boban calendar wheel

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THE BOBAN CALENDAR WHEEL'CHARLES E. DIBBLE

The Boban Calendar Wheel is so named because at one time itfonned part of the Eugene Boban Collection.1 As to its origin,w know only that it was discovered in Texcoco and sent' toFrance in 1867.2 It is presentIy in the John Carter Brown Library, Providence. A color litograph was published by Doutrelaine in1867.3 A second color lithograph by Genaro Lpez is ncludedwith Veytia's seven calendar wheels published in 1907.4 Althoughmost of' the studies and photographic reproductions derive fromthe Doutrelaine lithograph, the Genaro Lpez lithograph is superioris detail.

The Boban Calendar Wheel is unique in that it is calendricaland historical -calendrical on the circumference an 'historical inthe center. By comparison, the seven Veytia calendar wheels arid theeight listed by Glass. 5 are all entirely calendrical in content.' Extenslvecomments on both the calendrical and the historical pottions of thedocument have been published by Robertson.6 Glass and Robertson,7

1. Colonel, Doutrelaire, "Rapport;.. sur un, manuscrit mexicain de la collectionDoban." Archives de la Commission Scientifique du Mexique, 3: 120-33, 1, foldingpI. Paris, 1867, p. 120.2 Eugene Doban, Documents pour servir ti l'histoire du Mexique. Catalogueraisonn de la collection de M. E. Eugene Goupil. 2 vols. and atlas. Paris,

1891, vol. 1, p. 360, no. 1, vol. I l, p. 100.,3 Doutrelaine's report to "le Ministre de I'instruction Publique" is datedMexico, 20 ' janvier 1866. C. Doutrelaine, op. cit., p. 120. ' ,4 Mariano Fernndez de Echeverrla y Veytia, Los calendarios mexicanos.Introducci6n por Genaro Garcia. Mxico, 1907. The GenaroLopez lithograph wasprepared under the supervision of Francisco del Paso y Troncoso over fifteen yearsprior to the publication date. See ibid., p. v, xi.5 John D. Glass, HA Survey of ~ a t i v e Middle American Pictorial Manuscripts,"Handbook 01 Middle American :ndians, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1975,vol. 14, p. 42., . ,6 Donald Robertson, Mexican manuscriPt painting 01 the colonial periodo YaleUniversity Press, New Haver, 1959, p. 146-49.7 JOM D.Glass and Donald Robertson, nA Census of Native Middle AmericanPictorial Manuscripts," Handbook 01 Middle American Indians, University oTexas Press, Austin; 1975, vol. 14, p. 96.


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174 CHARLES E. DlBBLEBoban,8 Kubler and Gibson,9 Doutrelaine,lO comment briefly on itscontento

The calendrical part that onns the perlphery o the Codex hasbeen studied and cited by Paso y Troncoso,ll Jonghe,12 and Caso 13 toverify their calendrical interpretations. The outer band consists o aglyphic representation o the eighteen twenty-day ritual "months" othe Aztec calendar year. These are ollowed by our year signs (Acatl,Tecpatl, Calli, Tochtli) and twenty day signs distributed in groupso five days each. Each group o ive days represents the nemontemidays or each o the our year signs. To the let o the day signs theword nente. . . is visible. The "montbs" ollow in a c10ckwise sequenceand the first "month" Quahuitlyehua is the irst "month" in theTexcocan calendrical system.14 The name o each "month" is writtento the let of the glyphic representation. Above each "month" glyphveyti das (twenty days) is written and below each one is anear omaize centli or cintli, a glyphic representation oi cempohualli (twenty).The "month" glyphs are essentially variants o representations foundin other post-hispanic calendars. Kubler and Gibson have given anexhaustive comparison of "month" glypbs in their discus8on o theTovar Calendar.15

The inner circ1e is a blue bando Paso y Troncoso indicated thatin the upper right quadrant he could detect thirteen rectangles whichrecord a thirteen year span, and that the circular band in its entiretygives the fifty-two year cyc1e.16 The middle band contains a sequence o footprints that begins atthe upper right, at the foot of an individual wearing native attire -breechclout and cape. The footprints end at the upper let, where a

8 E. Boban, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 360, no. 1.9 George Kubler and Charles Gibson. "The Tovar Calendar: An illustratedMeXicari manuscript of ca. 1585." Memoirs 01 the Connecticut Academ.)' 01 Arts

and Sciences, vol. 11. New Haven, 1951, p. 56.10 C. Doutrelaine, op. cit., p. 120-33.11 Francisco del Paso y Troncoso, Descripci6n, historia )' exposicin del c6dicepictrico de los antiguos Nuas que se conserva en la Biblioteca de la Cmara deDiputados de Pars. Florencia, 1898, p. 195-312.12 Edouard de Jonghe, "Der altmexikanische Kalender" Zeitschrift lir Eth-nologilJ, 38:485-512. Berlin, 1906. p. 495-96, fig. 3.13 Alfonso Caso, Los calendarios prehispnicos. Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mxico, Inst ituto de Investigaciones Hist6ricas, Mxico, 1967, p. 71-73.Caso ineludes color photographs o the original and the Doutrelaine litbograph.u [bid., p. 38.15 G. Kubler and C. Gibson, op. cit., p. 22-35.le F. Paso y Troncoso, op. cit., p. 302.
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THE BOBAN CALENDAR WHEEL 175

similar individual appears in a somewhat differing posture. The wordxiuh. " is written in front of theindividual at the rigth. This couldconceivably read xiuhixua (the herb growsor the year is born) orxiuhixualiztli (the growing of theherb or the birth of the year). Theword xiuhca. " is written behind the individual at the left. This couldhe read as xiuhcayotl (the affairs of the past year).17 The two words,the two individuals and the footprints couldthus indicate the lapscof the 18 "month" cycle beginning with Quahuitlyehua and ending withlzcallami.

