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Based on their enormously complex calendars that recorded cycles of many kinds, the Aztecs and other ancient Mesoamerican civilizations are generally believed to have had a cyclical, rather than linear, conception of time and history. This boldly revisionist book challenges that understanding. Ross Hassig offers convincing evidence that for the Aztecs time was predominantly linear, that it was manipulated by the state as a means of controlling a dispersed tribute empire, and that the Conquest cut off state control and severed the unity of the calendar, leaving only the lesser cycles. From these, he asserts, we have inadequately reconstructed the pre-Columbian calendar and so misunderstood the Aztec conception of time and history. Hassig first presents the traditional explanation of the Aztec calendrical system and its ideological functions and then marshals contrary evidence to argue that the Aztec elite deliberately used calendars and timekeeping to achieve practical political ends. He further traces how the Conquest played out in the temporal realm as Spanish conceptions of time partially displaced the Aztec ones. His findings promise to revolutionize our understanding of how the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican societies conceived of time and history.
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Time, History, and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico Time History and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico Ross Hassig University of Texas Press, Austin Copyright 䉷 2001 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2001 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, tx 78713-7819. 嘷 ⬁ The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hassig, Ross,1945– Time, history, and belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico / Ross Hassig. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-292-73139-6 (cloth : alk. paper)— isbn 0-292-73140-x (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Aztec calendar. cosmology. 2. Aztecs—History. 4. Manuscripts, Nahuatl. Social aspects—Mexico. 6. Mexico—History— Spanish colony, 1540 –1810. f1219.76.c35 h37 3. Aztec 5. Time— I. Title. 2001 529⬘.32978452— dc21 00-041783 To Professor G. William Skinner an exacting mentor who has made it a rewarding journey THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Contents Illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xv 1 Time and the Interpretation of Other Cultures 2 Outside the Focus 29 3 Reinterpreting Aztec Perspectives 48 4 Why the Aztecs Manipulated Time 70 5 The Ripples of Time 110 6 The Colonial Transition 137 7 Time and Analysis 153 Appendix: Pronunciation Guide 167 Notes 169 Bibliography 193 Index 211 1 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Illustrations Figures 1-1. Calendar wheel showing xihuitl months 10 1-2. Trecena from Codex Borbonicus 12 1-3. Folio 34 (New Fire ceremony) from Codex Borbonicus 18 1-4. Great Temple in Codex Ixtlilxo´chitl 20 1-5. Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada, front 22 1-6. Tied 2 Acatl glyph on Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada 23 1-7. Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada, left side 24 1-8.