The sixteenth trecena (13-day “week”) of the Aztec Tonalpohualli (ceremonial count of days) is called Vulture for its first numbered day, which is coincidentally the 16th day of the vientena (20-day “month”). In Nahuatl, Vulture is Cozcacuauhtli. However, for the Maya, the day apparently had only a peripheral association with the vulture and was known as Kib’ (Wax or Candle) in Yucatec and Ajmac (Owl or “sinner”) in Quiché with different significance. Per Dr. Paquin’s fine book (cited below), the Maya saw Kib’ as connected with the four Bacabs (directions or sky-bearers) and associated it with incense, the “soul force” of the universe, and notably bees.
On the other hand, the Aztec saw the day Vulture connected with the spiritual realm, restoring order and balance, and prosperity. Folks born on a Vulture day would be vigorous, prudent, wise, and good teachers and advisors. Those born on One Vulture would be happy, wealthy, admired, and lucky in business. Anatomically, the day was connected with the right ear.
PATRON DEITY RULING THE VULTURE TRECENA
The patron of the trecena is Xolotl, the Evening Star, god of twins, often called the “Evil Twin” of Quetzalcoatl (by the goddess Chimalma, while other lore has them borne by Ometeotl, the Creative Pair). Still other lore says Xolotl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (Morning Star) are the real twins, though the Morning Star is the more dangerous/evil, and what’s more they’re both naguals of Quetzalcoatl (Venus). Also, reflecting the Maya Hero Twins, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca are supposedly the famous twins, which further obfuscates divine family trees.
Usually, twins were seen as monstrosities, one of the two often killed at birth, and so Xolotl is called the deity of monstrosities. Adding to his “evil” reputation, he’s considered the god of malice and treachery, representing the bestial side of people, the opposite of intellect.
Recalling the European three-headed dog Cerberus in Hades and the jackal/dog Anubis in ancient Egypt’s Duat, Xolotl is most often depicted as a dog—who serves as psychopomp of souls in Mictlan. In the same way, when the Cihuateteo have brought the sun to its setting, the dog-god escorts Tonatiuh on his nightly journey through the Underworld. The setting sun-god is called Tlalchi-Tonatiuh, Sun close to (or under) the Earth, and is occasionally thought of as an ephemeral “patron” of the Vulture trecena.
AUGURIES OF THE VULTURE TRECENA
By Marguerite Paquin, author of “Manual for the Soul: A Guide to the Energies of Life: How Sacred Mesoamerican Calendrics Reveal Patterns of Destiny”
https://whitepuppress.ca/manual-for-the-soul/
Trecena theme: Mischief, Duality, Transformation. With the patron deities of this trecena both representing of the close proximity of the sun to the earth, it is not unusual to see some tendency towards “fire in the earth” during this period. These energies seem to underscore the dualistic nature of this trecena, metaphorically suggestive of the sun’s journey through the underworld, and its struggle towards rebirth. This can precipitate havoc, often of an intense or fiery nature, often involving some form of duality. However, the ultimate purpose is often transmutation, a push towards the birth of something new, as suggested by the initiating energy of Kib’, the Vulture energy that is ultimately oriented towards a restoration of order.
Further to how these energies connect with world events, see the Maya Count of Days Horoscope blog at whitepuppress.ca/horoscope/ Look for the Kib’ trecena.
THE 13 NUMBERED DAYS IN THE VULTURE TRECENA
The Aztec Tonalpohualli, like the ancestral Maya calendar, is counted through the sequence of 20 named days of the agricultural “month” (vientena), of which there are 18 in the solar year. Starting with the 16th day of the vientena, 1 Vulture, it continues: 2 Earthquake, 3 Flint, 4 Rain, 5 Flower, 6 Crocodile, 7 Wind, 8 House, 9 Lizard, 10 Snake, 11 Death, 12 Deer, and 13 Rabbit.
There are two special days in the Vulture trecena:
Four Rain (in Nahuatl Nahui Quiahuitl) – Featured on the Stone of the Suns, this is the day-name of the idyllic Third Sun/Era ruled by the Storm God Tlaloc. However, when Tezcatlipoca abducted his wife Xochiquetzal, the angry deity destroyed the world in a rain of fire (probably a volcano). Its people became butterflies, dogs, or birds—some say turkeys.
Five Flower (in Nahuatl Macuil Xochitl) is patron of games (particularly patolli) and gambling, music and singing, who brings and cures hemorrhoids and venereal diseases. He’s one of the five Ahuiateteo (Gods of pleasure and excess thereof). So far we’ve seen Five Lizard, Five Vulture, and Five Rabbit, and we’ll meet Five Grass in the last trecena, Rabbit. They are sometimes also called the Macuiltonaleque (Lords of Number 5) who escort the sun (Tonatiuh) across the day-sky and deliver him to the five Cihuateteo to prepare him for sunset, whereupon Xolotl takes him through the Underworld night.
