OMACATL = “TWO REEDS”
Sahagun MS. (Biblioteca del Palacio).—The regions of the forehead, nose, and mouth are “festively” painted. He wears a feather helmet and a crown of spear-shafts. His overdress has the cross-hatching which usually indicates water, and is edged with red, decorated with the eye-motif. Before him is a small shield with a plain, white surface, its lower rim edged with white feathers or paper, and in his hand he carries the “seeing” or “scrying” implement, that some of the other gods, noticeably Tezcatlipocâ, possess.[4] [[353]]
NATURE AND STATUS
This god appears to have been partly of a convivial nature and presided over banquets and festivities generally. On the occasion of a public or private rejoicing he was borne thither by certain priests. If the banquet was suitable he praised the host, but otherwise rebuked him, and it is said that, if irritated in any way, he would turn the viands into hair (as did certain of the fairies of Brittany, when annoyed or insulted). The night before a festival a cake like a large bone was made, and this, it was feigned, was a bone of the deity himself. This cake was eaten and octli was drunk, after which spines of the maguey were thrust into the stomach of the idol. There can be little doubt that, as Sahagun states,[5] Omacatl was solely and simply a god of festivities.
CIUATETEÔ = GODDESSES
CIUAPIPILTIN = PRINCESSES
- Area of Worship: Mexico.
- Calendar Place: Supposed to descend to earth on initial days of third tonalamatl quarter.
- Festival: First day of ce mazatl (movable feast); ce quiauitl (movable feast); ce ozomatli (movable feast).
- Compass Direction: West.
- Relationship: Frequently associated with the Uitznaua.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Codex Borgia.—Sheets 47–48: Five figures here represent the Ciuateteô and are dressed in the style of Tlazolteotl, with the fillet and ear-plug of unspun cotton, and the golden nasal crescent worn by that goddess and the octli-gods. In each case the eye has been gouged out and hangs out of the socket, as with Xolotl. They wear on their heads a feather ornament like the heron-feather plume of the warrior caste, but consisting of five white feathers or strips of paper above a bunch of downy feathers. At the nape of the neck the figures wear a black vessel as their device, in which lies a bunch of malinalli grass. The upper part of the body is [[354]]naked, and round the hips is wrapped a skirt showing cross-bones on its surface and a border painted in the manner of the variegated coral snake. The resemblance between all five figures is close. Only the face-, arm-, and leg-painting is different. In the case of the first the colour is white striped with red, in the second blue, in the third yellow, in the fourth red, and in the fifth black. All hold in one hand a broom of malinalli grass, and in the other a black obsidian sacrificial knife, a bone dagger, and an agave-leaf spike, both furnished with a flower symbolic of blood. They inhale the smoke which ascends from a black incense or fire-vessel standing on the ground before them. A rubber ball lies in the vessel of the first figure; with the second the vessel is replaced by a cross-way, and the ascending smoke by a centipede issuing from the mouth of the goddess. With the third a skeleton is seated in the dish, holding a heart in one hand and a sacrificial knife in the other. The ascending smoke is replaced by two streams of blood passing into the mouth of a skeleton, one of which comes from the mouth of the figure, the other from her right breast. With the fourth figure are represented a bunch of malinalli grass and a variegated snake. Nothing here enters the mouth of the Ciuateteô, but from it issues a similar snake, and another hangs on each of her arms. Before the last figure, in the dish is perched a screech-owl, and a stream of blood passes from the mouth of the figure to that of the owl.
Codex Vaticanus B.—Sheets 77–79: Five figures are here also depicted which bear a resemblance to Tlazolteotl, but are without the golden nasal crescent. With the last four the same curling locks of hair are seen as in the case of the Codex Borgia figures, but the first figure is pictured with the hair bristling up on one side, as worn by the warrior caste. The eye too is hanging out, and the headdresses and nape-vessels resemble those in Codex Borgia. In the majority of cases the skirt is white with two diagonal red stripes crossing each other. Only with the first figure is it painted red with white cross-bones. The last figure has a skirt made of strips of malinalli grass fastened by a girdle made of [[355]]a skeletal spinal column, on which is set a dead man’s skull as back-mirror. All five wear the men’s loin-cloth besides the skirt. They carry the symbols of sacrifice and mortification as in the Codex Borgia, and similar incense-vessels stand before them.
