The Aztec calendar · tonalpohualli
Every Aztec child was named for the day they were born.
Today in the sacred count is
What was your day?
Free questionnaire and preview
The count of the days
In Tenochtitlan, a newborn was taken to the tonalpouhqui, the reader of days, who opened the painted book and read the child's fate in the day of birth. Three counts worked together.
The count of days
Tonalpohualli · 260 days
Twenty day signs and thirteen numbers turn together. Every child was named for the day of birth, and that day name, the tonalli, was believed to carry the heat of destiny.
The weeks of thirteen
Trecenas · 20 × 13 days
The count was divided into twenty 'weeks' of thirteen days, each under its own god. The trecena you were born in adds a patron to your sign.
The solar year
Xiuhpohualli · 365 days
Eighteen months of twenty days, each with its great festival, then five nameless days. Every year was carried by one of four year bearers.
The twenty day signs
Painted by Mexica artists in the sixteenth century, in the Codex Magliabechiano. One of them is the sign you were born under.
CipactliCrocodile
EhecatlWindCalliHouse
CuetzpalinLizard
CoatlSerpent
MiquiztliDeath
MazatlDeer
TochtliRabbit
AtlWater
ItzcuintliDog
OzomatliMonkey
MalinalliGrass
AcatlReed
OcelotlJaguar
CuauhtliEagle
CozcacuauhtliVulture
OllinMovement
TecpatlFlint
QuiahuitlRain
XochitlFlowerFree questionnaire and preview
How the day was read
The words the Mexica used for time, destiny and the soul, and what each one adds to your reading.
Tonalli
The day name and the soul it brought: heat and light from the sun, received at birth and said to live in the head. Your tonalli is your fate and your vital force.
Tonalamatl
“The book of days”: the painted screenfold in which priests looked up every day's signs, gods and omens. The Codex Borbonicus is one of the finest that survives.
Tonalpouhqui
“The one who counts the days”: the priest-diviner consulted at every birth to read the child's day and choose a lucky day for naming.
Trecena
One of the twenty periods of thirteen days. Each is ruled by its own god, painted large on its page of the tonalamatl.
Lords of the Night
Nine gods who rule the nights in turn, from Xiuhtecuhtli, Lord of Fire, to Tlaloc, Lord of Rain. One of them watched over the night you were born.
Lords of the Day
Thirteen gods, one for each number, each with a sacred bird or flyer: hummingbirds, eagles, owls, the quetzal and the butterfly.
Year bearers
Reed, Flint, House and Rabbit: the four day signs that named the years, each tied to a direction of the world.
Nemontemi
The five nameless days at the end of the year, outside every month. People stayed home, fasted and began nothing new.
Xiuhmolpilli
“The binding of the years”: after 52 years the two calendars return to the same day. All fires were put out and a New Fire was lit to begin the world again.
The Five Suns
The Mexica believed four worlds had been created and destroyed before ours: the Suns of Jaguar, Wind, Rain of Fire and Water. We live in the Fifth, the Sun of Movement.
The Sun Stone
The great carved disc found in Mexico City in 1790. At its centre is the face of the Fifth Sun; around it, the twenty day signs.
East
Red · Xipe Totec
North
Black · Tezcatlipoca
West
White · Quetzalcoatl
South
Blue · Huitzilopochtli
How it works
You tell us a first name and birth date. We find the day in the sacred count, the trecena and its god, the Lords of the Night and of the Day, the year and the festival month, and draw them together into your personal certificate.
Aztec certificate
Itzel
Born Friday, 12 August 1994
Chicuace Ocelotl · Six Jaguar
See the full sample certificate
What you receive
- ◆Your day name in Nahuatl, the tonalli you were born under
- ◆Your day sign and number, with their full readings
- ◆Your trecena and the god who rules it
- ◆Your Lord of the Night and your Lord of the Day
- ◆Your sacred bird, the flyer of your Lord of the Day
- ◆Your direction, colour and the Tezcatlipoca who guards it
- ◆Your year bearer and the festival month you were born in
- ◆Which of the Five Suns your day echoes
- ◆Love, work, strengths, challenges and the year ahead
- ◆A printable certificate in the style of a painted codex
Questions
Is it free?
The questionnaire and your preview are completely free. The full certificate is an optional one-off purchase, with no subscription.
What do I need?
A first name and a birth date. A birth time is optional: it shows where the sun was on its daily journey when you were born.
Is the Aztec calendar the same as the Maya one?
They are cousins. The 260-day count runs in step with the Maya tzolk'in, so your day falls on the same position in both, but the signs, gods and festivals are those of the Mexica of Tenochtitlan.
How accurate is it?
Your day is placed with the correlation used by historians, which matches the dates recorded at the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521. The solar year follows the reconstruction of Alfonso Caso.
Can I make one for my child or partner?
Yes. Choose who it is for at the start and the reading is written for them.
Your day is written in the book of days.
Free questionnaire and preview