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110-676: The Binding of the Years occurred every 52 years, or every 18,980 days as a part of the combination of the two calendars. Arithmetically, the duration of the Calendar Round is the least common multiple of 260 and 365; 18,980 is 73 × 260 Tzolkʼin days and 52 × 365 Haabʼ days derived from the Maya calendar . During this time the Aztecs believed the sun might not come back. The Aztecs wanted to symbolically and literally purify and "renew" their lives for

220-581: A bʼakʼtun . The Long Count calendar identifies a date by counting the number of days from the Mayan creation date 4 Ahaw, 8 Kumkʼu (August 11, 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar or September 6 in the Julian calendar -3113 astronomical dating). But instead of using a base-10 ( decimal ) scheme, the Long Count days were tallied in a modified base-20 scheme. Thus 0.0.0.1.5 is equal to 25 and 0.0.0.2.0

330-487: A Teotihuacan idea of the end of a cylindrical cycle. It also might have come from another previous civilization. For 52 years, or 18,980 days, the earth was on one cycle and then at the end of that cycle it was thought to be in danger of ending if a new cycle did not begin. This ceremony's success determined whether the next cylindrical would continue or if everything would end as we know it. It has been proposed that archaeological evidence of New Fire ceremonies can be found in

440-408: A discreet structure that would blend in with the colonial surroundings. The museum has four floors, three of which are for permanent exhibitions and the fourth houses offices for the director, museum administration and research staff. Other departments are located in the basement, where there is also an auditorium. The museum has eight main exhibition halls, each dedicated to a different theme. Room 1

550-464: A katun is 20 × 360 = 7200 days long, and the remainder of 7200 divided by 13 is 11 ( 7200 = 553×13 + 11 ), the day number of the concluding day of each successive katun is 9 greater than before (wrapping around at 13, since only 13 day numbers are used). That is, starting with the katun that begins with 1   Imix, the sequence of concluding day numbers is 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 13, 11, ..., all named Ahau. The concluding day 13 Ahau

660-524: A link to Jupiter. In the Dresden codex almanac 59 there are Chaacs of the four colors. The accompanying texts begin with a directional glyph and a verb for 819-day-count phrases. Anderson provides a detailed description of the 819-day count. During the late Classic period the Maya began to use an abbreviated short count instead of the Long Count. An example of this can be found on altar 14 at Tikal. In

770-575: A mask of gold for his festival held during the Aztec month of Panquetzaliztli. At the end of the festival, the image was broken apart and shared among the populace to be eaten. In his description of the city, Cortés records that he and the other Spaniards were impressed by the number and magnificence of the temples constructed in Tenochtitlan, but that was tempered by this disdain for their beliefs and human sacrifice. On 14 November 1519, Cortes seized

880-480: A mythological starting-point. According to the correlation between the Long Count and Western calendars accepted by the great majority of Maya researchers (known as the Goodman-Martinez-Thompson, or GMT, correlation), this starting-point is equivalent to August 11, 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar or September 6, in the Julian calendar (−3113 astronomical). The GMT correlation

990-400: A pair of sculpted frogs. The circular monolith of Coyolxauhqui also dates from this time. The fifth temple (1481–1486) is dated to the short reign of Tizoc . During these five years, the platform was recovered in stucco and the ceremonial plaza was paved. The sixth temple was built during the reign of Ahuizotl . He finished some of the updates made by Tizoc and added his own, as shown on

1100-402: A part of the C glyph that indicated where this fell in a larger cycle of 18 lunations. Accompanying the C glyph was the 'X' glyph that showed a similar pattern of 18 lunations. The present era lunar synodic period is about 29.5305877 mean solar days or about 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes and 2+ / 9 seconds. As a whole number, the number of days per lunation will be either 29 or 30 days, with

1210-626: A period of five days ("nameless days") at the end of the year known as Wayeb' (or Uayeb in 16th-century orthography). The five days of Wayebʼ were thought to be a dangerous time. Foster (2002) writes, "During Wayeb, portals between the mortal realm and the Underworld dissolved. No boundaries prevented the ill-intending deities from causing disasters." To ward off these evil spirits, the Maya had customs and rituals they practiced during Wayebʼ. For example, people avoided leaving their houses and washing or combing their hair. Bricker (1982) estimates that

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1320-412: A staircase and beam. In 1948, Hugo Moedano and Elma Estrada Balmori excavated a platform containing serpent heads and offerings. In 1966, Eduardo Contreras and Jorge Angula excavated a chest containing offerings, which had first been explored by Gamio. The push to fully excavate the site did not come until late in the 20th century. On 21 February 1978, workers for Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE),

1430-599: A zacatapayolli, a grass ball into which the Mexica stuck bloody lancets during the ritual of autosacrifice . This palace specifically imitates much of the style of the Burnt Palace, located in the ruins of Tula . A number of important artifacts have been found in this area, the most important of which are two nearly identical large ceramic sculptures of Mictlantecuhtl , the god of death. Despite being found in fragile pieces, they were both reconstructed and are on display at

1540-476: Is aligned with the cardinal directions with gates that connect to roads leading in these directions. This indicates the place where the plane of the world that humans live in intersects the thirteen levels of the heavens, called Topan and the nine levels of the underworld, called Mictlan . Archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma , in his essay "Symbolism of the Templo Mayor", posits that the orientation of