MYTHS
Sahagun says of the Ciuateteô:
“The Ciuapipiltin, the noble women, were those who had died in childbed. They were supposed to wander through the air, descending when they wished to the earth to afflict children with paralysis and other maladies. They haunted cross-roads to practise their maleficent deeds, and they had temples built at these places, where bread offerings in the shape of butterflies were made to them, also the thunder-stones which fall from the sky. Their faces were white, and their arms, hands, and legs were coloured with a white powder, ticitl (chalk). Their ears were gilded and their hair done in the manner of the great ladies. Their clothes were striped with black, their skirts barred in different colours, and their sandals were white.” He further relates (bk. vi, c. xxix) that, when a woman who had died in her first childbed was buried in the temple-court of the Ciuateteô, her husband and his friends watched the body all night in case young braves or magicians should seek to obtain the hair or fingers as protective talismans.
NATURE AND STATUS
That the witches’ sabbath was quite as famous or infamous an institution in ancient Mexico as in mediæval Europe is testified to by the numerous accounts of the missionary chroniclers, which are further corroborated by the native manuscripts. But in the days prior to the coming of the Spaniards, it was thought of as being celebrated by the dead rather than the living. The Ciuateteô, or haunting mothers, were those women who had died in their first child-bed, and who, out of envy for their more fortunate sisters and their offspring, continued to haunt the world at certain fixed [[356]]periods, wreaking their spite upon all who were so unlucky as to cross their path. They are represented in the ancient paintings as dressed in the garments and insignia of the goddess Tlazolteotl, the witch par excellence, with a fillet and ear-plug of unspun cotton, a golden crescent-shaped nasal ornament, empty eye-sockets, and the heron-feather headdress of the warrior caste, for the woman who died in child-bed was regarded as equally heroic with the man who perished in battle. The upper parts of their bodies were nude, and round the hips they wore a skirt on which cross-bones were painted. They carried the witch’s broom of malinalli grass, a symbol of death, and they are sometimes associated with the snake, screech-owl, and other animals of ill-omen. The face was thickly powdered with white chalk, and the region of the mouth, in some cases, decorated with the figure of a butterfly. These furies were supposed to dwell in the region of the west, and as some compensation for their early detachment from the earth-life, were permitted to accompany the sun in his course from noon to sunset, just as the dead warriors did from sunrise to noon. At night they left their occidental abode, the Ciutlampa, or “Place of Women,” and revisited the glimpses of the moon in search of the feminine gear they had left behind them—the spindles, work-baskets, and other articles used by Mexican women. The Ciuateteô were especially potent for evil in the third quarter of the astrological year, and those who were so luckless as to meet them during that season became crippled or epileptic. The fingers and hands of women who had died in bringing forth were believed by magicians, soldiers, and thieves to have the property of crippling and paralysing their enemies or those who sought to hinder their nefarious calling, precisely as Irish burglars formerly believed that the hand of a corpse grasping a candle, which they called “the hand of glory,” could ensure sound sleep in the inmates of any house they might enter.
Says Sahagun: “It was said that they vented their wrath on people and bewitched them. When anyone is possessed by the demons, with a wry mouth and disturbed eyes, with [[357]]clenched hands and inturned feet, wringing his hands and foaming at the mouth, they say that he has linked himself to a demon; the Ciuateteô, housed by the crossways, have taken his form.”
From this and other passages we may be justified in thinking that these dead women were also regarded as succubi, haunters of men, compelling them to dreadful amours, and that they were credited with the evil eye is evident from the statement that their glances caused helpless terror and brought convulsions upon children, and that their jealousy of the handsome was proverbial.