THE TONALAMATL (BOOK OF DAYS)
Several of the surviving so-called Aztec codices (some originating from other cultures like the Mixtec) have Tonalamatl sections laying out the trecenas of the Tonalpohualli on separate pages. In Codex Borbonicus and Tonalamatl Aubin, the first two pages are missing; Codex Telleriano-Remensis and Codex Rios are each lacking various pages (fortunately not the same ones); and in Codex Borgia and Codex Vaticanus all 20 pages are extant. (The Tonalpohualli is also presented in a spread-sheet fashion in Codex Borgia, Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Cospi, but that format apparently serves other purposes.)
TONALAMATL BALTHAZAR
As described in my earlier blog The Aztec Calendar – My Obsession, some thirty years ago—on the basis of very limited ethnographic information and iconographic models —I presumed to create my own version of a Tonalamatl, publishing it in 1993 as Celebrate Native America!
In those dark ages of the early 90s, my information on most Aztec deities was severely limited. I’d read about Xolotl being the Evening Star and god of monstrosities but had no clue about his canine or solar characteristics. Reacting solely to a comment about his “reversed hands and feet” (but unaware that iconographically a great many divine hands and feet got reversed), I once again gathered regalia and motifs from Codex Nuttall, without realizing its appropriateness made up a wicked kind of Tlaloc mask, and to ice the cake, gave my Xolotl a hunched back. Though terribly inaccurate in detail, the result was sufficiently monstrous for its purpose. In fact, you’ll see shortly that it’s rather nicer than a disturbing authentic image of Xolotl Deformed.
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TONALAMATL BORGIA (re-created by Richard Balthazar from Codex Borgia)
The Vulture trecena panel in Codex Borgia is a great piece of positive PR for Xolotl showing an almost cuddly puppy-dog (major fangs and jaguar claws notwithstanding). It avoids implying any sinister aspect, except perhaps the bloody teardrop. Meanwhile, his nagual-connection to Quetzalcoatl is stressed by that god’s emblematic conch-shell pendant (wind-jewel).
Xolotl is obviously the sole patron in this panel, the other items being simply ritual details. The Earthquake day-sign by his foot indicates his patronage of that day, and the four dots specify the day-name of the current Fifth Sun. The deer-leg in the bowl above is a frequent offering to deities, but I can’t even guess what the bag of plumes might mean. The chopped-up snake we now know as a common symbol of sacrifice. Overall, the panel makes a pretty poster.
However, Codex Borgia doesn’t always issue pretty propaganda for Xolotl. Other pages may well have been drawn by different artists—like the panel depicting Xolotl as patron of the day Earthquake. Rather than as a dog, it shows him as a deformed monstrosity:
Here the bloody teardrop has become a drooping eyeball which a dubious legend ascribes to his “crying his eyes out” when at the creation of the Fifth Sun, Ehecatl supposedly massacred various gods. I frankly can’t accept that wild story, nor the claim that Xolotl was also murdered by the Wind God and turned into an axolotl (a “water-dog” salamander). After all, who would now lead Tonatiuh through the Underworld at night (or souls through Mictlan)?
There’s a lot of confused lore about Xolotl, often cited by Spanish priests/ethnographers for nefarious reasons, including a claim that he helped Quetzalcoatl bring the bones of people from the Fourth Sun up from Mictlan to create the people of the Fifth Sun. In much more likely fact, it’s actually Ehecatl who made that arrangement with Mictlancihuatl, the Lady of Mictlan. As well, being the Breath of Life, Ehecatl is an extremely unlikely mass murderer. Conversely, Spanish writers tried to whitewash Quetzalcoatl as being opposed to human sacrifice—in order to use him in their catechism as a Christ-figure.
By the way, the drooping eyeball might symbolize an Underworld connection. It’s emblematic of the Cihuateteo and shown in Borgia Plate 42 on several figures being “generated” by a death-deity. The hand across Xolotl’s lower face is essentially an emblem of the Ahuiateteo, and these two details may intend his connection with those other escorts of Tonatiuh.
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TONALAMATL YOAL (compiled and re-created by Richard Balthazar on the basis of
Codex Telleriano-Remensis and Codex Rios)
Talk about pretty posters! I think this Tonalamatl Yoal patron panel takes the cake, so to speak. In Yoal’s colorful, fancy style, a super-ornate Xolotl (nothing at all sinister here) is paired with an equally ornate Tlalchi-Tonatiuh as the sun sinking into the gaping maw of Tlaltecuhtli, Lord of the Earth. It’s a stunning image of the Evening Star at the ephemeral moment of sunset, epitomizing the myth of Xolotl as the sun’s companion through the night.
