The five nemontemi were counted in this calendar as other days, that is, they received the names which came in the regular order, but, nevertheless, they were believed to be unlucky days and had no accompanying signs.
The Calendar-Stone.
THE AZTEC CALENDAR-STONE.
Besides the preceding cuts of the Mexican calendar systems, as they were represented by Gemelli Careri, Veytia, and others, the calendar-stone is the most reliable source by which the extent of the astronomical science of the Aztecs can be shown. Gama, and after him Gallatin, give very accurate descriptions of this stone; I insert here a résumé from the latter author. On this stone there is engraved in high-relief a circle, in which are represented by certain hieroglyphics the sun and its several motions, the twenty days of the month, some principal fast-days, and other matters. The central figure represents the sun as it is usually painted by the Mexicans. Around it, outside of a small circle, are four parallelograms with the signs of the days, Nahui Ocelotl, Nahui Ehecatl, Nahui Quiahuitl, and Nahui Atl. Between the two upper and lower parallelograms are two figures, which Gama explains as being two claws, which are the hieroglyphics representing two eminent astrologers, man and wife. Gama further explains these four signs of the days in this place, as having reference to the four epochs of nature, of which the Aztec traditions speak. The first destruction of the sun is said to have taken place in the year Ce Acatl and on the day Nahui Ocelotl. The second sun was supposed to have died in the year Ce Tecpatl and on the day Nahui Ehecatl; the third destruction occurred also in the year Ce Tecpatl and on the day Nahui Quiahuitl; and lastly, the fourth destruction took place in the year Ce Calli, on the day Nahui Atl. But Mr Gallatin thinks that these four parallelograms had yet some other purpose; for on the twenty-second of May and on the twenty-sixth of July, which days are Nahui Ocelotl and Nahui Quiahuitl, if we accept the thirty-first of December as the first day of the Mexican cycle, the sun passed the meridian of the city of Mexico. But in this case the other two days, Nahui Ehecatl and Nahui Atl cannot be explained in connection with any other astronomical event. Between the lower parallelograms are two small squares, in each of which are five oblong marks, signifiying the number ten; and as the central figure is the ollin tonatiuh, or sun, the number ten in these two squares is supposed to mean the day Matlactli Ollin. Below this again are the hieroglyphics Ce Quiahuitl, and Ome Ozomatli. The day Matlactli Ollin in the first year of the cycle is the twenty-second of September; Ce Quiahuitl in the year Matlactli omey Acatl, which year is inscribed at the head of the stone, is our twenty-second of March; and Ome Ozomatli in the same year would be our twenty-second of June. Here are therefore designated three of the principal phenomena as they happened in the first year of the cycle, viz: two transits of the sun by the zenith and the autumnal equinox. In the year designated on the stone Matlactli omey Acatl, there are given the spring equinox and summer solstice. In a circle surrounding these figures are represented the twenty days of the months. From the central figure of the sun there runs upward, as far as the circle of days, a triangle, the upper and smallest angle of which points between the days Cipactli and Xochitl, thus confirming the idea that Cipactli was always the first day of the month. Gama, Gallatin, Humboldt, Dupaix, and others have given correct pictures of the stone as is proved by recent photographs; but in my cut the figures are reversed. It is a copy from Charnay, whose photographs were in 1875 the best authority accessible; and I failed to notice that this, unlike Charnay's other plates, was a photo-lithograph reversed in printing. Not only did I fall into this error, but in my earlier editions charged other writers with having made a similar one. The cut does not otherwise mislead, but it must be noted that instead of running from left to right, the days really run from right to left. From the circle of days, four triangles, or rays, project, exactly dividing the stone into four quarters, each of which has ten visible squares, and, as the rays cover twelve more, there would be fifty-two in all. In each square are five oblong marks, which multiplied by fifty-two, give two hundred and sixty, or the first period of the Mexican ritual year. Outside of the circle of these squares the four quarters are each again divided by a smaller ray, and, as stated before, at the head of the stone, over the principal triangle is the sign of the year Matlactli omey Acatl. Round the outer edge are a number of other figures and hieroglyphics, which have not yet been deciphered, or whose interpretations by different writers present so many contradictions that they would have no value here.[638]
CALENDAR OF THE TARASCOS.
The only information we have of the calendar used in Michoacan is furnished by Veytia, and this is only fragmentary. Enough is known, however, to show that their system was the same as that of the Aztecs. Instead of the four principal signs of the Aztecs, tecpatl, calli, tochtli, and acatl, in Mechoacan the names inodon, inbani, inchon, and intihui were used. Of the eighteen months only fourteen are mentioned by name. These are: Intacaci, Indehuni, Intecamoni, Interunihi, Intamohui, Inizcatolohui, Imatatohui, Itzbachaa, Intoxihui, Intaxihui, Intechaqui, Intechotahui, Inteyabchitzin, Intaxitohui. The five intercalary days were named intasiabire.[639] The days of the month, divided into four equal parts by the above-mentioned four principal signs, were called: Inodon, Inicebi, Inettuni, Inbeari, Inethaati, Inbani, Inxichari, Inchini, Inrini, Inpari, Inchon, Inthahui, Intzini, Intzoniabi, Intzimbi, Inthihui, Inixotzini, Inichini, Iniabi, Intaniri.[640]
The Zapotecs in Oajaca, according to the description of Burgoa, used the same calendar as the Aztecs, with this difference, that the year always commenced on the twelfth day of March, and that the bissextile year was corrected every fourth year, by adding, instead of five, six intercalary days.[641]