Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

by Camilla Townsend

The complex calendar system, on the other hand, had made its way to nearly every village in central Mexico, and a particular version had taken root there. Every child kept track of the basic elements of the system, although only learned priests ventured into the realm of more esoteric branches of the science. There were two ongoing cycles of time. One was a solar calendar, which consisted of eighteen months of twenty days each, plus five blank or unnamed, frightening days at the end, for a total of 365 days. The other was a purely ceremonial calendar containing thirteen months of twenty days each, for a total of 260 days. The two streams of time ran parallel, so on any day, one knew where one was both in relation to the sun and ceremonially. On a much simpler level, one could argue, we do something similar. We know what day of the year it is, which relates to our position in connection with the sun, and at the same time, we run a totally arbitrary, continuous seven-day series of Nordic gods’ names, so we know it is Wednesday or Thursday as well.