In this regard, let me opine that the artist(s) of Tonalamatl Yoal had splendid artistic concepts for their trecena patron pairs—which were unfortunately isolated on separate pages—but frankly they lacked the technical expertise to fully achieve those concepts. That’s why I felt justified in “re-creating” their images—to make them more of what the original artist(s) must have had in mind. Their original sketchy, careless images simply couldn’t convey the art of their vision.
I hesitate to comment more on this panel but must. You will note that in Yoal’s fashion, the figure of Xolotl is heavily loaded with divine regalia, naturally including several items associated with Quetzalcoatl. Curious is the inclusion in his headdress of a bunch of unspun cotton and a spindle of spun thread, generally emblems of the goddess Tlazolteotl. But even more curious is the fact that Xolotl’s canine head looks very like a Pekinese, another cuddly puppy.
This gorgeous image of Tlalchi-Tonatiuh wears a Tlaloc-like mask with a goggle-eye but remarkably has no traditional fangs. Though Codex Rios annotated this figure (in Italian) as “Tlachitonalie,” I didn’t know what that meant, and several years ago I took this to be the God of Rain Quiahuitl to use for my Icon #15. Now I understand that it’s in fact the setting sun, and the rain-mask is probably connected with the sun’s watery route through Mictlan (where nine rivers must be crossed). Live and learn. However, I’ve yet to learn what that strange item is protruding from his mouth with all the shell ornaments. No clue…
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OTHER TONALAMATLS
Forget cuddly puppies in the Tonalamatl Aubin panel. Here Xolotl is so clumsily (one might say monstrously) drawn that he scarcely even resembles a dog. At least the three crosses on his regalia, the wind-jewel pendant, and the bow in his headdress connect him to Quetzalcoatl. Meanwhile, the little Tlalchi-Tonatiuh on the left with a full Tlaloc face wears a “night-sun” symbol and sinks into the merely schematic mouth of Tlaltecuhtli. The unusual border of flowing water may well be one of the rivers of Mictlan.
So far, so un-impressive. However, I’m struck by the free-floating items. The little bundle of sticks with a carrying strap is rather innocuous and uninteresting, but the chili pepper is quite emphatic. This is the first time I’ve seen one depicted in the codices, and other culinary ingredients are usually shown all together in a bowl or pot. This chili probably has some ritual significance. Maybe the inherent penance of eating something so hot?
This panel is perhaps the most disappointing in the whole troubling Aubin series. But that’s just me with my modern refined aesthetic. This Tonalamatl was painted in the state of Tlaxcala, and maybe the Tlaxcalans back then found it hugely beautiful. Eye of the beholder and all that…
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The sunset theme is repeated in Codex Borbonicus, also with a Mictlan-river border, which like in Aubin is unique in its series of trecena patron panels. This Tlalchi-Tonatiuh with a bestial head and unknown something protruding from its mouth resembles Tlaloc or Quiahuitl only in the goggle eye. An exquisite “night-sun” symbol replaces its body as it sinks into the maw of an ornate Tlaltecuhtli. Paired with an ornamented Xolotl as a cute dog (Chihuahua?), this panel is a great metaphorical sunset with Evening Star, but I feel the Yoal panel outshines it vastly.
The conglom of ritual items is familiar: a deer-leg offering (as in Borgia and Aubin) and a wrapped bundle of sticks (as in Aubin). Occurring twice now, the latter must surely mean something divinatory. I’m amused by the impertinent snake in the incense bag—and struck by another penitential chili pepper! This intricate panel is perhaps the clearest example of iconographic connections between Tonalamatl Aubin and Codex Borbonicus.
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As often noted before, iconographic connections between Codex Borgia and Codex Vaticanus are obvious in the Vulture trecena panel, portraying basically the same motifs in their individual styles. This Vaticanus Xolotl isn’t quite as cuddly as the Borgia version, but it’s elegantly adorned (with another emblematic wind-jewel). Its body being wrapped in a corpse bundle might lead one to think the Vaticanus artist simply got hooked on this simplistic device (after four other panels with the motif), but I believe it was used here with reason. Like in Borgia, there’s no reference to Tlalchi-Tonatiuh, and the corpse bundle establishes Xolotl’s important connection to the Underworld. I’ve taken the liberty of seriously restoring and rectifying this panel because it’s such a striking image of a mythical dog—worthy of a tattoo.
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I’m still staggered by the jewel-like Yoal sunset scene with Xolotl as the Evening Star, but after this review of the Vulture trecena patron panels, I can’t help but conclude that the dog-god has been mythologically maligned. I’ve seen nothing to indicate malice, treachery, or even mischief. Though he might represent the animal and anti-intellectual aspects of nature, I expect that his monstrous reputation rests in that one Borgia image as patron of the day Earthquake. In the parallel day-panel in Vaticanus, he’s an almost naturalistic, enthusiastic hound:
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You can view all the calendar pages I’ve completed up to this point in the Tonalamatl gallery.