The Nahua calendar

Thenian por ydolo principal a Guitzilopochtli, el qual por mayor beneraçion estaua en la çiudad de Mexico en el çerro de Chapultepeque; sin este abia otros ydolos menores en el pueblo de San Juan, que era el tenplo y oraculo donde acudian los pueblos comarcanos: tenian en el dicho pueblo vn «cu» muy alto en el qual avia tres descansos para poder subir a lo alto; en la cunbre del estaua vn ydolo de piedra que llamauan por nonbre Tonacateuctli, el qual era de vna piedra tosca y muy dura, todo de vna pieça: tenia tres braças grandes en largo y otra en ancho y otra de gordor: estaua buelto al poniente, y en vn llano que se azia delante del dicho cu estaba otro cu mas pequeño de tres estados en alto en el qual estaua otro ydolo poco menor que el primero llamado Mictlanteuctli que quiere dezir «señor del ynfierno»: este estaua buelto azia el primero asentado sobre vna peña grande quadrada de vna bara en quadra por todas partes; poco mas adelante, a la parte del norte, estaua otro cu poco menor que el primero que llamauan el çerro de la luna, en lo alto del qual estaua otro ydolo grande de casi tres braças que llamauan la Luna; a la rredonda del auia muchos «cues» en vno de los quales, el mayor dellos, avia otros seis ydolos que llamaban hermanos de la Luna, a todos los quales los saçerdotes de Montesuma señor de Mexico benian, con el dicho Montesuma, cada veinte dias a sacrificar: thenian todo el año diez y ocho fiestas, cada veinte dias vna fiesta, en cada vna de las quales tenian diferentes serimonias, como esta declarado en la discripçion del pueblo de Aculma, a que me rrefiero, al numero catorze: sobraban çinco dias en vn año que ese era bisiesto porque cada quatro años serraban al numero de beynte que era vna fiesta en vna plaça grande que se hazia entre los dichos cues; en medio della avia un cu pequeño de dos estados en alto donde justiçiaban a los malhechores y delinquentes.

Their chief idol was Guitzilopochtli, which for greater honor stood in the city of Mexico, on the hill of Chapultepeque. Besides this one there were other, lesser idols in the town of San Juan, which was the temple and oracle to which the neighboring towns came. In the town they had a very high cu, a temple-pyramid, with three landings on the way up to the top. On its summit stood a stone idol they called Tonacateuctli. It was of rough, very hard stone, all of one piece, three good fathoms long, one wide and one thick, and it faced west. On a level space in front of this cu stood a smaller cu, three times a man's height, with another idol a little smaller than the first, called Mictlanteuctli, which means “lord of hell.” It faced the first idol and sat on a great square stone, a yard on each side. A little farther on, to the north, was another cu, a little smaller than the first, which they called the hill of the Moon. On top of it stood another great idol, almost three fathoms tall, which they called the Moon. Around it were many cues. In the largest of these stood six more idols, which they called the brothers of the Moon. The priests of Montesuma, lord of Mexico, came with Montesuma himself every twenty days to sacrifice to all of them. They had eighteen feasts in the year, one every twenty days, each with its own ceremonies, as I have set down in the description of Aculma, under number fourteen. Five days were left over in the year, and every four years, in a leap year, they made up a count of twenty, which was a feast held in a great square laid out among these cues. In the middle of the square was a small cu, twice a man's height, where they executed criminals and wrongdoers.