Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol. 1 of 2: A Historical, Geographical, Political, Statistical and Social Account of That Country From the Period of the Invasion by the Spaniards to the Present Time.Mayer, Brantz
History
Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol. 1 of 2: A Historical, Geographical, Political, Statistical and Social Account of That Country From the Period of the Invasion by the Spaniards to the Present Time.
The whole circle is divided into eight equal parts by the eight
triangles R, which designate the rays of the sun. The intervals
between these are each divided into two equal parts by the small
circles indicated by the letter L. At the top of the vertical ray is
found the hieroglyphic 13 Acatl, which shows that this stone applies
to that year. It must be recollected that, although this Mexican
calendar is in its arrangement the same for every year in the cycle,
there was a variation at the rate of a day for every four years,
between the several years of the cycle and the corresponding solar
years. Gama presumes that this date of 13 Acatl was selected on
account of its being the twenty-sixth year of the cycle and equally
removed from its beginning and termination. Beneath this hieroglyphic,
in correct drawings of the stone--but not in that of Gama which has
been reproduced by Mr. Gallatin--will be found, between the letters Y
and G, the distinct sign of 2, Acatl, and the ray above it points to
the sign of the year 13 Acatl, which coincides with our 21st of
December, and is undoubtedly the hitherto undetermined date of the
winter solstice in the Mexican calendar.[17]
The smaller interior circle, we have already said, contains the image
of the sun, as usually painted by the Indians; and to it are united
the four parallelograms A, B, C, D, which are supposed by some writers
to denote the four weeks into which the twenty days of the month were
divided, but which contain the hieroglyphics, A, of 4 Ocelotl; B, of 4
Ehecatl; C, of 4 Quiahuitl; and D, of 4 Atl. The lateral figures E and
F, according to Gama denote claws, which are symbolical of two great
Indian astrologers who were man and wife, and were represented as
eagles or owls.
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