Tititl, which according to Gama was the first month, is translated by Boturini as 'our mother,' or 'mother of the gods,' while Cabrera calls it 'fire.'[627] Itzcalli, according to Boturini, means 'regeneration;' the Codex Vaticanus translates it 'skill;' and Veytia, 'the sprouting of the grass.'[628] Atlcahualco means the 'abating of the waters.' The Tlascaltec name of this month, Xilomanaliztli, signifies the 'offering of green maize.' In other localities this month was also known by the name of Quahuitlehua, the 'burning of the mountains,' or rather of the trees on the mountains, previous to sowing.[629] Tlacaxipehualiztli means the 'flaying of the people;' the other name of this month, Cohuailhuitl, is the 'feast of the snake.' Tozoztontli, Tozcotzintli, and Hueytozoztli are respectively the small and great fast or vigil; while some translate these words by 'pricking of veins,' 'shedding of blood,' or 'great and small penance.'[630] Toxcatl is a 'collar' or 'necklace.'[631] Etzalqualiztli is translated by Boturini 'bean stew,' or 'the eating of beans,' while Veytia calls it 'the eating of maize gruel.' Tecuilhuitzintli and Hueytecuilhuitl mean respectively the small and great 'feast of the Lord.' Miccailhuitzintli is explained both as 'the feast of dead children,' and 'the small feast of the dead;' another name for this month is Tlaxochimaco, meaning 'distribution of flowers.' Hueymiccailhuitl is either 'the feast of dead adults,' or 'the great feast of the dead.' Xocotlhuetzin, another name for this month, means 'the ripening of the fruit.' Ochpaniztli is 'the cleaning of streets.' Teotleco, or 'the arrival of the gods,' was the next month, and was also named Pachtli, or Pachtontli, the latter being translated by 'humiliation,' and the former by 'moss hanging from trees.' Hueypachtli was 'the great feast of humiliation,' also called Tepeilhuitl, or 'feast of the mountains.' Quecholli means 'peacock,' but the interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis calls it the 'serpent of the clouds.' Panquetzaliztli is 'the raising of flags and banners.' Atemoztli, the last month, means the 'drying up of the waters.'[632] The plate on the preceding page shows the order of the months and the pictures by which they were represented.
The Aztec Month.
NAMES OF THE AZTEC DAYS.
Each month contained twenty days, which were divided into four groups or weeks, as we may for convenience call them; and at the end of each group a public market or fair was held. There is no difference of opinion as to the names of the days or the order in which they follow one another, but it is very difficult, and in many cases impossible, to reconcile one with another the different hieroglyphic signs denoting these days given in the codices or in the various representations of the calendar. The names of the days are: Cipactli, a name of which it is almost impossible to give the correct meaning, it being variously represented as an animal's head with open mouth armed with long tusks, as a fish with a number of flint knives on its back, as a kind of lizard with a very long tail curled up over its back, and in many other monstrous shapes. It is called the 'sea-animal,' the 'sword-fish,' the 'serpent armed with harpoons,' and other names. Ehecatl is 'wind;' Calli, 'house;' Cuetzpalin, 'lizard;' Coatl, 'snake;' Miquiztli, 'death;' Mazatl, 'deer;' Tochtli, 'rabbit;' Atl, 'water;' Itzcuintli, 'dog;' Ozomatli, 'monkey;' Malinalli, 'brushwood,' or 'tangled grass;' Acatl, 'cane;' Ocelotl, 'tiger;' Quauhtli, 'eagle;' Cozcaquauhtli, a species of vulture, known in Mexico as 'rey de los zopilotes;' Ollin, 'movement;' Tecpatl, 'flint;' Quiahuitl, 'rain;' and Xochitl, 'flower.' It will be seen that the days having the names or signs of the years,—namely: Tochtli, Calli, Tecpatl, and Acatl—stand first in each week. The five nemontemi had no particular name. The cut given above shows the method by which the Aztecs represented their month, with the hieroglyphic names of each day.[633]
INTERCALARY DAYS.
As three hundred and sixty-five days do not make the year complete, the Mexicans added the missing thirteen days at the end of the cycle of fifty-two years. But Gama asserts that they came still nearer to our more correct calculations, and added only twelve days and a half.[634] It has been frequently attempted to fix accurately the time when the Mexican year commenced according to our dates, but there is no agreement on this point between the old historians, as will be seen from the table given, and although many elaborate calculations have been made for the purpose of verifying the one or the other statement, the result is in no two cases the same. Gama calculated, and Humboldt and Gallatin confirmed his statement, that the first year of a Mexican cycle commenced on the 31st day of December, old style, or on the 9th day of January, new style, with the month Tititl and the day Cipactli.[635]
THE RITUAL CALENDAR.
We come now to another mode of reckoning known as the ritual calendar, which, as its name implies, was used for adjusting all religious feasts and rites and everything pertaining thereto. The previously described reckoning was solar, while that of the ritual calendar was lunar. The periods into which it was divided were of thirteen days each, thus representing about half the time that the moon was visible. The year contained as many days as the solar calendar, but they were divided into entirely different periods. Thus, in reality there were no months at all, but only twenty weeks of thirteen days each; and these not constituting a full year, the same kind of reckoning was continued for one hundred and five days more, and at the end of a tlalpilli thirteen days were intercalated to make up for the lost days. The names of the days were the same as in the solar calendar but they were counted as follows. To the first day the number one was prefixed, to the second, two, to the third, three, and so on to thirteen; when the fourteenth name was again called one, the fifteenth, two, and so on to thirteen again, after which the same count was continued to the end of the year. But as in this reckoning it naturally happens that one name has the same number twice, accompanying signs were added to the regular names, which were called quecholli, 'lords or rulers of the night.' Of these there were nine, xiuhtecutli, tletl, 'lord of the year, fire;' tecpatl, 'flint;' xochitl, 'flower;' centeotl, 'goddess of maize;' miquiztli, 'death;' atl, 'water,' represented by the goddess Chalchihuitlicue; tlazolteotl, 'goddess of love;' tepeyollotli, a deity supposed to inhabit the centre of the mountains; quiahuitl, 'rain,' represented by the god Tlaloc.[636] As stated above, one of these signs was understood to accompany the regular name of each day, commencing with the first day of the year; but they were never written or mentioned with the first two hundred and sixty days, but only with the last one hundred and five days, to distinguish them from the former.[637] For the purpose of making this system more comprehensible, I insert a few months of the Mexican calendar, showing the solar and lunar system together, as arranged by Gama.