The divine patroness of these witches (for “witches” they are called by the old friar who interprets the Codex Telleriano-Remensis), who flew through the air upon their broomsticks and met at cross-roads, was Tlazolteotl, a divinity who, like all deities of growth, possessed a plutonic significance. The broom is her especial symbol, and in Codex Fejérváry-Mayer (sheet 17) we have a picture of her which represents her as the traditional witch, naked, wearing a peaked hat, and mounted upon a broomstick. In other places she is seen standing beside a house accompanied by an owl, the whole representing the witch’s dwelling, with medicinal herbs drying beneath the eaves. Thus the evidence that the haunting mothers and their patroness present an exact parallel with the witches of Europe seems complete, and should provide those who regard witchcraft as a thing essentially European with considerable food for thought. The sorcery cult of the Mexican Nagualists of post-Columbian times was also permeated with practices similar to those of European witchcraft, and we read of its adherents smearing themselves with ointment to bring about levitation, flying through the air, and engaging in wild and lascivious dances, precisely as did the adherents of Vaulderie, or the worshippers of the Italian Aradia.
There are not wanting signs that living women of evil reputation desired to associate themselves with the Ciuateteô. Says the interpreter of Codex Vaticanus A: “The first of the fourteen day-signs, the house, they considered unfortunate, [[358]]because they said that demons came through the air on that sign in the figures of women, such as we designate witches, who usually went to the highways, where they met in the form of a cross, and to solitary places, and that when any bad woman wished to absolve herself of her sins, she went alone by night to these places, and took off her garments and sacrificed there with her tongue (that is, drew blood from her tongue), and left the clothes which she had carried and returned naked as the sign of the confession of her sins.”
The temples or shrines of the Ciuateteô were situated at cross-roads, the centres of ill-omen throughout the world. That they had a connection with the lightning is shown by the fact that cakes in the shape of butterflies and “thunder-stones” were offered them. But they were also connected with baneful astral or astrological influences, and are several times alluded to in the Interpretative Codices in this connection. The seasons at which they were most potent for evil were those connected with the western department of the tonalamatl, the five days which compose the first column of the third quarter disposed in columns of five members, ce mazatl, ce quiauitl, ce ozomatli, ce calli, ce quauhtli. [[359]]
[1] Bradford, American Antiquities, p. 333; Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, vol. i, p. 271; Von Tschudi, Beiträge, p. 29. [↑]
[2] See Seler, Bull. 28, American Bureau of Ethnology, p. 94. [↑]
[4] See also Sahagun, bk. i, c. xv. [↑]
APPENDIX
THE TONALAMATL AND THE SOLAR CALENDAR
THE TONALAMATL
A Thorough knowledge of the tonalamatl is essential in order to grasp the fundamentals of Mexican religion, but its significance has perhaps been heightened by the difficulties which certainly attend its consideration. I have endeavoured to present the subject here as simply as possible, and to keep all distracting side-issues for later consideration and away from the main proof. Most of these, indeed, have been created by writers who have too closely identified the tonalamatl with the solar calendar, and have added to the obscurity of the subject by the introduction of abstruse astronomical hypotheses which have only a problematical connection with it.[1]
The word tonalamatl means “Book of the Good and Bad Days,” and it is primarily a “Book of Fate,” from which the destiny of children born on such and such a day, or the result of any course to be taken or any venture made on any given day, was forecasted by divinatory methods, similar to those which have been employed by astrologers in many parts of the world in all epochs. The tonalamatl was, therefore, in no sense a time-count or calendar proper, to which purpose it was not well suited; but it was capable of being adapted to the solar calendar. It is equally incorrect to speak of the tonalamatl as a “ritual calendar.” It has nothing to do directly with ritual or religious ceremonial, and although certain representations on some tonalamatls depict ritual acts, no details or directions for their operation are supplied.
