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Aztec calendar: Roadmap of Destiny
The Aztecs believed that time was like a wheel, endlessly turning. They used two circular calendars to keep track of time. On their religious ritual calendar, each day had a different name (rain, flower, rabbit, and so on, named after familiar objects, so it would be easier to remember dates) and a number from 1 to 13. Every 13 days, a new month began. There were 20 months in the Aztec year – 260 days.
The Aztec Sun Stone was discovered in 1790 underneath Mexico City's central square. Four feet thick, 12 feet in diameter, and weighing more than 24 tons, the gray-black basalt stone was sculpted with picture glyphs and symbolic icons to show the calendar dates and, most importantly, the Aztecs' destiny. The Aztecs believed that they were living in the time of the fifth (and last) sun. The earlier four suns had all died. [more]
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