Download Julio Luévano Professor Arturo Yáñez HUM-221

Julio Luévano
Professor Arturo Yáñez
HUM-221-A
Final Project
The Aztec Calendar
The Aztec Sun Stone also called the Aztec Calendar. The Aztec Calendar is the calendar
system that was used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian civilizations of central
Mexico. It is one of the Mesoamerican calendars that shared the basic structure of calendars from
throughout ancient Mesoamerica. The calendric year may have begun at some point in the distant
past with the first appearance of the Pleiades asterismin in the east. However, due to the
precession of the Earth’s axis, it fell out of favor to more constant reference point such as a
solstice or equinox. The Aztec calendar has two independent systems. One calendar called the
Xiuhpohualli and has 365 days. This calendar describes the days and rituals related to the
seasons, and therefore might be called the agricultural year or the solar year. The other calendar
has 260 days. In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, it is called the Tonalpohualli or the daycount. In the center of this sculpture it is located the face that could correspond to a significant
mexica deity. The God of the mexicas, Tonatiuh, Sun could be the face that is located in the
centre of this sculpture known as the Aztec Calendar. The fashioned monolith for more than
thousand 500 years old, is the archaeological piece more representative and emblematic of the
Aztec culture discovered to date.
The God Tonatiuh was one of the most important deities for the Mexica, not only
represents the Sun, within the Aztec cosmogony, but also embodied the exaltation of war as a
renovator. According to archaeologist that have done some studies to this magnificent sculpture
they interpreted as, “Symbolized the ideal of the Warrior, the perfection of the fighter, that
soldier who appears triumphant in the celestial plane, which flees from the stars and eliminates
the dark giving light and heat to his people”. The mexica culture expert archaeologist considered
that the face carved in the center of the Aztec calendar could be the representation of Tonatiuh,
his face is surrounded by the solar disk, such as in the original codices colonist that they had no
influence. Tonatiuh has been embroiled in the controversy of the specialists since the face that
appears in the center of the sun stone also called Cuauhxicalli could not belong to it. However,
above and below the face appears engravings that represent the symbols of the four ages or Sun
that could confirm the theory. This monolith is a monument that tells the story of Aztec time and
manifestation of the five Suns. In its upper part displays the number 13-Shank (1479), which
corresponds to the date in which the Aztecs placed the birth of the fifth Sun in Teotihuacan, and
the reign of Axayacatl.
On the stone of the Sun, which could be identified as the God Tonatiuh represented in the
center of the monolith, showing his two hands, each with a bracelet, an eye and eyebrow,
because nothing can be hidden. In addition, in each of them, their claws to catch a human heart
and their language is represented as a Flint knife. According to studies done on this monument,
archaeologists carried out a detailed analysis of the pigments in the face of the Aztec calendar
stone and the results determined the presence of red nuances in yellow ochre as a symbolic and
iconographic representation of the Sun, light and energy. The stone of the Sun is one of the most
representative of the Aztec civilization monumental pieces, it is a disc of basalt stone of 3.60
meters in diameter and 122 inches thick, and with a weight of more than 24 tons and is proof of
the great importance that the Aztecs gave to the time and the accuracy with which measured it.
According to oral testimonies collected by Fray Diego Duran in his History of the Indies
of New Spain, 42 years before the fall of Teotihuacan, began to carve the Aztec calendar or stone
of the Sun. According to these testimonies it was the Emperor Axayacatl who sent it along with
an enclosure to a place called Cuauhxicalco; this stone was carved by an artist called Tecpatl.
The stone remained there until August of 1521 when, during the reign of Moctezuma, Hernán
cuts ordered to remove the pagan idols. Over the next 38 years, the first colonial calendar
remained outdoors next to the Plaza Mayor, today the socket. At the point, 1559, an Aztec 52year cycle was closed to Spaniards, fearing that the pagan rites they turn sent to bury the stone
with carved down part. Two hundred and thirty one years later, on December 17, 1791, the stone
of the Sun it is rediscovered to one side of the Plaza Mayor. The discovered was made when it
was matching the floor of the Plaza Mayor and building pipelines for groundwater. The stone of
the Sun turned the Cathedral temporarily. Six months later in August of 1791 the viceroy
Revillagigedo decreed will take steps to ensure their perpetual preservation as part of the
“precious monuments showing lights that illustrated the Indian nation in the moments prior to its
conquest”. Its new location, outside of the tower west of the Metropolitan Cathedral, remained
for almost a hundred years. It is also known that it had a use in horizontal, not vertical position as
exhibits today, and functioned as a platform of gladiatorial sacrifice, even has a cavity that
served as the depositary of hearts and blood of the defeated warriors. In addition, it is known to
be performed sacrifices to the God Tonatiuh but it is difficult to specify how many sacrifices
were done, above all by the colonial influence which in its eagerness to disqualify local culture
probably exaggerated the estimated number, said archaeologists.