The original tonalamatl was probably a day-count based on a lunar reckoning. The symbols appear to have been those of the [[360]]gods or other mythological figures. Thus cipactli was merely the earth-monster, quauhtli the eagle, a surrogate for the Sun-god, and so on. Later the tonalamatl lost its significance as a time-count when it was superseded as such by the solar calendar. It then took on the complexion of a book of augury, so that the temporal connection it had with the gods was altered to a purely augural one. The various days thus became significant for good or evil according to the nature of the gods who presided over them, or over the precise hour in which a subject was born or any act done. As in astrology, a kind of balance was held between good and evil, so that if the god presiding over the day was inauspicious, his influence might, in some measure, be counteracted by that of the deity who presided over the hour in which a child first saw the light or an event occurred.
DAY-SIGNS
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:
| No. | Name. | Sign. | No. | Name. | Sign. | |
| 1 | cipactli | crocodile | 11 | ozomatli | monkey | |
| 2 | eecatl | wind | 12 | malinalli | grass | |
| 3 | calli | house | 13 | acatl | reed | |
| 4 | cuetzpallin | lizard | 1 | ocelotl | ocelot | |
| 5 | coatl | serpent | 2 | quauhtli | eagle | |
| 6 | miquiztli | death’s-head | 3 | cozcaquauhtli | vulture | |
| 7 | mazatl | deer | 4 | ollin | motion | |
| 8 | tochtli | rabbit | 5 | tecpatl | flint knife | |
| 9 | atl | water | 6 | quiauitl | rain | |
| 10 | itzcuintli | dog | 7 | xochitl | flower |
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 numbers[2] 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:
| Ce Cipactli | Ce Miquiztli | Ce Ozomatli | Ce Cozcaquauhtli | |||||||
| (1) | cipactli | (1) | miquiztli | (1) | ozomatli | (1) | cozcaquauhtli | |||
| (2) | eecatl | (2) | mazatl | (2) | malinalli | (2) | ollin | |||
| (3) | calli | (3) | tochtli | (3) | acatl | (3) | tecpatl | |||
| (4) | cuetzpallin | (4) | atl | (4) | ocelotl | (4) | quiauitl | |||
| (5) | coatl | (5) | itzcuintli | (5) | quauhtli | (5) | xochitl | |||
| (6) | miquiztli | (6) | ocomatli | (6) | cozcaquauhtli | (6) | cipactli | |||
| (7) | mazatl | (7) | malinalli | (7) | ollin | (7) | eecatl | |||
| (8) | tochtli | (8) | acatl | (8) | tecpatl | (8) | calli | |||
| (9) | atl | (9) | ocelotl | (9) | quiauitl | (9) | cuetzpallin | |||
| (10) | itzcuintli | (10) | quauhtli | (10) | xochitl | (10) | coatl | |||
| (11) | ocomatli | (11) | cozcaquauhtli | (11) | cipactli | (11) | miquiztli | |||
| (12) | malinalli | (12) | ollin | (12) | eecatl | (12) | mazatl | |||
| (13) | acatl. | (13) | tecpatl | (13) | calli | (13) | tochtli | |||
| Ce Ocelotl | Ce Quiauitl | Ce Cuetzpallin | Ce Atl | |||||||
| (1) | ocelotl | (1) | quiauitl | (1) | cuetzpallin | (1) | atl | |||
| (2) | quauhtli | (2) | xochitl | (2) | coatl | (2) | itzcuintli | |||
