Mariano Fernández Echeverría y Veytia (1718–1780).
Aztec Calendar Wheel, no. 7 from Historia del origen de las gentes que poblaron la América septentrional [History of the beginnings of the people who settled North America].
Early nineteenth-century facsimile manuscript.
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (47)
Calendar Wheel
The Aztec calendar consists of 260 days (13 months, each containing 20 days), which determined the life of each Mexica (Aztec). In Aztec society, priests consulted the calendar to determine auspicious days for weddings and other important events. The portion displayed here contains the symbols for each day and the sun, moon, and stars. Mariano Fernández Echeverría y Veytia drew these pictures of the calendar wheel in the early nineteenth century based on documents written prior to the Spanish conquest in 1521.