The Mexican calendar designers choose to name twenty ritual days and then count Days in cycles of 13. This can be best demonstrated by making a table of 13 square spaces in each of twenty rows. I will now explain the system by placing day numbers in sequence into the squares, starting with day 1 in row 1 and continuing down the column to row 13. In row 14 the days repeat from 1 and continues counting days as each day number is placed in a new square until the column is filled with day 7 in row 20 then continues to column 2 with day 8, etc,etc. The final row is filled with day 13 and a new table of ritual days can be started in row 1 with day 1. The table of 20 rows and 13 columns has been filled with 260 days. I do not know the prehistoric Mexican reason for this choice of counting days. My guess is that they had a twenty day ceremonial week and decided to extend the calendar by counting ceremonial weeks to correspond to the number of Cosmic Moon Cycles. The result was a 260 day ritual calendar which does not correspond with the agricultural seasons and with more advanced observations of a Cosmic Year Cycle.
| 1 Cipactli, caiman | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 |
| 2 Ehecatl, wind | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 Calli, house | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 |
| 4 Cuetzpallin, Lizard | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 |
| 5 Coatl, snake | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 |
| 6 Miquiztli. death | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 |
| 7 Mazatl, deer | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 |
| 8 Tochtli, rabbit | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 |
| 9 Atl, water | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
| 10 Itzcuintli, dog | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 |
| 11 Ozomatli, monkey | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 |
| 12 Malinalli, grass | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 |
| 13 Acatl, reed | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 |
| 1 Ocelotl, jaguar | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 |
| 2 Cuautli, eagle | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 Cozcacuahtli, king vulture | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 |
| 4 Ollin, movement | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 |
| 5 Tecpatl, flint | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 |
| 6 Quiahuitl, rain | 6 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 |
| 7 Xochitl, flower | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 13 |
It is interesting that the last square of this ritual calendar ends on day 13 corresponding to a full count of moons.
There is another viewpoint for the same calendar, organized in columns of 13 sequential number/day names
and rows of 20 trecenas. Each complete row ( a trecena) is then given the name of the first day of this row. The first row is 1 Cipactli, second row 1 Ocelotl, third row 1 Mazatl, etc to the 20th row which is 1 Tochtli. This table contains 260 named days. The name of each day is a combination of the number heading a column and a word from a trecena. This chart can be mounted on wall and each day can be marked as complete at sunset. At the end of 260 days another identical page can be used starting again with 1 Cipactli. My intuition tells me that some prehistoric timekeepers used exactly this technique for recording days. New pages may be added as long as a sequence of timekeepers keep the record.
This serves me s an example for further examination of calendar construction. There may have been competing timekeepers that used another type of page or even piles of stones, marks on boards, or marked rocks, etc.
THIS CHART IS TRUNCATED ON RIGHT MARGIN BY BLOGGER
I often want to know how the date on my kitchen calendar relates to the sacred calendar. This format of the sacred calendar is useful for observing the relationship because nahuatl day names always have a number followed by a name. I can look down any column headed by the number until finding the name to find the exact location in the 260 day sequence of the sacred calendar. This calendar format is published in my documents at:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d7b4c3p_68f4jp6qz9
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetzpallin | Coatl | Miquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzquintli | Ozomatli | Malinalli | Acatl |
| Ocelotl | Cuauhtli | Cozcacauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xochitl | Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetzpallin | Coatl | Miquizlti |
| Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzqintli | Ozomatli | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Cuauhtli | Cozcacauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl |
| Xochitl | Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetzpallin | Coatl | Miquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzquintli | Ozomatli | Malinalli |
| Acatl | Ocelotl | Cuauhtli | Cozcacauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xochitl | Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetzpallin | Coatl |
| Mizquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzquintli | Ozomatli | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Cucahtli | Cozcacauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl |
| Quiahuitl | Xochitl | Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetpallin | Coatl | Mizquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzqquintlitli | Ozomati |
| Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Cuauhtli | Cozcacauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xochtli | Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetzpallin |
| Coatl | Mizquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzquintli | Ozomatli | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Cuauhtli | Cozcauhtli | Ollin |
| Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xochtli | Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetzpallin | Coatl | Mizquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzquintli |
| Ozomatli | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Cuauhtli | Cozcacauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xochtli | Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli |
| Cuetzpallin | Coatl | Mizquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzquintli | Ozomatli | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Cuauhtli | Cozcacauhtli |
| Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xochtli | Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetzpallin | Coatl | Mizquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl |
| Itzcuintli | Ozomati | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Cuauhtli | Cozcacauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xochtli | Cipactli | Ehecatl |
| Calli | Cuetzpallin | Coatl | Mizquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzquintli | Ozomatli | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Cuauhtli |
| Cozcacuauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xochtli | Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetzpallin | Coatl | Mizquiztli | Mazatl | Tochtli |
| Atl | Itzquintli | Ozomati | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Cuautli | Cozcacauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xoctli | Cipactli |
| Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetzpallin | Coatl | Mizquiztli | Mzatl | Tochtli | Atl | Itzquintli | Ozomati | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl |
| Cuauhtli | Cozcacauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xochtli | Cipactli | Ehecatl | Calli | Cuetzpallin | Coatl | Mizquiztli | Mazatl |
| Tochtli | Atl | Itzquintli | Ozomatli | Malinalli | Acatl | Ocelotl | Cuauhtli | Cozcacauhtli | Ollin | Tecpatl | Quiahuitl | Xochtli |
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