| (3) | cozcaquauhtli | (3) | cipactli | (3) | miquiztli | (3) | ocomatli | |||
| (4) | ollin | (4) | eecatl | (4) | mazatl | (4) | malinalli | |||
| (5) | tecpatl | (5) | calli | (6) | tochtli | (5) | acatl | |||
| (6) | quiauitl | (6) | cuetzpallin | (6) | atl | (6) | ocelotl | |||
| (7) | xochitl | (7) | coatl | (7) | itzcuintli | (7) | quauhtli | |||
| (8) | cipactli | (8) | miquiztli | (8) | ocomatli | (8) | cozcaquauhtli | |||
| (9) | eecatl | (9) | mazatl | (9) | malinalli | (9) | ollin | |||
| (10) | calli | (10) | tochtli | (10) | acatl | (10) | tecpatl | |||
| (11) | cuetzpallin | (11) | atl | (11) | ocelotl | (11) | quiauitl | |||
| (12) | coatl | (12) | itzcuintli | (12) | quauhtli | (12) | xochitl | |||
| (13) | miquiztli | (13) | ocomatli | (13) | cozcaquauhtli | (13) | cipactli | |||
| Ce Mazatl | Ce Malinalli | Ce Ollin | Ce Eecatl | |||||||
| (1) | mazatl | (1) | malinalli | (1) | ollin | (1) | eecatl | |||
| (2) | tochtli | (2) | acatl | (2) | tecpatl | (2) | calli | |||
| (3) | atl | (3) | ocelotl | (3) | quiauitl | (3) | cuetzpallin | |||
| (4) | itzcuintli | (4) | quauhtli | (4) | xochitl | (4) | coatl | |||
| (5) | ocomatli | (5) | cozcaquauhtli | (5) | cipactli | (5) | miquiztli | |||
| (6) | malinalli | (6) | ollin | (6) | eecatl | (6) | mazatl | |||
| (7) | acatl | (7) | tecpatl | (7) | calli | (7) | tochtli | |||
| (8) | ocelotl | (8) | quiauitl | (8) | cuetzpallin | (8) | atl | |||
| (9) | quauhtli | (9) | xochitl | (9) | coatl | (9) | itzcuintli | |||
| (10) | cozcaquauhtli | (10) | cipactli | (10) | miquiztli | (10) | ocomatli | |||
| (11) | ollin | (11) | eecatl | (11) | mazatl | (11) | malinalli | |||
| (12) | tecpatl | (12) | calli | (12) | tochtli | (12) | acatl | |||
| (13) | quiauitl | (13) | cuetzpallin | (13) | atl | (13) | ocelotl | |||
| Ce Xochitl | Ce Coatl | Ce Itzcuintli | Ce Quauhtli | |||||||
| (1) | xochitl | (1) | coatl | (1) | itzcuintli | (1) | quauhtli | |||
| (2) | cipactli | (2) | miquiztli | (2) | ocomatli | (2) | cozcaquauhtli | |||
| (3) | eecatl | (3) | mazatl | (3) | malinalli | (3) | ollin | |||
| (4) | calli | (4) | tochtli | (4) | acatl | (4) | tecpatl | |||
| (5) | cuetzpallin | (5) | atl | (5) | ocelotl | (5) | quiauitl | |||
| (6) | coatl | (6) | itzcuintli | (6) | quauhtli | (6) | xochitl | |||
| (7) | miquiztli | (7) | ocomatli | (7) | cozcaquauhtli | (7) | cipactli | |||
| (8) | mazatl | (8) | malinalli | (8) | ollin | (8) | eecatl | |||
| (9) | tochtli | (9) | acatl | (9) | tecpatl | (9) | calli | |||
| (10) | atl | (10) | ocelotl | (10) | quiauitl | (10) | cuetzpallin | |||
| (11) | itzcuintli | (11) | quauhtli[[362]] | (11) | xochitl | (11) | coatl | |||
| (12) | ocomatli | (12) | cozcaquauhtli | (12) | cipactli | (12) | miquiztli | |||
| (13) | malinalli | (13) | ollin | (13) | eecatl | (13) | mazatl | |||
| Ce Acatl | Ce Tecpatl | Ce Calli | Ce Tochtli | |||||||