1650-424: Is dedicated to the flora and fauna of Mesoamerica at this time, as most contained divine aspects for the Aztecs. Also many of the offerings found at the Templo Mayor were or were made from various plants and animals. Related to Room 6, Room 7 contains exhibits of the agricultural technology of the time, especially in the growing of corn and the construction of chinampas , the so-called "floating gardens". The last room

1760-680: Is dedicated to the goddesses Coatlicue and Coyolxauhqui, mother and sister to Huitzlipochtli, respectively. Here are displayed the first finds associated with the temple, from the first tentative finds in the 19th century to the discovery of the huge stone disk of Coyolxauhqui, which initiated the Templo Mayor Project. Room 2 is dedicated to the concepts of ritual and sacrifice in Tenochtitlan. This room contains urns where dignitaries where interred, funerary offerings, as well as objects associated with self and human sacrifice—such as musical instruments, knives and skulls. Room 3 demonstrates

1870-474: Is equal to 40. As the winal unit resets after only counting to 18, the Long Count consistently uses base-20 only if the tun is considered the primary unit of measurement, not the kʼin; with the kʼin and winal units being the number of days in the tun. The Long Count 0.0.1.0.0 represents 360 days, rather than the 400 in a purely base-20 ( vigesimal ) count. There are also four rarely used higher-order cycles: piktun , kalabtun , kʼinchiltun , and alautun . Since

1980-503: Is now Guerrero state; copper rattles; and decorated skulls and knives of obsidian and flint . These artifacts are now housed in the Templo Mayor Museum. This museum is the result of the work done since the early 1980s to rescue, preserve, and investigate Templo Mayor, its Sacred Precinct, and all objects associated with it while making these findings available to the public. The excavated site consists of two parts: 1)

2090-464: Is now Mexico City . Its architectural style belongs to the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica . The temple was called Huēyi Teōcalli [we:ˈi teoːˈkali] in the Nahuatl language. It was dedicated simultaneously to Huitzilopochtli , god of war, and Tlaloc , god of rain and agriculture, each of which had a shrine at the top of the pyramid with separate staircases. The central spire

2200-416: Is on one side of what is now Donceles Street. The Temple of Quetzalcoatl was located to the west of the Templo Mayor. It is said that during the equinox, the sun rose between the shrines dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc and shone directly on this temple. Due to the god's serpentine nature, the temple had a circular base instead of a rectangular one. The ball field, called the tlachtli or teutlachtli,

2310-656: Is the temple for these warriors—also known as the Red Temple. This temple shows clear Teotihuacan influence in its paintings (mostly in red) and the design of its altar. Almost all the interior walls of the House of the Eagles are decorated with beautiful paintings and contain long benches, which are also painted. These benches are composed of two panels. The upper one is a frieze with undulating serpents in bas-relief. The lower panel shows processions of armed warriors converging on

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2420-477: Is when he would start the fire on the sacrifice's chest. This ritual sacrifice took place on Huixachtlan which was a large, ceremonially important mountain and the first temple to receive fire from the new fire. Both of these places show that the New Fire Ceremony was closely tied to their understanding of astrology and their gods. The Binding of the Years refers to what was originally thought to be

2530-575: The Centzon Huitznahua who intended to kill him and their mother. Huitzilopochtli was victorious, slaying and dismembering his sister. Her body was then thrown to the bottom of the hill. As the southern half of the Great Temple represented Coatepec (on the side dedicated to Huitzilopochtli), the great stone disk with Coyolxauhqui's dismembered body was found at the foot of this side of the temple. The northern half represented Tonacatepetl,

2640-629: The Haabʼ to form a synchronized cycle lasting for 52 Haabʼ called the Calendar Round . The Calendar Round is still in use by many groups in the Guatemalan highlands. A different calendar was used to track longer periods of time and for the inscription of calendar dates (i.e., identifying when one event occurred in relation to others). This is the Long Count . It is a count of days since

2750-557: The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral because, at the time, researchers thought the cathedral had been built over the ruins of the temple. In the first decades of the 20th century, Manuel Gamio found part of the southwest corner of the temple, and his findings were put on public display. However, the discovery did not generate great public interest in excavating further as the zone was an upper-class residential area. In 1933, Emilio Cuevas found part of

2860-412: The remains of human sacrifice —were among the items deposited in offerings. All of these fulfilled a specific function within the offering, depending on the symbolism of each object. In excavations at the Templo Mayor, different types of offerings have been found and have been grouped by researchers in terms of Time (the period in which the offering was deposited); Space (the location of the offering within

2970-408: The "seating of" a named month, which is usually regarded as day 0 of that month, although a minority treat it as day 20 of the month preceding the named month. In the latter case, the seating of Pop is day 5 of Wayebʼ. For the majority, the first day of the year was 0 Pop (the seating of Pop). This was followed by 1 Pop, 2 Pop as far as 19 Pop then 0 Wo, 1 Wo and so on. Because