On June 27, 1964 the monolith was moved to the National Museum of Anthropology,
there stood in the Aztec room sustained on a marble base where it can still be admired. There are
many interpretations on the stone of the Sun symbols explanations that gives the National
Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in the room where it is displayed is:
“In the Center is the image of the Fifth Sun Nahui Olin or four movement and
the face of Tonatiuh, the Sun God, with the particularity that it is represented
with the lower half of the face stark and the upper incarnate, symbolizing life
and death.In turn, in each of the corners of the sign Olin is the name of the other
four Suns: Nahui, Ocelotl (for jaguar), Nahui Atl (for water), Nahui Quiahuitl
(for rain) and Nahui Ehecatl (for wind). According to nahua mythology of
The post-classic the world, as we know it today, has gone through different
eras of creation and destruction. They related each one with a Sun in
particular. In one version of the myth, the last era was destroyed by a great
flood. The Fifth Sun, which according to the Nahua is the current era, will end
by large earthquakes. The rest of the iconographic elements that decorate the
stone of the Sun are distributed from concentric circles. The 20 signs of days,
which combined with 13 numerals were a cycle of 260 days, also called
Tonalpohhualli appear around the Center. Then solar signs and finally the
Representation of two snakes of fire that surrounds the disk and whose heads
Are, face to face, at the base of the image appear”
About 176 sites with archaeological evidence, which include several petroglyphs shaped
amphibians, or aquatic animals including snakes, turtles, lizards and frogs, have been found in
the mount Tlaloc and registered by the National Institute of Anthropology and History.
According to the Institute, the mountain, known as a “sacred place of pilgrimage”, “tetzacualco”,
or astronomical observatory, was the scene of a series of rituals related to the Lord of Thunder,
rain, and maintenance of good harvests. Mount Tlaloc was the largest ceremonial center built on
a mountain during Aztec Empire and represented the Tlalocan or paradise of Tlaloc, who is no
longer visible today. Mount Tlaloc also made observations and astronomical and calendrical
computations, which marked the start of the solar year to the Mexica. The Institute explained that
in the sacred geography of the Mexica, the hills near the great Tenochtitlan marked the four
cardinal points or the four directions of the sacred deities. Mount Tlaloc was associated with
other snow-capped mountains such as Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl, Nevado de Toluca, and La
Malinche. In addition, this Institute explained that in the Tlaloc people can see an astronomical
phenomenon that marked the beginning of the year for the Mexica on February 12, and that
between February 7 and 11 the Sun can be seen on the Summit of the Pico de Orizaba
(Citlaltepetl) and La Malinche. Those five days were known as nemonteni or days “barrens” or
“sobrados” by the Aztecs. So, has a marker in the landscape with an error of one day every
hundred thousand years, allowing to adjust the calendar, said the archaeologists. The Temple of
the mountain was destroyed in 1539 by order of Fray Juan de Zumárraga, who said that in this
were carrying out acts of idolatry and to rebuild it were needed to raise 360 trucks dump six
cubic meters of stone, and another 40 trucks of tezontle.
In conclusion, a few hundred years have passed since the Aztec Calendar returned to the
imagination of men. One of the issues that the monument will always be one or more of its
symbols is the story of the space it has occupied since returning to light. The Aztec Calendar has
formed part of the history of the most amazing pre-Columbian civilizations. It seems that this
wonderful monument has always held a certain centrality within the symbolic universe of the
society that has guarded. The current Mexican currency in all denominations carries some
element symbolic of the Aztec Calendar. Mexico and its society has well defined and how proud
Mexican are to identify themselves to the world with the Aztec Calendar as their own symbol.
The Mexican Football Federation has the Aztec calendar as its logo. No doubt, the Mexican
culture it has been transcended borders and can be recognized thanks to the Aztec calendar and
the Aztec civilization.
References:
National Museum of Anthropology:
www.mna.inah.gob.mx
History of Aztec culture:
www.historiademexico.com.mx/calendario-azteca.html
The Aztecs, BBC documentary dubbed into Spanish:
www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/2009/05/historia-de-la-cultura-mexica-azteca.html
Museum of the Templo Mayor:
www.templomayor.inah.gob.mx