The Xiuhpohualli

The xihuitl, or 365-day solar year, consisted of 18 months of twenty days (metztli, Sp.veintenas) each with an additional terminal "month" of five days (the nemontemi). The latter was considered a period of ill luck No effort was made to insert intercalary days to adjust for the true length of the year, with the result that the months slowly slipped from synchronization with their "natural" positions. The position in the solar year was indicated by a numeral from I-XX followed by the month name. Counting proceded as with our months: 1 Atlcualo was succeeded by 2 Atlcualo, etc.

Although the civic festivals associated with each month were clearly of central importance to the ritual life of the community, charts and glyphs of the xiuhpohualli are almost completely absent from the codices. Unlike Maya dates, where Sacred Round dates are usually accompanied by the corresponding date in the solar calendar, in the codices events are specified only with the tonalpohualli day accompanied by the year bearer. The Codex Borbonicus, Telleriano-Remensis, Vaticano A, Duran, and Sahagun's Primeros Memoriales do illustrate the festivals associated with the months, however. The unique set of possible month glyphs given below comes from f. 89v,r of the Vaticanus A. Prose descriptions of the festivals can also be found in Sahagun (Book 2 of the Florentine Codex), Duran, and Motolinia, among others.

		Nahuatl name	Translation	*Date	Sahagun's Version	Vaticanus A Patron
1		Atlcualo	"Stopping of Water"	Feb. 24	Cuahuitlehua	Tlaloc
2		Tlacaxipeualiztli	"Flaying of Men"	March 16	Tlacaxipehualiztli	Xipe Totec
3		Tozoztontli	"Little Festival of Our Autosacrifice"	April 5	Tozoztontli	Maize Goddess
4		Uey Tozoztli	"Great Festival of Our Autosacrifice"	April 25	Huetozoztontli	Maize Goddess
5		Tozcatl	"Toasted maize"	May 15	Toxcatl	Tezcatlipoca
6		Etzalcualiztli	"Sustenance of maize and bean porridge (etzal)"	June 4	Etzalcualiztli	Tlaloc
7		Tecuiluitontli	"Little Festival of the Lords"	June 24	Tecuilhuitontli	Uixtocihuatl
8		Uey Tecuiluitl	"Great Festival of the Lords"	July 14	Hueytecuilhuitl	Generalized noble+day sign
9		Miccailuitl	"Little Festival of the Dead"	Aug. 3	Miccailhuitontli	Burial bundle as Cihuatl
10		Uey Miccailuitl	"Great Festival of the Dead"	Aug. 23	Hueymiccailhuitontli	Burial bundle as Otontecuhtli
11		Ochpaniztli	"Sweeping of the Roads"	Sept. 12	Ochpaniztli	Tlazolteotl
12		Pachtontli	"Little Festival of pachtle"	Oct. 2	Teteoeco	Tezcatlipoca
13		Uey pachtli	"Great Festival of pachtle"	Oct. 22	Tepeilhuitl	Mountain Tlaloc
14		Quecholli	"Precious feather", "Flung arrow"	Nov. 11	Quecholli	Mixcoatl
15		Panquetzaliztli	"Raising of Banners"	Dec. 1	Panquetzaliztli	Uitzilopochtli
16		Atemoztli	"Descent of the Waters"	Dec. 21	Atemoztli	Tlaloc
17		Tititl	"Stretching"	Jan. 10	Tititl	Cihuacoatl
18		Izcalli	"Growing"	Jan. 30	Izcalli	Xiuhtecuhtli
19		nemontemi	5 "barren days"

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