count.

2. That it was composed of 20 day-signs, repeated 13 times, or 260 day-signs in all.

3. That these were usually divided into 20 groups of 13 days each, erroneously but usefully called “weeks.” The initial days of these “weeks” gave the name to the entire “week.”

4. To effect this division the numbers 1 to 13 were added to the 20 day-signs in continuous series.

5. That by this arrangement each day-sign had a number that did not recur in connection with that sign for a space of 260 days.

6. That the name of a day-sign in the tonalamatl was not complete without its accompanying number.

7. Each of the day-signs of the tonalamatl was presided over by a god who was supposed to exercise a special influence over it. (See list.)

Each of the 20 tonalamatl divisions or “weeks” had also a patron god of its own. (See list.)

8. Besides the patron gods of the days and “weeks” there were:

• (a) Nine “lords” or patron gods of the night-hours.
• (b) Thirteen “lords” of the day-hours.

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It will be asked: “In what manner did the soothsayers reconcile the days of the tonalamatl with those of the calendar?” By what method did they find such and such a day in the tonalamatl in the tonalpohualli, or solar calendar? How was the one adjusted to the other? In order to reply clearly to this question, it will first be necessary to describe briefly the nature of the Mexican solar calendar or time-count proper. The Mexican solar year consisted of 365 days, divided into 18 periods of 20 days each, called cempohualli, or “months,” and one period of 5 days, known as nemontemi, or “useless” or “unlucky” days.

The Cempohualli.—The names of the 18 cempohualli, or “months,” were8:

Eight out of eighteen of these festivals are thus connected with the appeal for rain, or the celebration of its appearance. The remainder celebrate the growth of the maize in its various stages, rejoice at the appearance of these blossoms which were [368]so dear to the Mexican heart, are held in honour of the Earth-mother, or mark the solstices.

To the combination of the tonalamatl and the solar calendar the tonalamatl contributed the names of the days, and the solar calendar the divisions of the year in which the days found positions. The tonalamatl and the solar year thus went side by side, each recommencing whenever it reached its own limits. The days in the solar year were known by the names of the days in the tonalamatl which were affixed to them. Thus it is plain that 105 of the 260 tonalamatl day-names had to be repeated in the solar year of 365 days.

The year was known by the tonalamatl sign of the day with which it began. As there were 20 day-signs, and 5, the least common multiple of 365 and 20, goes into 20 exactly 4 times, the year could begin with one of the four signs only. These were Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, Tochtli.

Each month of a given year began with the same tonalamatl day-sign. The 20 day-signs always occupied the same position in all the months of a given year, as there were 20 days in a Mexican month. But since the last month was followed by the 5 nemontemi, or “unlucky” days, it follows that each year began with a day-sign five days later than the last. Also, since 365, the number of days in a year, is divisible by 13 with 1 as remainder, it follows that each year began with a day-number one in advance of the last.

The commencement of the year coincided with the commencement of the tonalamatl once in four years.

Fifty-two years made up what has been called by modern students the Calendar Round, and by the Mexicans was known as xiuhmolpilli or toxiuhmolpio, “year bundle” or “our years will be bound.” The Mexicans, differing in this from the Maya, never progressed beyond the Calendar Round in the development of their chronological system, as is proved by the fact that dates of precisely the same designation occurred at intervals of every 52 years.

The four signs which alone might commence the year—acatl (reed), tecpatl (flint), calli (house), tochtli (rabbit), took the [369]numbers 1 to 13 continuously. The numbering of the years thus provided that every one of the 52 years of the xiuhmolpilli (or Calendar Round) was distinguished from every other. The whole cycle of 52 years was thus divided into four quarters of 13 years each. These year-names were each referred to a particular quarter of the heavens, the acatl years to the east, tecpatl to the north, calli to the west, and tochtli to the south. The computation began in the east with the acatl years, strangely enough with 2 acatl, the cycle thus closing with 1 tochtli. The Aztecs believed that the current epoch had begun with the year 1 tochtli, for it was in this period that the world had undergone reconstruction. Not until this was completed could the first cycle of 52 years be begun. Therefore 2 acatl is the opening year of the first and of all following cycles, and is usually represented by the picture of a fire-drill. The years had also colours and patron gods of their own as follows: acatl—yellow (gods Tonatiuh and Itztli); tecpatl—red (god Mictlantecutli); calli—blue (earth-goddesses); tochtli—white (Tlaloc).

Arranged in tabular form, this would appear as follows:

The five nemontemi, or “useless” days, were evidently a later interpolation, introduced at a period when it was discovered that an original time-count of 360 days did not fulfil the solar round. They were counted and distinguished, however, in precisely the same manner as the other days, that is the numerals and hieroglyphs of the tonalamatl were adjusted to them as well as to the rest, except that they had no “lords” or rulers of day or night. They were regarded as most unlucky and no business of any kind was transacted upon them, only the most necessary offices of life being undertaken whilst they lasted. They are in no sense to be regarded as intercalary days, for, despite classical statements to the contrary, the Mexicans were ignorant of the methods of chronological intercalation, and a study of the tonalamatl will show that the introduction of any intercalary period would render it nugatory and destroy that [370]ability to return into itself which is one of its chief characteristics. These nemontemi did not always fall in the same period of the solar year, but were sometimes placed before Quaitleloa, now before Tititl, now before Atemoztli, or elsewhere, as the priestly authorities decided. For the Mexican year of 365 days was short of the true solar year by six hours and some minutes, therefore in the course of years the festivals became displaced and their chronological revision and balance became necessary and could be effected by the shifting of the nemontemi.