| (1) | acatl | (1) | tecpatl | (1) | calli | (1) | tochtli | |||
| (2) | ocelotl | (2) | quiauitl | (2) | cuetzpallin | (2) | atl | |||
| (3) | quauhtli | (3) | xochitl | (3) | coatl | (3) | itzcuintli | |||
| (4) | cozcaquauhtli | (4) | cipactli | (4) | miquiztli | (4) | ocomatl | |||
| (5) | ollin | (5) | eecatl | (5) | mazatl | (5) | malinalli | |||
| (6) | tecpatl | (6) | calli | (6) | tochtli | (6) | acatl | |||
| (7) | quiauitl | (7) | cuetzpallin | (7) | atl | (7) | ocelotl | |||
| (8) | xochitl | (8) | coatl | (8) | itzcuintli | (8) | quauhtli | |||
| (9) | cipactli | (9) | miquiztli | (9) | ocomatli | (9) | cozcaquauhtli | |||
| (10) | eecatl | (10) | mazatl | (10) | malinalli | (10) | ollin | |||
| (11) | calli | (11) | tochtli | (11) | acatl | (11) | tecpatl | |||
| (12) | cuetzpallin | (12) | atl | (12) | ocelotl | (12) | quiauitl | |||
| (13) | coatl | (13) | itzcuintli | (13) | quauhtli | (13) | xochitl | |||
THE DAY-GODS
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:
| Day-sign | Patron God | Day-sign | Patron God | |
| Cipactli | Tonacatecutli | Ozomatli | Xochipilli | |
| Eecatl | Quetzalcoatl | Malinalli | Patecatl | |
| Calli | Tepeyollotl | Acatl | Tezcatlipocâ (or variant) | |
| Cuetzpallin | Ueuecoyotl | Ocelotl | Tlazolteotl | |
| Coatl | Chalchihuitlicue | Quauhtli | Xipe | |
| Miquiztli | Tecciztecatl | Cozcaquauhtli | Itzpapalotl | |
| Mazatl | Tlaloc | Olin | Xolotl | |
| Tochtli | Mayauel | Tecpatl | Tezcatlipocâ (or variant) | |
| Atl | Xiuhtecutli | Quiauitl | Chantico | |
| Itzcuintli | Mictlantecutli[[363]] | Xochitl | Xochiquetzal |
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.
GODS OF THE “WEEKS”
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:
| 1 | Ce cipactli | Tonacatecutli | 11 | Ce ozomatli | Patecatl | |
| 2 | Ce ocelotl | Quetzalcoatl | 12 | Ce quetzpallin | Itzlacoliuhqui | |
| 3 | Ce mazatl | Tepeyollotl | 13 | Ce ollin | Tlazolteotl | |
| 4 | Ce xochitl | Ueuecoyotl | 14 | Ce itzcuintli | Xipe Totec | |
| 5 | Ce acatl | Chalchihuitlicue | 15 | Ce calli | Itzpapalotl | |
| 6 | Ce miquiztli | Tecciztecatl | 16 | Ce cozcaquauhtli | Xolotl | |
| 7 | Ce quiauitl | Tlaloc | 17 | Ce atl | Chalchiuhtotolin | |
| 8 | Ce malinalli | Mayauel | 18 | Ce eecatl | Chantico | |
| 9 | Ce coatl | Xiuhtecutli | 19 | Ce quauhtli | Xochiquetzal | |
| 10 | Ce tecpatl | Mictlantecutli | 20 | Ce tochtli | Xiuhtecutli and Itztli |
[[364]]
“LORDS OF THE NIGHT”
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:
| 1 | Xiuhtecutli | Good | 6 | Chalchihuitlicue | Indifferent | |
| 2 | Itztli | Bad | 7 | Tlazolteotl | Bad | |
| 3 | Piltzintecutli | Good | 8 | Tepeyollotl | Good | |
| 4 | Centeotl | Indifferent | 9 | Tlaloc | Indifferent | |
| 5 | Mictlantecutli | Bad |
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]
Lords of the Night.
(As in the list given on p. 364.)
Symbols of the Lords of the Night.
THE LORDS OF THE NIGHT-HOURS.
(From the Codex Bologna, sheets 1–8.)
