389 



solstice, which took place towards the end of 

 Atemoztli • and that the cycle finished in the 

 month of December. All these circumstances 

 agree in placing the intercalary days a short time 

 after the winter solstice. The fear of seeing the 

 star of day extinguished or disappear, the ideas 

 of sorrow and of joy expressed at the secular fes- 

 tival, refer rather to the period of the shortening 

 of the days, than to that of the equinox. It is 

 true, it was at the entrance of spring, that at 

 Rome the pontiff took the new fire from the altar 

 of Vesta ; and that the Persians celebrated the 

 great festivals of theNeurouz ; but the motives* 

 of these festivals were different from those, that 

 guided the Mexicans and the Egyptians in the 

 solstitial festivals, and those in honor of Isis. 



I have explained the system of the intercala^ 

 tion, such as it is seen in the Mexican manu- 

 scripts, such as it has been adopted by Siguenza, 

 Clavigero, Carli, and long before them by 

 Boulanger and Freret. According to this sys- 

 tem, the length of the year is supposed to be 

 365 - 25 days ; whence it results, that, from the 

 reform of the calendar in 1091, to the arrival of 

 the Spaniards, the Mexicans must have found 

 themselves in an error of more than three days. 

 Now the researches which Gama made on the 



* Dupuis, Origine des Cultes, torn. 1, p. 156 ; torn. 2, 

 P. % p. 96. 