3080-433: The 30-day intervals necessarily occurring slightly more frequently than the 29-day intervals. The Maya wrote whether the lunar month was 29 or 30 days as two glyphs: a glyph for lunation length followed by either a glyph made up of a moon glyph over a bundle with a suffix of 9 for a 29-day lunation or a moon glyph with a suffix of 10 for a 30-day lunation. Since the Maya didn't use fractions, lunations were approximated by using

3190-443: The Aztec realm were put out and everyone looked toward the mountain's summit. When the constellation called by the Aztecs "the fire drill" ( Orion's belt ) rose above the horizon, a man was sacrificed on the top of Huizachtlan and a fire drill was placed on his chest. When the priest started the fire he started it on the sacrifice's chest and then as soon as it caught he would slice the man's chest open and taken out his heart to fuel

3300-458: The Aztec sphere of influence and had a distinct importance at both the local level of each household and in the larger political level of the state religion. Maya calendar The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz , Oaxaca and Chiapas , Mexico. The essentials of

3410-556: The Eagle Warriors. Very little remains of the Seventh Temple because of the demolitions undertaken to build the cathedral. Only a platform to the north and a section of paving in the courtyard on the south side can still be seen. Most of what is known about this temple is based on the historical record. It was at the time the largest and most important active ceremonial center. Fray Bernardino de Sahagún reported that

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3520-473: The Haabʼ day can only be 1, 6, 11 or 16; for Kʼan, Muluk, Ix and Kawak, the Haabʼ day can only be 2, 7, 12 or 17; and for Chikchan, Ok, Men and Ajaw, the Haabʼ day can only be 3, 8, 13 or 18. A "Year Bearer" is a Tzolkʼin day name that occurs on 0   Pop, the first day of the Haabʼ . Since there are 20 Tzolkʼin day names, 365 days in the Haabʼ, and the remainder of 365 divided by 20 is 5 ( 365 = 18×20 + 5 ),

3630-490: The Haabʼ had 365 days and the tropical year is 365.2422 days, the days of the Haabʼ did not coincide with the tropical year. A Calendar Round date is a date that gives both the Tzolkʼin and Haabʼ. This date will repeat after 52 Haabʼ years or 18,980 days, a Calendar Round. For example, the current creation started on 4 Ahau 8 Kumkʼu. When this date recurs it is known as a Calendar Round completion. Arithmetically,

3740-476: The Haabʼ was first used around 550 BC with a starting point of the winter solstice . The Haabʼ month names are known today by their corresponding names in colonial-era Yukatek Maya , as transcribed by 16th-century sources (in particular, Diego de Landa and books such as the Chilam Balam of Chumayel). Phonemic analyses of Haabʼ glyph names in pre-Columbian Maya inscriptions have demonstrated that

3850-475: The House of the Eagle Warriors who were dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. Room 5 is dedicated to Tlaloc, the other principal deity of the Aztecs and one of the oldest in Mesoamerica. This room contains various images of the god usually worked in green or volcanic stone or in ceramic. The most prized work is a large pot with the god's face in high relief that still preserves much of the original blue paint. Room 6

3960-522: The Long Count dates are unambiguous, the Long Count was particularly well suited to use on monuments. The monumental inscriptions would not only include the 5 digits of the Long Count, but would also include the two tzolkʼin characters followed by the two haabʼ characters. Misinterpretation of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar was the basis for a popular belief that a cataclysm would take place on December 21, 2012 . December 21, 2012

4070-661: The Maya calendar are based upon a system which had been in common use throughout the region, dating back to at least the 5th century BC. It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec and contemporary or later ones such as the Mixtec and Aztec calendars . By the Maya mythological tradition, as documented in Colonial Yucatec accounts and reconstructed from Late Classic and Postclassic inscriptions,

4180-533: The Mexico City. The Templo Mayor and Sacred Precinct were demolished and a Spanish church, later the main cathedral, was built on the western half of the precinct. Fray Toribio de Motolinía, a Spanish friar who arrived to Mexico soon after the invasion, writes in his work Memoriales that the Aztec feast of Tlacaxipehualiztli "took place when the sun stood in the middle of [the Temple of] Huitzilopochtli, which

4290-461: The New Fire ceremony is described by Tovar. During the last five days (called nemontemi ) of the last year of the cycle, the preparations for the ceremony began. These preparations involved abstinence from work, fasting, ritual cleansing, ritual bloodletting , destruction of old household items and observance of silence. It was believed that during these days the world was in grave danger because of

4400-565: The Sacred Precinct had 78 buildings with Templo Mayor towering above them all. The pyramid was composed of four sloped terraces with a passage between each level, topped by a great platform. It had two stairways to access the two shrines on the top platform. Facing the structure, the left shrine was dedicated to the water god Tlaloc while the right shrine was dedicated to the god of the sun and war, Huitzilopochtli. The two temples were approximately 60 meters (200 feet) in height, including

4510-582: The Spaniards. The others were sacrificed at the Great Temple that night, which could be seen from the Spanish camps. The sacrificed Spaniards were flayed, and their faces – with beards attached – were tanned and sent to allied towns, both to solicit assistance and to warn against betraying the Triple Alliance. After the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521, the lands controlled by the Aztecs became part of

