Notes

The Aztec calendar is an accurate instrument to count the days of the year and measure the seasons. But more than counting the days, according to the Aztecs, the calendar tells what will happen in the future. Today the calendar is a national symbol of Mexico. Read the following article to learn more about the wonderful Aztec calendar, also known as the Piedra1 de Sol.La Piedra de Sol
An illustration of an Aztec calendar, a large flat circle containing a central face from which seven concentric rings extend to the outside of the circle. The face is that of a god wearing a crown, earrings, a necklace and a flat silver and gold object pierced through its nose. The mouth is open, showing teeth and tongue and from it hangs to fish. The first circle contains four squares which hold emblems of the four things that destroy man. The next ring shows 20 boxes with symbols for the days of the month. All the other rings are all decorations. Directly below the face, at the bottom of the last rings are two faces in profile, facing each other.
It weighs 24 tons and measures 3.58 meters in diameter. This huge stone dedicated to the God of the Sun, or Tonathiuh, is known throughout the world as "the Aztec calendar".
The Aztecs are an indigenous people of central Mexico whose empire was very powerful until the sixteenth century, when the Spaniards invaded4 their territories. The calendar predicted5 the fall of the Aztec empire.
To measure time, the Aztecs had two calendars: one religious of 260 days and one solar of 365 days.
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The hieroglyphics
An illustration of the central face of an Aztec calendar. The face is that of a god wearing a crown, earrings, a necklace and a flat silver and gold object pierced through its nose. The mouth is open, showing teeth and tongue and from it hangs to fish.

The center of the calendar:
The face of Xiutecutli.
Hieroglyphs are represented in the stone. The figure that shows the language in the center is the noon, or Xiutecutli. Around it are four squares1 representing the four destroyers of mankind: the jaguar, the wind, the fire, and the rain. To the Aztecs, the universe had a delicate balance and was always on the brink of destruction.
The second circle has 20 figures that indicate the days of the month of the solar calendar. According to the symbol of a person's birth date5, his personality was divined. For example, those born under the symbol of the house were supposedly intelligent, practical, and industrious. The third circle has 52 squares with five points each, which is the 260 days of the religious calendar.