Mexico City 12

Posted on February 3, 2003 in Photos Vacations

I’m buried in charts and figures and I still can’t figure out how to read the Aztec calendar stone. It may be the most feared object in the National Museum of Anthropology. People flit up to it for a quick look — the obligatory glance required to answer the queries of friends and neighbors who expect photos and detailed expostulations on the alleged presence of the reshaped rock — and then run off to one of the nearby exhibits where they can freely proclaim their ignorance and anonymity.

All I can say for the famous 52-year projection is that it is round and covered with motifs which I don’t fully understand.

After we saw it, I went to the Museum Gift Shop. A young couple in the back by the books induced me into spending twenty dollars for a bark painting of any memorable day of our choice as represented in the Maya Calendar. I chose April 16, 1988, our wedding. Their computer reported it to be:

LONG COUNT

12 Baktun 18 Katun 14 Tun 17 Uinal 3 Kin

Days elapsed since the beginning of the Maya Era:
1,862,983

Tzolkin/Sacred Calendar Day:
9 Akbal House of the turtle or the night

Haab/Civil Calendar Month:
6 Pop Mat – Symbol of power

Deity: Jaguar

The lunar cycle had 0.2 days and it was
NEW MOON