Visual Breakdown of Aztec Calender Stone

The Great Aztec Calendar

The Days and their Names:
The Aztec year consisted of 18 months divided by 20 days, in addition to five days called Nemontemi. The day symbols were taken from nature. Starting from where number 2 points, and going clockwise around the same ring.

20th day Xochital (flower)

19th day Quiahuitl (rain)

18th day Tecpatl (flint knife)

17th day Ollin (earthquake)

16th day Cozcacuahtli (buzzard)

15th day Cuauhti (eagle)

14th day Ocelotl (jaguar)

13th day Acatl (reed)

12th day Malinalli (grass)

11th day Ozomatli (monkey)

10th day Itzcuintli (dog)

9th day Atl (water)

8th day Tochtli (rabbit)

7th day Mazatl (deer)

6th day Miquiztli (death)

5th day Coatl (snake)

4th day Cuetzpallin (lizard)

3rd day Calli (house)

2nd day Ehecatl (wind)

1st day Cipactli (crocodile)

The Cardinal Points:
3. The symbol of the North: Date 1 Tecpatl (1-obsidian knife).
14. The symbol of the East: The Xiuhuitzolli
15. The symbol of the West: Date 7 Ozomatli (7-monkey)
16. The symbol of the South: Date 1-Quiahuitl (1-rain)

The Suns or Cosmic Eras:
4. The Jaguar Sun - Ocelotonatiuh - symbolizes the first of the earth's four epochs. It was believed that in this era the world was inhabited by giants that were devoured by jaguars. The jaguar is adorned with a "smoking mirror", symbol of the god Tezcatlipoca.

6. Tonatiuh's claws imprison human hearts, symbolizes the need to perform human sacrifices in honor of him.

7. The Water God - Atonatiuh. At the end of the forth era, humanity was exterminated by a flood and the surivors turned into fish. This epoch is represented by a vessel of water, and the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue.

9. The Sun of Movement - Ollin Tonatiuh - who is portrayed in the center of the Aztec Calendar, governed the universe in all its manifestations.

11. The Rain Sun - Quiauhtonatiuh. the god that reigned over this period was Tlaloc, god of rain, since it was believed that humanity was then destroyed by a rain of fire, The men who survived were converted into birds.

12. The Wind God - Ehecatonatiuh - symbolizes the second era. At its end humanity was destroyed by hurricanes and the survivors transformed into monkeys. The god of this era is Quetzalcoatl.

Circle of Blood, Solar Rays, and Exterior Cirle:
The Exterior Circle is formed by the numeral 13 Acatl and 2 fire serpents that are placed face to face.

1. Plate showing the date 13 acatl (13 reed). The day of the sun's birth.

5. Solar Ray.

8. The god Tonatiuh, the sun, faces Xiutecuitli. On each new day the sun appears as an eagle, after having vanquished the moon and the stars.

10. The god Xiuhtecutli, Lord of the Night in this context, shows his obsidian tongue.

13. Amate paper bands

This information comes from the webpage: http://www.brownpride.com/history/history.asp?a=aztecs/sunstonedetails