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4620-420: The Spanish empire. All the temples, including Templo Mayor, were sacked, taking all objects of gold and other precious materials. Cortés, who had ordered the destruction of the existing capital, had a Mediterranean-style city built on the site. Essential elements of the old imperial center, including the Templo Mayor, were buried under similarly key features of the new city in what is now the historical downtown of

4730-684: The Sun was located west of the Templo Mayor also and its remains lie under the Metropolitan Cathedral. The project to shore up the cathedral at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st brought to light a number of artifacts. Most of the objects found in the Templo Mayor were offerings. Although many are of Mexica design, there are also abundant items from other peoples, brought in as tribute or through trade. Sculptures, flint knives, vessels, beads and other sumptuary ornaments—as well as minerals, plants and animals of all types, and

4840-588: The Templo Mayor is located on the exact spot where the god Huitzilopochtli gave the Mexica people his sign that they had reached the promised land: an eagle on a nopal cactus with a snake in its mouth. The Templo Mayor was partially a symbolic representation of the Hill of Coatepec, where according to Mexica myth, Huitzilopochtli was born. Huitzilopochtli emerged from his mother Coatlicue fully grown and fully armed to battle his sister Coyolxauhqui and her brothers

4950-523: The Tzolkʼin day name for each successive 0   Pop will be 5 later in the cycle of Tzolk'in day names. Similarly, since there are 13 Tzolk'in day numbers, and the remainder of 365 divided by 13 is 1 ( 365 = 28×13 + 1 ), the Tzolk'in day number for each successive 0   Pop will be 1 greater than before. As such, the sequence of Tzolk'in dates corresponding to the Haab' date 0   Pop are as follows: Thus,

5060-556: The Year Bearers are the four Tzolkʼin day names that appear in this sequence: Ik', Manik', Eb', and Kab'an. "Year Bearer" literally translates a Mayan concept. Its importance resides in two facts. For one, the four years headed by the Year Bearers are named after them and share their characteristics; therefore, they also have their own prognostications and patron deities. Moreover, since the Year Bearers are geographically identified with boundary markers or mountains, they help define

5170-709: The Year Bearers were the days that coincided with 2 Pop: Kʼan, Muluc, Ix and Kawak. This system is found in the Chronicle of Oxkutzcab. In addition, just before the Spanish conquest in Mayapan the Maya began to number the days of the Haabʼ from 1 to 20. In this system the Year Bearers are the same as in the 1 Pop – Campeche system. The Classic Year Bearer system is still in use in the Guatemalan highlands and in Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. Since Calendar Round dates repeat every 18,980 days, approximately 52 solar years,

5280-475: The astronomical equinox (the date of which would have hardly been known to a non-astronomer at that time), but rather only pointed out the correlation between the day of the Mexica festival, which in the last years before the invasion coincided with the solar phenomenon in the Templo Mayor, and the date in the Christian calendar that corresponded to the traditional day of spring equinox. According to tradition,

5390-466: The beginning of the new 52 year cycle. Therefore, many items such as hearth stones were thrown out in order to not be associated with the old cycle in any way. They used this time as a "spring cleaning" to honor the old and prepare for the new. It was the fire that acted as this Binding of the Years. The ceremony itself entailed all the fires being put out. Then, in Uixachtlan they started a fire on

5500-524: The body—such as the earlobes , lips, tongue, chest, calves, et cetera—with obsidian blades, agave needles or bone perforators. Once the implement was covered with blood, it was inserted in straw balls called Zacatapayoli. The entirety was probably placed in ceremonial boxes—tepetlacalli—as an offering to the gods. Objects associated with human sacrifice are the "face blades" or knives decorated with eyes and teeth, as well as skull masks. Other ceremonial items include musical instruments, jewelry, and braziers for

5610-500: The burning of copal . The museum of the Templo Mayor was built in 1987 to house the Templo Mayor Project and its finds—a project which continues work to this day. In 1991, the Urban Archeology Program was incorporated as part of the Templo Mayor Project whose mission is to excavate the oldest area of the city, around the main plaza. The museum building was built by architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez , who envisioned

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5720-399: The carvings of the "commemoration stone of the huei teocalli ", depicting the two tlatoqueh celebrating the opening of the temple during the last day of the month Panquetzaliztli dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, day 7 acatl of the year 8 acatl (19 December 1487). The Sacred Precinct was walled off, and this wall was decorated with serpent heads. He built three shrines and the House of

5830-410: The chest of a captive and cut out his heart to place it in to fuel the fire. The fire then was taken all over the city to celebrate because the sun would return. People would cut their ears and put their blood in the fire. Thus the New Fire Ceremony started the new cycle and ensured the sun would return each day for another 18,980 days. The New Fire ceremonies were not limited to the Aztecs. In fact it

5940-448: The city's electricity provider, were digging at a place in the city then popularly known as the "island of the dogs" as the area was slightly elevated and stray dogs would gather there during times of flooding. Just over two meters down, the diggers struck a massive pre-Hispanic stone disk of over 3.25 meters (10.7 feet) in diameter, 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) thick, and weighing 8.5 metric tons (8.4 long tons; 9.4 short tons). The relief on

