﻿The Aztec Calendar Stone. 



191 



other stones were placed in a direction, one directly north, the other di- 

 rectly south, of this mark. The two had holes drilled in them to contain 

 rods, to which a cord could be attached to serve for a meridian line, and 

 and the three stones were so arranged that the shadow of this line would 

 fall upon the mark of the band of the arrows at the instant of midday. 

 (See Grama, p. 110.) The symbol of the three arrows is of frequent occur- 

 rence in Kingsborough's wojrk. (Fig- 4.) 



Having now given you some idea of the purposes of the Aztec Calendar 

 Stone, I must here state that, in order to comprehend fully how to use it, 

 you must understand their calendar and methods of reckoning time. 



The Mexicans possessed two kinds of calendars, viz.: their civil calen- 

 dar, or reckoning by the sun, and their religious calendar, or reckoning 

 by the moon. Here we have a table of the Mexican half-century of fifty- 

 two years : 



I TLALPILLI. 



YEAR. 



2 TLALPILLI. 



YEAR. 



3 TLALPILLI. 



YEAR. 



4 TLALPILLI. 



YEAR* 





Tochtli, 



I 



I 



Acatl, 



14 



I 



Tecpatl, 



27 





Calli, 



40 



2 



Acatl, 





2 



Tecpatl, 





2 



Calli, 



28 



2 



Tochtli 



41 



3 



Tecpatl, 



3 



3 



Calli, 



16 



3 



Tochtli, 



29 



3 



Acatl, 



42 



4 



Calli, 



4 



4 



Tochtli, 



17 



4 



Acatl, 



30 



4 



Tecpatl, 



43 



5 



Tochtli, 



5 



5 



Acatl, 



18 



5 



Tecpatl, 



31 



5 



Calli, 



44 



6 



Acatl, 



6 



6 



Tecpatl, 



19 



6 



Calli, 



32 



6 



Tochtli, 



45 



7 



Tecpatl, 



7 ' 



7 



Calli, 



20 



7 



Tochtli 



33 



7 



Acatl, 



46 



8 



Calli, 



8 



8 



Tochtli, 



21 



8 



Acatl, 



34 



8 



Tecpatl, 



47 



9 



Tochtli, 



9 



9 



Acatl, 



22 



9 



Tecpatl 



35 



9 



Calli, 



48 



IO 



Acatl, 



IO 



IO 



Tecpatl 



23 



IO 



Calli, 



36 



10 



Tochtli, 



49 



1 1 



Tecpatl, 



ii 



1 1 



Calli, 



24 



ii 



Tochtli, 



37 



11 



Acatl, 



5o 



12 



Calli, 



12 



12 



Tochtli, 



25 



12 



Acatl, 



38 



12 



Tecpatl, 



5i 



13 



Tochtli, 



13 



13 



Acatl, 



26 



13 



Tecpatl. 



39 



13 



Calli, 



52 



In this they use four symbols only, but since 4 and 13 are incommen- 

 surable, no confusing repetition could occur until fifty-two years have 

 elapsed. 



The religious calendar, or reckoning by the moon, was used by the 

 priests to regulate their ritualistic festivals. It consisted of " trecena" — 

 periods of thirteen days — and twenty hieroglyphics for the days of the 

 months, by which a cycle of 260 days was formed (13 X 20 = 260). This 

 period formed the religious year. Seventy-three periods of 260 days 

 amounts to 18,980 days, the precise number of days in their half century 

 of 52 years. 



The civil year contained eighteen months of twenty days, divided into 

 four weeks or periods of five days each. Every fifth day was a grand 

 market day and a day for festivals. 



As the religious year of 260 days required 105 additional days to equal- 

 ize it with the civil year, the Aztecs used a third series, in order that the 



