Calendar
The Aztec religious year was connected mostly to the natural 365-day calendar, the xiuhpohualli ("yearcount") - which followed the agricultural year. Each of the 18 twenty-day months of the religious year had its particular religious festival - most of which were connected to agricultural themes. The greatest festival was the Xiuhmolpilli or New Fire ceremony held every 52 years when the ritual and agricultural calendars coincided and a new cycle started. In the table below, the veintena festivals are shown, the deities with which they were associated and the kinds of rituals involved. The descriptions of the rites are based on the descriptions given in Sahagúns "Primeros Memoriales", and the Florentine Codex and of Fray Diego Duráns "Of the Gods and rites" - all of which provide detailed accounts of the rituals written in Nahuatl soon after the conquest.
| Festival | Period | Principal Deity | Theme | Rituals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlcahualo also called "Xilomanaliztli" "Spreading of corn" |
14 February - 5 March | The Tlalocs | Fertility, Sowing | Cuahuitl Ehua - a ceremonial raising of a tree, sacrifice of Children to Tlaloc |
| Tlacaxipehualiztli "Flaying of men" |
6 March - 25 March | Xipe Totec | Spring, sprouting, fertility | Sacrifice and Flaying of Captives, mock battles, gladiatorial sacrifice, priests wear victims skin for 20 days, military ceremonies |
| Tozoztontli "Little vigil" |
26 March - 14 April | Tlaltecuhtli (And the Tlalocs and Xipe Totec) |
Planting, sowing | Bloodletting, burial of the skins of the flayed captives, offering of flowers and roasted snakes to the earth. |
| Huey Tozoztli "Great vigil" |
15 April - 4 May | Cinteotl (and the Tlalocs and Chicomecoatl) | Maize, seed, sowing | Feasts to Tlaloc and the maize gods, blessing of seed corn, sacrifice of children at Mt. Tlaloc. |
| Toxcatl "Drought" |
5 May - 22 May | Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli | Renewal | Feasting, dancing, sacrifice of small birds, sacrifice of "Tezcatlipoca". |
| Etzalcualiztli "Eating of Fresh Maize" |
23 May - 13 June | Tlaloc, Chalchiuhtlicue, Quetzalcoatl | Young crops, End of dry season | Sacrifice of "Tlaloc", new mats made |
| Tecuilhuitontli "Small Festival of Lords" |
14 June - 3 July | Xochipilli | Feasts to goddess of grain, sacrifice of "Huixtocihuatl" | |
| Huey Tecuilhuitl "Great Festival of Lords" |
4 July - 23 July | Xilonen, Maize Gods | The Lords, Tender Maize | Feast of Xilonen, Sacrifice of "Cihuacoatl" and "Xilonen", Lords feed the commoners, Dancing |
| Tlaxochimaco "Giving of Flowers" (also called Miccailhuitontli - "the Small Feast of the Dead") |
24 July - 12 August | Huitzilopochtli | Flowers, trade | Small feast for the dead, feast of the Merchants, the making of the Xocotl pole |
| Xocotl Huetzi "Fruits Fall" (also called Huey Miccailhuitl - "the Great Feast of the Dead") |
13 August - 1 September | Huehueteotl, Xiuhtecuhtli | Fruits, harvest | The feasts of the Xocotl pole, bloodletting. |
| Ochpaniztli "Sweeping" |
2 September - 21 September | Tlazolteotl, Toci, Teteo Innan, Coatlicue, Cinteotl | Harvest, cleansing | Ritual sweeping, ritual bathing, sacrifice of "Teteo Innan" |
| Teteo Eco "The Gods Arrive" |
22 September - 11 October | All Deities | Arrival of the Gods | Bloodletting, feast of Huitzilopochtli, the dance of the old men. |
| Tepeilhuitl "Mountain Feast" |
12 October - 31 October | Xochiquetzal, The Tlalocs, Trade Gods | Mountains | Mountain feasts, sacrifice of "Xochiquetzal", Feasts of the Gods of different trades |
| Quecholli "Roseate Spoonbill" |
1 November - 20 November | Mixcoatl | Hunting | Ritual hunts, sacrifice of slaves and captives, weaponmaking, Armories replenished |
| Panquetzaliztli "Raising of Banners" |
21 November - 10 December | Huitzilopochtli | Tribal festival of the Aztecs, birth of Huitzilopochtli | Raising of banners, Great Huitzilopochtli festival, Sacrifices of Slaves and Captives, ritual battles, drinking of Pulque, bloodletting |
| Atemoztli "Descent of Water " |
11 December - 30 December | The Tlalocs | Rain | Waterfeasts, sacrifice of Tlaloc effigies made from maize dough |
| Tititl "Stretching" |
31 December 19 January | Ilamatecuhtli (Cihuacoatl) | Old age | Feasts to old people, Dance of the "Cihuateteo", fertility rituals, Merchants sacrifice slaves |
| Izcalli "Rebirth" |
20 January - 8 February | Tlaloc, Xiuhtecuhtli | Fertility, Water, Sowing | Eating of Amaranth Tamales Feast for Xiuhtecuhtli every four years. |
| Nemontemi | 9 February - 13 February | Tzitzimime demons | Five unlucky days at the end of the year, abstinence, no business |
Read more about this topic: Aztec Religion
Famous quotes containing the word calendar:
“To divide one’s life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry on its dull wall-existence by the arbitrary timetables we have drawn up in consultation with those permanent commuters, Earth and Sun. But we, unlike trees, need grow no annual rings.”
—Clifton Fadiman (b. 1904)