6050-423: The count with 1 Imix, followed by 2 Ikʼ, 3 Akʼbʼal, etc. up to 13 Bʼen. The day numbers then start again at 1 while the named-day sequence continues onwards, so the next days in the sequence are 1 Ix, 2 Men, 3 Kʼibʼ, 4 Kabʼan, 5 Etzʼnabʼ, 6 Kawak and 7 Ajaw. With all twenty named days used, these now began to repeat the cycle while the number sequence continues, so

6160-399: The current lunation , the number of the lunation in a series of six, the current ruling lunar deity and the length of the current lunation. The Maya counted the number of days in the current lunation. They used two systems for the zero date of the lunar cycle: either the first night they could see the thin crescent moon or the first morning when they could not see the waning moon. The age of

6270-413: The cycle repeats roughly once each lifetime, so a more refined method of dating was needed if history was to be recorded accurately. To specify dates over periods longer than 52 years, Mesoamericans used the Long Count calendar. The Maya name for a day was kʼin . Twenty of these kʼins are known as a winal or uinal . Eighteen winals make one tun . Twenty tuns are known as a kʼatun . Twenty kʼatuns make

6380-477: The deity Itzamna is frequently credited with bringing the knowledge of the calendrical system to the ancestral Maya, along with writing in general and other foundational aspects of Mayan culture. The Maya calendar consists of several cycles or counts of different lengths. The 260-day count is known to scholars as the Tzolkin , or Tzolkʼin . The Tzolkin was combined with a 365-day vague solar year known as

6490-409: The duration of the Calendar Round is the least common multiple of 260 and 365; 18,980 is 73 × 260 Tzolkʼin days and 52 × 365 Haabʼ days. Not every possible combination of Tzolkʼin and Haabʼ can occur. For Tzolkʼin days Imix, Kimi, Chuwen and Kibʼ, the Haabʼ day can only be 4, 9, 14 or 19; for Ikʼ, Manikʼ, Ebʼ and Kabʼan, the Haabʼ day can only be 0, 5, 10 or 15; for Akbʼalʼ, Lamat, Bʼen and Etzʼnabʼ,

6600-423: The economics of the Aztec empire in the form of tribute and trade, with examples of finished products and raw materials from many parts of Mesoamerica. Room 4 is dedicated to the god Huitzilopochtli. His shrine at the temple was the most important and largest. This room contains various images of him as well as offerings. Also located here are the two large ceramic statues of the god Mictlantecuhtli which were found in

6710-423: The emperor Moctezuma II and ordered the destruction of all Aztec religious relics. Cortes ordered a Catholic cross placed on the Templo Mayor. While Cortes left for Veracruz to confront Spaniards looking to arrest him, Pedro de Alvarado learned of a plan to attack the Spaniards and staged a preemptive attack on the Aztecs in the Sacred Precinct while they celebrated a religious festival. Unarmed and trapped within

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6820-482: The fire cult of Huehueteotl walked from the ceremonial center of Tenochtitlan across the eastbound causeway towards a mountain called Huixachtlan on the eastern bank of Lake Texcoco close to Colhuacan . The priests would dress as various deities to perform the ceremony. The summit of Huizachtlan was visible from most of the Basin of Mexico . On this extinct volcano was a temple platform. At this time all fires in

6930-420: The fire to sacrifice or blister themselves; among this, there would be great celebrating and no one would sleep all throughout the night. The Aztecs believed that their ability to continue in the world as they knew it relied on their ability to understand and incorporate astrological signs and patterns into their own festivals and seasons. The Templo Mayor, which was the temple in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan,

7040-523: The fire. This new fire that was started in the first sacrifice's chest started off the ceremony and then later numerous sacrifices celebrated the new cycle. When the first sparks of fire sprung from the fire drill , the New Calendar Round was declared begun and a huge bonfire was lit. From this bonfire torches were carried by runners to every ward of the city where the temple hearths would be lit. The first fires to be lit in this way were those at

7150-578: The formula that there were 149 lunations completed in 4400 days, which yielded a rather short mean month of exactly / 149 = 29+ / 149 days = 29 days 12 hours 43 minutes and 29+ / 149 seconds, or about 29.5302 days. Some Mayan monuments include glyphs that record an 819-day count in their Initial Series. These can also be found in the Dresden codex . This is described in Thompson. More examples of this can be found in Kelley. Each group of 819 days

7260-512: The instability inherent in the shift from one cycle to another. It was feared that female stellar deities , the Tzitzimime , would descend and devour the earth. In the days prior to the New Fire Ceremony, citizens would renew their houses and ready them for the ceremony by throwing out hearth stones, clothes, jars and other vessels for cooking, idols and other household goods. These things were considered to hold essences that would be linked to

7370-448: The intention of the offering. The oldest Mexica objects, located in the second temple, are two urns which contain the remains of incinerated bones; one of the urns was made of obsidian and the other of alabaster. A small silver mask and a gold bell were found inside one urn, and second gold bell and two green stone beads were placed in the other. Images of the gods Huehueteotl - Xiuhtecuhtli , together with Tlaloc, presided over most of

