For Mesoamerican civilizations, time held a special value as it was considered a divine energy and a sacred cycle, a gift from the gods. It served as the central axis of their worldview, guiding daily life, rituals, personal destinies, and the future of society. Calendars were not just tools for measuring the passage of time; they were also essential for historical memory, social control, and synchronizing human life with the rhythms of nature, the influence of the gods, and the dynamics of the cosmos.
The Mesoamerican Worldview
The term Mesoamerica refers to the region that stretches from the southern half of present-day Mexico through Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, and parts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. While it is difficult to generalize such a large region over millennia when it was never integrated under a single power, thanks to significant commercial and technological exchange, cultural mixing, and military campaigns, common elements can be found. These include agriculture as the foundation of the economy, the domestication of cacao and corn, a vigesimal numbering system, the so-called Mesoamerican ballgame, the practice of sacrifices, polytheistic beliefs, and the use of two calendars: one ritual and another for everyday use.
Importantly, many of these shared characteristics reflected a similar way of interpreting the world, with the result that Mesoamerican peoples often shared beliefs, imagery, deities, and concepts. As most of the civilizations in the region were agricultural and warrior peoples, they had common survival needs, which were reflected in common gods, such as those dedicated to fertility and water. The observation of daily life and its dualities—life and death, day and night, man and woman, rainy season and droughts—led to the construction of a vision of binary oppositions of complementary elements.
Time in Mesoamerica: Both Natural and Divine
The way each culture perceives and values time offers a key to understanding its worldview. In many ancient cultures, including in Mesoamerica, time was conceived as cyclical. This notion was tied to nature and the observation of physical states and processes: the sun rising and then setting when the moon appeared or rains bringing plants and animals to life, followed by a dry season where everything seemed to die. Observing such cycles was very important; being dependent on the environment for survival, it was necessary to anticipate the arrival of rainy cycles to manage food reserves and organize community survival means.
Their conception of time was not merely a mechanism for survival; it was influenced by human thought and action in order to create societal frameworks for understanding. It was a way of building a common vision by imbuing time with layers of meaning, enabling people to connect with their peers and ancestors, and giving sense and meaning to human activity.
In many pre-Hispanic cultures, time was considered a sacred element. It was not just a simple measure; as a creation of the gods, it was a vital force, a divine energy that permeated everything. It flowed through the human world with regulated rhythms and was essential for the creation and maintenance of the cosmos.
Mesoamerican Calendars: Tools of Empire
The need to connect events from the past, present, and future led these pre-Columbian peoples to systematically organize this information along natural cycles. The calendar, created from meticulous observations of the sky and mathematical calculations, provided a reference framework for both daily life and rituals. Calendars were an expression of the worldview, religion, science, and power of these civilizations.
Calendars reveal several layers of meaning. On one level, they were guided by natural phenomena, as the Mesoamericans viewed humans as an integral part of nature. This allowed them to align with natural rhythms and live in harmony with their environment. On a cosmic level, they sought to understand their place in the universe and establish a connection with the divine. Hidden and intertwined were other, more subtle aspects, such as tracking sacred dates related to deities and rituals essential for ensuring the fertility of the land, rains, health, and divine favor.
Calendars also became a tool for the powerful, as linking historical and dynastic events with cosmic cycles and divine myths allowed rulers to legitimize themselves as intermediaries between the divine and humans. They served as a mechanism to maintain social order by setting dates for religious ceremonies, dynastic events, agricultural work, commercial activities, and civic events. Additionally, they constituted the collective memory of the civilization, a means of passing down myths from generation to generation, strengthening shared identity and community bonds.
The Civil Calendar: 365 Days
In Mesoamerica, there were various versions of the calendar with different names, meanings of days, important dates, and starting days. However, many common features can be found among the calendars of different cultures. Most had a 365-day cycle related to the movement of the sun and the tropical year. In Nahuatl (the language spoken by the Aztecs), this cycle is called xiuhpohualli or “count of the year,” while the Maya used the word Haab’. This was the civil calendar and consisted of 18 “months” of 20 days each, plus five additional days at the end of the year.
In the Aztec calendar, each of the 20-day periods was dedicated to a different deity, as each was believed to influence human life, nature, and the cosmos. These periods were marked by the preparation of a festival that culminated at the end of the period. For example, the fifteenth month of their calendar was called Pānquetzaliztli, near the winter solstice, celebrating the birth of Huitzilopochtli, the sun god, symbolizing the victory of light over darkness. During this ceremony, the merchants who owned the slave victims observed a fast while captives were sacrificed. A figure of the god made from amaranth dough and toasted maize mixed with maguey honey was consumed after the sacrifices.
Within the sequence of twenty-day periods, there was a subdivision into groups of five days, with every fifth day serving as a market day, providing daily life with a constant rhythm. This was not only relevant for economic activities but also held social and ritual significance as times for gathering, exchange, and celebration.
The five additional days at the end of the year were called nemontemi in Nahuatl and uayeb in Maya. The term nemontemi can be translated as “they fill up in vain” or “wasted days.” Although their full significance has not been deciphered, these days were considered unlucky and even dangerous, leading to the suspension of many activities, such as trading or cooking, to avoid attracting unfavorable spirits. However, they also represented an opportunity to connect with the sacred and initiate a new cycle. They could be used as a time of transition and reflection, for reconciling with oneself or others.
These days were crucial as they marked the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new one. For example, Tenochtitlan was designed so that during these days, the sun would rise between the Twin Temples of the Templo Mayor; once this alignment was completed, maize planting would commence, and the new year would begin.
The 260-Day Ritual Calendar
The second calendar was used as a ritual and divinatory almanac. Known as tzolk’in by the Maya and tonalámatl by the Mexica, this calendar spans 260 days. It does not have an obvious relationship with astronomical or geophysical cycles, so it is believed to be based on symbolic and ritual meanings, although the exact origins remain unclear. The tzolk’in is still used in some indigenous communities in the Guatemalan highlands and southern Mexico.
The foundation of this system is the combination of the twenty day signs, each associated with a specific deity, with the numbers one to thirteen, which are also imbued with deep symbolism. This system creates a complex network of days, each combination having its own representation and influence on daily and ritual life.
In the Maya calendar, the twenty deities are connected to aspects of daily life, nature, and the universe. For example, Ok means “dog” and is associated with guiding the sun through the underworld at night, symbolizing guidance, loyalty, protection, and justice. Kawak means “storm” and is linked to purification and electrical energy, representing the power of thunder and renewal.
The numbers from one to thirteen also carry symbolic weight. For instance, the number four, Kan, represents stability, order, and structure, closely tied to the four cardinal points. The number six, Wak, symbolizes balance and harmony, especially in interactions with others.
The tzolk’in is not just used to count time; by combining both days and numbers, which form 260 different combinations, it exerted a special influence in guiding the community’s actions and spirituality. It served as a guide for making important decisions and holding ceremonial events, determining when to plant, harvest, celebrate marriages, and conduct military campaigns. The day on which one was born dictated their destiny and had implications for the rest of their life.
Additionally, the tzolk’in formed the basis for other astronomical time measurements with profound religious meanings. For example, the larger cycle of both calendars—when they converge and the count restarts—was fifty-two years. This was equivalent to the concept of a century in modern times and, for Mesoamerican cultures, represented not just a complete time cycle but also a cosmic reset.
