Aztec Calendar Stone Essay

The Aztecs were the last of the great cultures of Mesoamerica before the European conquests. The Aztecs continued the traditions of the first Mesoamericans who looked into the heavens for ways to live in the good graces of their gods and the universe that surrounded them. The Aztec peoples culture revolved around agricultural and also equated religion to survival. Aztec priests and leaders researched movements of the sun and the planets in the sky. To do this they created and followed a set of calendars to track planetary and solar events to make important decisions such as when to plant crops and which season certain crops would produce the best harvest. These practices went with the lunar, solar, and planetary events were planned religious

In1790 renovations took place on the Cathedral in the central square of Mexico City (Zocalo). One early morning on December 17TH of 1790, the Aztec Calendar Stone was rediscovered. This huge 3 feet thick and almost 12 feet across ancient calendar was unearthed sparking new interests in Mexico's ancient past and culture. The stone had been laid flat on the ground and was possibly used for blood sacrifices. Upon its initial discovery, the stone was found upside down. It is thought that by laying it with the calendar facing the earth, that perhaps it might prevent the final cataclysm, the fall of the 5th and the final sun. The Aztecs believed that the world would fall apart after being attacked from the Old World. After it was unearthed this ancient calendar went on display in the Western tower of the Metropolitan Cathedral. Then in 1882 the massive stone calendar, often referred to as “Montezuma’s Clock,” was moved to the Museo Nacional on Calle Moneda to be displayed at the Salon de Monoliths. It remained there until 1964 when the Calendar Stone was transitioned to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia where it can still be seen

Also the 13 represented their philosophy of 13 directions in space. The early Central Americans believed that this ritualistic calendar represented an archetypal state of human and cosmic harmony. Each rotation through the 13 numbers represented one week in the system. The first, sixth, eleventh, and sixteenth weeks were considered important because they created the four divisions of the year. Each of the 20 days was associated with tangible objects or animals. For example the first day “Cipactili’ was represented by an alligator and was ruled by the god of feasts and the second day “Ehecatl” was represented by the wind and was ruled by the god of fire, life and spirt. The Aztecs Used the calendars to plan various activities such as when to grow crops, where to build there villages, and when to go to war based on what were considered to be “lucky” and “unlucky”