7480-492: The kingdoms of Postclassic Yucatán, the Short Count was used instead of the Long Count. The cyclical Short Count is a count of 13 kʼatuns (or 260 tuns), in which each kʼatun was named after its concluding day, Ahau ('Lord'). 1 Imix was selected as the recurrent 'first day' of the cycle, corresponding to 1 Cipactli in the Aztec day count. The cycle was counted from katun 11 Ahau to katun 13 Ahau. Since

7590-760: The local community. The classic system of Year Bearers described above is found at Tikal and in the Dresden Codex . During the Late Classic period a different set of Year Bearers was in use in Campeche. In this system, the Year Bearers were the Tzolkʼin that coincided with 1 Pop. These were Akʼbʼal, Lamat, Bʼen and Edznab. During the Post-Classic period in Yucatán a third system was in use. In this system

7700-399: The moon was depicted by a set of glyphs that mayanists coined glyphs D and E: The Maya counted the lunations. This cycle appears in the lunar series as two glyphs that modern scholars call the 'C' and 'X' glyphs. The C glyph could be prefixed with a number indicating the lunation. No prefixing number meant one, whereas the numbers two through six indicated the other lunations. There was also

7810-418: The mountain home of Tlaloc. The sacred ballcourt and skull rack were located at the foot of the stairs of the twin temples, to mimic, like the stone disk, where Huitzilopochtli was said to have placed the goddess' severed head. These locations served as a place for the reenactment of the mythical conflict. The various levels of the Temple also represent the cosmology of the Aztec world. First of all, it

7920-459: The names for these twenty-day periods varied considerably from region to region and from period to period, reflecting differences in the base language(s) and usage in the Classic and Postclassic eras predating their recording by Spanish sources. Each day in the Haabʼ calendar was identified by a day number in the month followed by the name of the month. Day numbers began with a glyph translated as

8030-444: The next day after 7 Ajaw is 8 Imix. The repetition of these interlocking 13- and 20-day cycles therefore takes 260 days to complete (that is, for every possible combination of number/named day to occur once). The earliest known inscription with a Tzolkʼin is an Olmec earspool with 2 Ahau 3 Ceh - 6.3.10.9.0, September 2, -678 (Julian astronomical). glyph sign The Haabʼ was made up of eighteen months of twenty days each plus

8140-660: The night") associated with different groups of deities , animals and other significant concepts are also known. The tzolkʼin (in modern Maya orthography ; also commonly written tzolkin ) is the name commonly employed by Mayanist researchers for the Maya Sacred Round or 260-day calendar. The word tzolkʼin is a neologism coined in Yucatec Maya , to mean "count of days" (Coe 1992). The various names of this calendar as used by precolumbian Maya people are still debated by scholars. The Aztec calendar equivalent

8250-425: The number of days. The Maya numeral system was essentially vigesimal (i.e., base -20) and each unit of a given position represented 20 times the unit of the position which preceded it. An important exception was made for the second-order place value, which instead represented 18 × 20, or 360 days, more closely approximating the solar year than would 20 × 20 = 400 days. The cycles of the Long Count are independent of

8360-438: The offerings found in the Templo Mayor. Representing fire and water respectively, this pair of deities probably symbolized the concept of "burning water," a metaphor for warfare. Another theme exhibited in this hall is autosacrifice, a ritual that was conducted in private as a personal act of communication with the gods. Widespread throughout the entire population, this practice was performed by perforating certain fleshy parts of

8470-410: The old cycle. On a national level, temples were also expanded and changed in the spirit of renewal. The ceremony was represented as a bundle of sticks when it was carved as the ceremony was thought to reset the cycle of the years. At sunset on the last day of the year, which always happened during the birth of Huitzilopochtli , the day-sign "1 Tecpatl" of the year "2 Acatl," a procession of priests from

8580-511: The on-site museum. Another conjoining area was dedicated to the Ocelot Warriors. Their temple, dedicated to the god Tezcatlipoca, lies under the current Museo de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público to the south of the Templo Mayor. The Calmecac was a residence hall for priests and a school for future priests, administrators and politicians, where they studied theology, literature, history and astronomy. Its exact location

8690-409: The present time. The second temple was built during the reigns of Acamapichtli , Huitzilihuitl and Chimalpopoca between 1375 and 1427. The upper part of this temple has been excavated, exposing two stone shrines covered in stucco on the north side. A chacmool was uncovered as well. On the south side, there is a sacrificial stone called a téchcatl and a sculpted face. The third temple

8800-428: The pyramid, and each had large braziers where the sacred fires continuously burned. The entrance to each temple had statues of robust and seated men which supported the standard-bearers and banners of handmade bark paper. Each stairway was defined by balustrades flanking the stairs, terminating in menacing serpent heads at the base. These stairways were used only by the priests and sacrificial people. The entire building

8910-402: The rest of the city, was disassembled to be used as construction materials to create the Spanish colonial city. The Temple's exact location was forgotten. By the 20th century, scholars had a good idea where to look for it based on archeological work completed at the end of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. Leopoldo Batres did some excavation work at the end of the 19th century under

9020-419: The richest of the architectural decorations as well as sculptures. Most findings from the excavations date from this period. The great platform was decorated with serpents and braziers , some of which are in the form of monkeys and some in the form of Tlaloc. During this time, the stairway to the shrine of Tlaloc was defined by a pair of undulating serpents and the middle of this shrine was a small altar featuring