Calendars

Crocodile 1,8,2	Flower 7,1 Rain 6,13 Flint 5,12	Movement 4,11
Wind 2,9	The Aztecs used two different calenders, one measured time, while the other was used to fix religious festivals. The time-measuring calender was used to fix the best time for planting crops, while the religious calender told when to consult the gods. In the time-measuring calender, one year had 365 days divided into 18 months. Each month had 20 days, and there were 5 extra days at the end of the year, which were thought to be bad-luck days when disasters were most likely to happen. The fundamental Aztec calender, the religious calender, was a 260-day cycle, called the tonalpohualli, or the "count of days." Elizabeth Hill Boone excellently described how the religious calender worked in her book, "The Aztec World." She said, "Twenty day signs ran consecutively, from crocodile through flower, repeating after the 20th day. Beside the day signs ran 13 day numbers, 1 through 13, the numbers advancing with each day up to 13, when they repeated again with 1. Thus, the day count began with 1 Crocodile, 2 Wind, 3 House, 4 Lizard, and continued up to 13 Reed, when the numbers began again with 1: 1 Jaguar, 2 Eagle, 3 Vulture, and so forth. The 20 day signs and the 13 numbers, advancing side by side, yielded 260 uniquely named days. " Both calenders ran together and the same day in each fell at the same time once every 52 years. Thus, Aztec time was divided into 52-year cycles, similar to our current 100-year cycles called centuries. Different days belonged to different gods, so days could be good or bad depending on which god's day it was. A child born on a bad day received its name on a good day, to rule out all harmful effects of the bad day. At the center of the Aztecs' calendar stone is the sun god, Tonatiuh. He is surrounded by symbols of the five world creations. The symbols of the 20 days of the solar month are depicted on the stone. Also, eclipses of the sun were foretold by the calendar stone.	Vulture 3,10
House 3,10		Eagle 2,9
Lizard 4,11		Jaguar 1,8
Serpent 5,12		Reed 13,7
Death 6,13		Grass 12,6
Deer 7,1	Rabbit 8,2 Water 9,3 Dog 10,4	Monkey 11,5

From the webpage: http://library.thinkquest.org/27981/calendar.html

Tonalpohualli - The Ritual Calendar

The tonalpohualli (count of days) was the sacred almanac of the Mexicas. This ritual calendar was registered in the tonalamatl (book of days), a green-fold bark paper or deerskin codex from which a priest (called tonalpouque) cast horoscopes and predicated favorable and unfavorable days of the cycle. The almanac year comprised of 260 days, each of which was assigned a date by intermeshing one of 20 day-signs, represented graphically with a gylph, and a number from 1 to13, represented by dots so that no two days in the cycle could be confused. The almanac year was thus made up of 20 13-day weeks, with the first week beginning on 1-Crocodile and ending on 13-Reed, the second week running from 1-Ocelot to 13-Deaths' Head and so on. A god or godess was believed to preside over each day-sign, as shown in the following chart.

Cipactli-Crocodile

Tonacatecuhtli- Lord of our Sustenance; male aspect of dual gods

Ehecatl-Wind

Quetzalcoatyl- Plumbed Serpent; god of knowledge and the preisthood

Calli-House

Tepeyolohtli- Heart of the Mountain; jaguar god of the interior earth

Cuetzpallin-Lizard

Huehuecoyotl- Old Coyote; back-biiter or mischief-maker

Coatl-Serpant

Chalchiuhtlicue- Lady of the jade skirt; godess of ground waters

Miquiztli-Deaths' Head

Tecciztecatl-He from the sea-snail; moon god

Mazatl-Deer

Tlaloc- He who makes things sprout; god of rain and earth fertility

Tochtli-Rabbit

Mayahuel- She of the maguey plant; godess of pulque (maguey wine)

Atl-Water

Xiuhtecuhtli- Lord of the year; fire god, patron of rulers

Itzcuintli-Dog

Miclantecuhtli- Lord of Mictlan (Region of the Dead);god of death

Ozomatli-Monkey

Xochipilli- Flower Prince; god of flowers and plants

Malinalli-Grass

Patecatl- He from the Land of Medicines; god of medicinal plants

Acatl-Reed

Tezcatlipoca- Smoking mirror; major creator of god, god of fate

Ocelotl-Ocelot

Tlazolteotl- Eater of Filth; earth mother

Cuauhtli-Eagle

Xipe- Totec- Our Flayed Lord; god of seeding and planting

Cozcaquauhtli-Vulture

Itzapapalotl- Obsidian Butterfly; stellar and agricultural godess

Ollin-Motion

Xolotl- Double; Monster god, twin of Quetzalcoatl

Tecpatl-Flint Knife

Chalchiuhtotolin- Guise of Tezcatlipoca; god of night and the mysterious

Quiahuitl-Rain

Chantico- In the House; godess of the hearth

Xochitl- Flower

Xochiquetzal- Flower of the Rich Plume; godess of flowers

Pictures from the webpage: http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/dpalfrey/dpaztec.html