[[365]]
THE LORDS OF THE DAY-HOURS
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 were[5]:
| 1 | Xiuhtecutli | 8 | Tlaloc | |
| 2 | Tlaltecutli | 9 | Quetzalcoatl | |
| 3 | Chalchihuitlicue | 10 | Tezcatlipocâ | |
| 4 | Tonatiuh | 11 | Mictlantecutli | |
| 5 | Tlazolteotl | 12 | Tlauizcalpantecutli | |
| 6 | Teoyaomiqui | 13 | Ilamatecutli | |
| 7 | Xochipilli |
Seler, in his Commentary on the Aubin Tonalamatl, gives the following table of the gods of the night and day hours:
| (Noon) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 7. Xochipilli-Cinteotl | |||||||||||||||||||
| 6. Teoyaomiqui | 8. Tlaloc | ||||||||||||||||||
| 5. Tlacolteotl | 9. Quetzalcoatl | ||||||||||||||||||
| 4. Tonatiuh | 10. Tezcatlipocâ | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3. Chalchiuhtlicue | (Day) | 11. Mictlantecutli | |||||||||||||||||
| 2. Tlaltecutli | 12. Tlauizcalpantecutli | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1. Xiuhtecutli | 13. Ilamatecutli | ||||||||||||||||||
| ——————————————————————————————————— | |||||||||||||||||||
| IX. Tlaloc | I. Xiuhtecutli | ||||||||||||||||||
| VIII. Tepeyollotl | (Night) | II. Itztli | |||||||||||||||||
| VII. Tlacolteotl | III. Piltzintecutli-Tonatiuh | ||||||||||||||||||
| VI. Chalchihuitlicue | IV. Cinteotl | ||||||||||||||||||
| V. Mictlantecutli | |||||||||||||||||||
| (Midnight) | |||||||||||||||||||
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]]
TONALAMATL FESTIVALS
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]
RECAPITULATION
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.
[[367]]
THE TONALAMATL AND THE SOLAR CALENDAR
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,” were[8]:
| Month | Seasonal Character | Presiding God |
| Atlacahualco | Ceasing of rain | Tlaloquê |
| Tlacaxipeuliztli | Seed time | Xipe |
| Tozoztontli | Rain desired | Tlaloquê |
| Ueitozoztli | Worship of new maize | Chicomecoatl |
| Toxcatl | Commencement of rainy season | Uitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipocâ |
| Etzalqualiztli | Rain desired | Tlaloc |
| Tecuilhuitontli | Rain desired | Uixtociuatl |
| Ueitecuilhuitl | Adoration of the ripening maize | Xilonen |
| Tlaxochimaco | First-flowering | Uitzilopochtli |
| Xocohuetzi | Heat for ripening | Xiuhtecutli |
| Ochpaniztli | Refreshment of the Earth-mother | Tlazolteotl |
| Teotleco | Return of the gods from rest | Tezcatlipocâ |
| Tepeilhuitl | Rain | Tlaloc |
| Quecholli | Rain | Mixcoatl |
| Panquetzaliztli | Winter solstice | Uitzilopochtli |
| Atemoztli | Rain | Tlaloquê |
| Tititl | The season of sereness | Ilamatecutli |
| Izcalli | Toasting of the corn supply | Xiuhtecutli |
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.
NAMES OF THE YEARS
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.
THE CALENDAR ROUND
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:
| Year-name | Direction | Colour | Patron God |
| Acatl | East | Yellow | Tonatiuh and Itztli |
| Tecpatl | North | Red | Mictlantecutli |
| Calli | West | Blue | Earth-goddesses |
| Tochtli | South | White | Tlaloc |
THE NEMONTEMI
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.
THE VENUS PERIOD
To Förstemann and Seler is due the discovery that the Mexicans possessed a system of computing time based upon the synodic revolution of the planet Venus. The Venus period or “year” comprised 584 days. It would seem as if the Maya and Mexicans had striven to discover a common measure for the numbers 584, 365, and 260. Five synodical revolutions of Venus are equivalent to eight solar years (5 × 584) = 2,920 = (8 × 365), but the number 2,920 is not divisible by 260, the number of days in the tonalamatl. Any accord between the two periods is not possible until the sum of 104 years is reached, that is to say, 65 Venus periods are equal to 146 tonalamatl periods both of which contain 37,960 days.