9130-482: The shape of dumps of pottery and households utensils discarded in the initial stage of the celebration. The idea was first proposed by George C. Vaillant in the 1930s but his model was criticized as theoretically unfounded and abandoned. In 2001, Elson and Smith rethought the proposal in light of the findings of several ceramic dumps that seemed to match the idea of what remains of New Fire ceremony would look like. They conclude that New Fire ceremonies were held throughout

9240-497: The solar year. Many Maya Long Count inscriptions contain a supplementary series , which provides information on the lunar phase , number of the current lunation in a series of six and which of the nine Lords of the Night rules. Less-prevalent or poorly understood cycles, combinations and calendar progressions were also tracked. An 819-day Count is attested in a few inscriptions. Repeating sets of 9 days (see below "Nine lords of

9350-405: The stone was later determined to be Coyolxauhqui , Huitzilopochtli's sister, and was dated to the end of the 15th century. From 1978 to 1982, specialists directed by archeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma worked on the project to excavate the Temple. Initial excavations found that many of the artifacts were in good enough condition to study. Efforts coalesced into the Templo Mayor Project, which

9460-490: The structure); Container (type and dimensions of the receptacle containing the objects); internal distribution (placement of objects within the offering) and value of the items. The offerings were usually contained in cavities, in stone urns, and in boxes made of slabs. These are found under floors; in platforms, architectural bodies, stairways and in temples. These offerings were placed accompanied by complex rituals following set temporal, spatial and symbolic patterns, depending on

9570-678: The sunset dates corresponding to the east–west axis of the late stages, including the last, is 4 April, which in the Julian calendar of the 16th century was equivalent to 25 March. In 1519, this was the last day of Tlacaxipehualiztli, that is, precisely the day of the feast of the month. Furthermore, 25 March, the Feast of the Annunciation, was in the Middle Ages commonly identified with the vernal equinox. Consequently, Motolinía did not refer to

9680-464: The temple acts as an embodiment of a living myth where "all sacred power is concentrated and where all the levels intersect." Said myth is the birth and struggle between Huitzilopochtli and Coyolxauhqui . The Sacred Precinct of the Templo Mayor was surrounded by a wall called the "coatepantli" (serpent wall). Among the most important buildings were the ballcourt, the Calmecac (area for priests), and

9790-441: The temple is indicative of the total vision that the Mexica had of the universe ( cosmovision ). He states that the "principal center, or navel, where the horizontal and vertical planes intersect, that is, the point from which the heavenly or upper plane and the plane of the Underworld begin and the four directions of the universe originate, is the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan." Matos Moctezuma supports his supposition by claiming that

9900-440: The temple itself, exposed and labeled to show its various stages of development, along with some other associated buildings, and 2) the museum, built to house the smaller and more fragile objects. The process of expanding an Aztec temple was typically completed by new structures being built over earlier ones, using the bulk of the former as a base for the latter. The Aztecs began construction of Templo Mayor sometime after 1325, and

10010-435: The temple was rebuilt six times. All seven stages of the Templo Mayor, except the first, have been excavated and assigned to the reigns of the emperors who were responsible for them. The first temple is only known through historical records because the high water table of the old lakebed prevents excavation. According to these records, the first pyramid was built with earth and perishable wood, which may not have survived to

10120-443: The temple, around 1469. It was excavated in 1981 and 1982 by José Francisco Hinojosa. It is a large L-shaped room with staircases decorated with sculptures of eagle heads. To enter this main room, one had to pass through an entrance guarded by two large sculpted representations of these warriors. The Eagle Warriors were a privileged class who were dedicated to the god Huitzilopochtli, and dressed to look like eagles. Adjoining this palace

10230-520: The temples dedicated to Quetzalcoatl , Tezcatlipoca and the sun. The Templo Mayor itself delineated the eastern side of the Sacred Precinct. On the sides of the Templo Mayor, archeologists have excavated a number of palatial rooms and conjoining structures. One of the best preserved and most important is the Palace (or House) of the Eagle Warriors . This area dates back to the fourth stage of

10340-551: The twin temple Templo Mayor where the Tlatoani would participate, and later the fires at the Calmecac of Huitzilopochtli and subsequently the lesser temples and Calmecacs and Telpochcallis and lastly private households. Once the fires in homes were lit, people celebrated the renewal by cutting their ears and the ears of their children and throwing blood towards the first fire.  People would also often throw themselves into

10450-454: The walls of the Sacred Precinct, an estimated 8,000–10,000 Aztec nobles were killed. When word of the massacre spread throughout the city, the people turned on the Spaniards, killing seven, wounding many, and driving the rest back to their quarters. The Spaniards were trapped between two Aztec forces, and 68 were captured alive. Ten of these Spanish captives were immediately sacrificed at the Temple, and their severed heads were thrown back to

10560-542: Was an ancient and widespread ritual in Postclassic Central Mexico that the Aztecs appropriated to their own society. The Anales de Tlatelolco mention the Aztecs upon achieving independence of the Tepanec state celebrated a New Fire ceremony that marked the beginning of the calendric count of the Aztecs. This suggests that the ceremony was also used as a dynastic foundation rite. The Celebration of

