Nahui Ollin

Today I want to share something interesting I noted about a couple of important dates in the tonalpohualli, the 260 day sacred calendar of traditional Mesoamerica (as opposed to the 360 day + 5 “dead days” civil calendar, used by the authorities much like the modern 12 month European calendar).  According to the Aztec Calendar website, today is the day Nahui Ollin, or Four Movement.  It’s a particularly special day because its the name day of Tonatiuh, the Sun of the Fifth Era — i.e., the present cosmic age.

A quick aside if you’re not familiar with the classical Mesoamerican “name day” concept — Aztec parents didn’t name their children purely at their own pleasure, like is the common practice in the USA today.  Instead, they would name their baby after a tonalpohualli date within four days of the child’s birth, which would be a number/noun pair, like One Reed or Ten Death.  As different dates have different positive and negative qualities under the pre-Conquest system of prognostication, the parents would consult with a priestly calendar specialist to choose the most promising day within that four day window to name the child.  (Dibble & Anderson, Florentine Codex, Book VI, pp.197-199, 201-207)

Now, back to Tonatiuh and His date name, Four Movement.  According to myth, the Fifth Era began in the darkness at Teotihuacan when all the gods came together to re-create the world and birth a new sun.  The day the new age and the new sun came to be is Mahtlactli Omei Acatl, or Thirteen Reed.  Thirteen Reed is the last day of the first trecena of the new 260 day calendar round, which started with Ce Cipactli (One Crocodile).  (Side note — the name Cipactli should be familiar, as it’s also the name of the primordial earth goddess who was dismembered to form the universe by Tecatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl before the First Era/Sun.  Another link to the process of creation!)  Exactly four days after Thirteen Reed is… Four Movement.  So, this creation story captures the fascinating detail that even the gods followed the practice of naming new beings after a date within the four day window after birth.  (This makes perfect sense when you recall that the common belief in Mesoamerica, continuing to the present day, is that the calendar and date-keeping is a divine gift.)

Now, this little detail is interesting enough in its own right, but I’d like to call your attention to one last thread of the story that makes it even more fascinating.  The date Nahui Ollin isn’t only the birth name of Tonatiuh, the present Sun, but it is also the prophecied date that He and the earthly realm will collapse into chaos and darkness again.  Thus, this single date and phrase is both His birth and His death, packed into one incredibly concise little packet bursting with meaning.  Life and death, creation and uncreation, Mictlan and Topan, separated only by time.  The Aztec alpha and omega.

Ollin, Plate 10 of the Codex Borbonicus

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Sahagún, Bernardino , Arthur J. O. Anderson, and Charles E. Dibble. General History of the Things of New Spain: Florentine Codex. Santa Fe, N.M: School of American Research, 1950-1982, Book VI, pp.197-199, 201-207.