Like the tonalamatl, the Venus period was productive of sacerdotal speculation, commencing with the day cipactli. At the end of six periods the Venus “year” recommenced with the same sign affected by a different figure. At the end of thirteen periods the sign differed, but the figure was the same. The question has been learnedly discussed in its entirety by Seler, to whose work the reader is referred.[9] [[371]]
[1] The most convincing modern writers on the tonalamatl are Morley, Bowditch, De Jonghe, and Seler. A bibliography of works on the subject will be found at the end of this appendix. [↑]
[2] We speak of “numbers.” More accurately, the numbers employed by the Mexicans were merely simple dots. Thus a single dot represented our numeral 1, and thirteen dots our numeral 13. [↑]
[3] It will be seen that, although the first ten day-gods take the first ten week-signs, these signs are, naturally, not in the same order as the day-signs, as has been pointed out, therefore these gods could not take precisely the same sign as in the day-signs, but only the same place. [↑]
[4] For Seler’s point of view on this question see his Commentary on the Aubin Tonalamatl, London and Berlin, 1900–1, pp. 197–228.
De Jonghe, Le Calendrier Mexicain (Journal of the Americanist Society of Paris, New Series, vol. iii, 1906, pp. 197–228), believes that the “Lords of the Night” are connected with the days of the tonalamatl. He states that the combination of these “Lords of the Night” with the day-names sufficed to distinguish the days of the year which by the tonalamatl reckoning would take the same numeral and sign. Thus if the year began with 1 acatl, the 261st day would also be 1 acatl, but would have a different “Lord of the Night.” This is denied by Seler. [↑]
[5] These are depicted in the Aubin tonalamatl along with their thirteen bird-disguises in the second and first vertical rows of the upper and the second, and first cross-rows of the lower half of the sheets, and are displayed in a similar manner in Codex Borbonicus. There are discrepancies between the two MSS., but these are by no means irreconcilable. Thus in the seventh place Codex Borbonicus has the Maize-god Cinteotl and the Aubin tonalamatl Macuilxochitl or Xochipilli, who, however, in one of the songs to the gods, is addressed as “Cinteotl,” and so forth. [↑]
[6] This, however, clashes with Seler’s enumeration of the day and night hours elsewhere. [↑]
[7] Sahagun, bk. ii, c. xix. [↑]
[8] These month-names bear a striking resemblance to those of certain North American Indian tribes, and are certainly seasonal in their origin. [↑]
[9] The Venus Period in the Borgian Codex Groups, English translation in Bull. 28 of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology. [↑]
SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS RELATING TO THE TONALAMATL
Bulletin 28 of the Bureau of American Ethnology has several papers by Seler and Förstemann on the tonalamatl.
Morley, “An Introduction to the Study of Maya Hieroglyphs” (Bulletin 57 of the Bureau of American Ethnology). (Washington, 1915.)
Bowditch, Maya Numeration, Calendar and Astronomy. (Cambridge, Mass., 1910.)
Payne, History of the New World, vol. ii, pp. 310–332.
The beginner is strongly advised to peruse these works before approaching the subject in the pages of the older Spanish writers, most of whom possessed very hazy notions regarding it. By far the best textbook is that of Morley, who, although dealing with the Maya calendar at much greater length, writes with great clarity upon the Mexican system, which is indeed identical with the Maya tonalamatl in its simpler manifestations. Bowditch’s book is more for advanced students of the Maya hieroglyphical system, the senior wranglers of the subject, so to speak. But in places he dwells upon the Mexican tonalamatl in an illuminating and suggestive manner. The papers of Seler and other German writers on the tonalamatl, although most valuable, by no means possess the admirable clarity and simplicity of Morley’s invaluable essay. A good short article on the calendar is that of Dr. Preuss in Dr. Hastings’ Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, vol. iii, pp. 124 ff.
A useful essay on the tonalamatl is that of de Jonghe, “Der alt-mexikanische Kalendar,” in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1906; and in the Journal des Américanistes de Paris, New Series, vol. iii (Paris, 1906), pp. 197–228. [[372]]