10670-435: Was associated with one of four colors and the cardinal direction with which it was associated – black corresponded to west, red to east, white to north and yellow to south. The 819-day count can be described several ways: Most of these are referred to using a "Y" glyph and a number. Many also have a glyph for Kʼawill – the god with a smoking mirror in his head. Kʼawill has been suggested as having

10780-451: Was at the equinox". This statement has become very famous, as it is the only textual reference known so far that explicitly relates a Mesoamerican temple with astronomical observations. The measurements in the Templo Mayor confirmed the veracity of this comment. The orientation of stage II, the earliest of the archaeologically attested construction phases, is different from that adopted by stage III and preserved in all subsequent stages. One of

10890-501: Was authorized by presidential decree. To complete the excavation, 13 buildings in this area were demolished including 9 built in the 1930s and 4 dating from the 19th century that had preserved colonial elements. During excavations, more than 7,000 objects were found, mostly offerings including effigies; clay pots in the image of Tlaloc; skeletons of turtles, frogs, crocodiles, and fish; snail shells; coral; gold; alabaster ; Mixtec figurines; ceramic urns from Veracruz ; masks from what

11000-415: Was built between 1427 and 1440 during the reign of Itzcoatl . A staircase with eight stone standard-bearers is from this stage bearing the glyph with the year Four-Reed (1431). These standard bearers act as "divine warriors" guarding the access to the upper shrines. The fourth temple was constructed between 1440 and 1481 during the reigns of Moctezuma I and Axayacatl . This stage is considered to have

11110-572: Was built in its place. The Zócalo , or main plaza of Mexico City today, was developed to the southwest of Templo Mayor, which is located in the block between Seminario and Justo Sierra streets. The site is part of the Historic Center of Mexico City , which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987. It received 801,942 visitors in 2017. After the destruction of Tenochtitlan, the Templo Mayor, like most of

11220-442: Was called Tōnalpōhualli , in the Nahuatl language. The tzolkʼin calendar combines twenty day names with the thirteen day numbers to produce 260 unique days. It is used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events and for divination. Each successive day is numbered from 1 up to 13 and then starting again at 1. Separately from this, every day is given a name in sequence from a list of 20 day names: Some systems started

11330-458: Was chosen by John Eric Sydney Thompson in 1935 on the basis of earlier correlations by Joseph Goodman in 1905 (August 11), Juan Martínez Hernández in 1926 (August 12) and Thompson himself in 1927 (August 13). By its linear nature, the Long Count was capable of being extended to refer to any date far into the past or future. This calendar involved the use of a positional notation system, in which each position signified an increasing multiple of

11440-425: Was devoted to Quetzalcoatl in his form as the wind god, Ehecatl . The temple devoted to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, measuring approximately 100 by 80 m (328 by 262 ft) at its base, dominated the Sacred Precinct. Construction of the first temple began sometime after 1325, and it was rebuilt six times. The temple was almost totally destroyed by the Spanish in 1521, and the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

11550-569: Was followed by the re-entering first day 1 Imix. This is the system as found in the colonial Books of Chilam Balam . In characteristic Mesoamerican fashion, these books project the cycle onto the landscape, with 13 Ahauob 'Lordships' dividing the land of Yucatán into 13 'kingdoms'. Templo Mayor The Templo Mayor (English: Main Temple) was the main temple of the Mexican people in their capital city of Tenochtitlan , which

11660-414: Was largely important to the New Fire Ceremony because there the ceremonial fire was taken to the top of the pyramid and lit inside the Temple of Huitzilopotchli. The position of every part of the ceremony was carefully chosen to either mirror what was happening in the sky or to please the gods or both. When the priest would wait for the constellation to move, that was the signal that all would be well and that

11770-500: Was largely worked out by John E. Teeple . The Supplementary Series most commonly consists of the following elements: Each night was ruled by one of the nine lords of the underworld. This nine-day cycle was usually written as two glyphs: a glyph that referred to the Nine Lords as a group, followed by a glyph for the lord that would rule the next night. A lunar series generally is written as five glyphs that provide information about

11880-416: Was originally covered with stucco and polychrome paint. The deities were housed inside the temple, shielded from the outside by curtains. The figure of Huitzilopochtli was modeled from amaranth seeds held together with honey and human blood. Inside of him were bags containing jade, bones, and amulets to give life to the god. This figure was constructed annually, and it was richly dressed and fitted with

11990-403: Was similar to many sacred ball fields in Mesoamerica. Games were played barefoot, and players used their hips to move a heavy ball to stone rings. The field was located west of the Templo Mayor, near the twin staircases and oriented east–west. Next to this ball field was the "huey tzompanti" where the skulls of sacrifice victims were kept after being covered in stucco and decorated. The Temple of

12100-503: Was simply the day that the calendar went to the next bʼakʼtun , at Long Count 13.0.0.0.0. The date of the start of the next b'ak'tun (Long Count 14.0.0.0.0) is March 26, 2407. The date of the start of the next piktun (a complete series of 20 bʼakʼtuns), at Long Count 1.0.0.0.0.0, is October 13, 4772. Many Classic period inscriptions include a series of glyphs known as the Supplementary Series. The operation of this series

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