Derivingfrom the blue band, dividing two footprints and betweenthe "months" Atemoztli and Tittl, a hand grasps a bundle of herbs.Paso y Troncoso considers this to be an indication of the xiuhtzitzquiloceremony; that the grasping of the herb (xiuitl) 01' year (xiuitl) in dicates the beginning of a new fifty-tow cycle and that this occurred inthe "month" Tititl.'18 The ceremony is dcscribed by Sahagn: "Hencewas it said that then were tied and bound our ycars, and that onceagain the years were newly laid hold of. When it was evident that theyears lay ready to burst into Jife, everyone took hold of them, so thatonce more would start forth --once again- another :[period of] fiftytwo years".'1'9 In the corresponding Spanish text, Sahagn is moreexplicit regarding the xiuhtzitzquilo ceremony.20

In considering the central, or the historical part, Rohertson notesthat the Codex has pietoral forms drawn by two different hands, thatHand A painted mast of the Codex, but that Hand B, a less skilledhand, painted a two-story building, a church, a two-story buildingfacing a one-story building and two temples on a pyramid in the fourquadrants respectively. The sun in European style is also the work ofHand B.21 TheNhuatl glosses, including the "month" names were

n Fray Andrs de Olmos, Grammaire de la langue Nah'Uatl 0'11. Me:cicaine . .public. . . par Rmi Simon. Imprimerie NationaIe, Paris, 1875, p. 41.Seeespecially note No. 2.18 F. Paso y Troncoso, op. cit.,p. 302, 309.19 Bemardino de Sahagn, Florentine Code:c: General History 01 the TMngs01 New Spain. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble, trs. and eds.; 12Books and Introductory Vol. The School o American Research and the Universityo Utah. 1950.1982. Book '7, p. 25.20 Fray Bemardino de Sahagn, Historia general de las cosas de Nueva Espa-a. Angel Ma. Garibay K., ed. 4 vols. EditorialPorrua, Mxico, 1956, \ '01. ' 2, p.269-270. "y porque -raprincipio de otros cincuenta y dos aos, dec!an tambin:ciuhtzitzquilo, que quiere decir, 'se toma el ao nuevo', y en seal de esto cada

uno tocaba a las yerbas, para dar a entender que ya se comenzaba la cuenta deotros cincuenta y dos aos."21 D. Robertson,op. cit., p. 147-8.

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176 "CHARLES E. DIBBLE,added alter the painting of the Codex. These ,glosses intrude intothe blue band and they circumvent the representation of the sun.

Because of the limited space available to the artist, only a synopticversin of Texcocan history was possible. The contents could conceivablybe ,construed as an abbreviated extract from such codices as the MapaTlotzin or the Mapa Quinatzin. 22 In effect, a colonial perlod is addedto the nomadic and sedentary life styles as depicted in the two alorementioned codices.

In the upper right quadrant is a mountain, tepell, and in the upperldt quadrant an expanse of water, atl. Water-mountain, in atl in tepetlor atepetl, whether painted or written is the metaphor for city or town.Over the mountain a man wearing a colonial hat and holding a staffis seated on a woven reed mato The name reads don antonio pimenteI.A second person similarIy attired appears aboye the expanse of water.The name reads don hemando de chavez. Two Nhuatl glosses read,:yn . . alcaldes. tetzcoco ypa xihuitl chic tochtli. Ano . . (The alcaldesof Texcoco in the year 7 Rabbit, in the year . . ); auh yn axca yeyhui yahui. ti atl yn tepetl. ome atl a. . . aldes Regittores. alguaciles.alcalde mayor. (and presentIy conditions are SUCh23 in the city24 [onthe day] 2 Water: alcaldes, regidores, alguaciles, alcalde mayor.)Don Antonio Pimentel TIahuitoltzin was the 12th ruler of Texcocoand, according to Sahagn, he ruled for six years.25 Other sourcesindicate that he ruled from 153726 or 1540 until 1564.21 According tothe Proceso inquisitorial del cacique de Tetzcoco, Don Hemando deChavez and Don Antonio Pimentel were contemporary alcaldes ofTexcoco durlng the trial of Don Carlos Ometochtzin in 1539.:18 Thespeech scrolls emerging from the mountbs of the two rulers wouldindicate a conversation or their contemporaneousness.

22 Mapa Quinatzin, Mapa Tlotzin. In J. M. A. Aubin, Mmoires sur lapeinture didactique et I'criture iguratve des anciens melC,cans, Prceds d'uneintroducton para E. T. Hamy. Pars, 1885.

23 Read 'Ye 'Yhui 'Yauh.24 C. Doutrelaine, op. cit., p. 130-131, reads and translates the passage asfollows: auh 'Yn axean 'Ye 'Yhui 'Yahui 'Yn atl 'Yn eepetl - Et aujourd'hui va crois

sant la ville.25 B. de Sahagn, Florentine Codex, op. cit., Bock 8, p. 10.26 Byron McAfee and Robert H. Barlow, uThe Titles o Tetzcotzinco." Tlaloean2:110-127, Azcapotzalco, 1946, p. 119.:27 Rmi Simon, "Annales de Domingo Francisco de San Antn Mu6n Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, sxeme et septreme Relationes (1258-1612)." R-.bliotheque Linguistique Amirieaine, vol. 12. Pars. 1889, p. 240, 261.28 Proceso inquisitoral del cacique de Tetzcoeo. Publicaciones de la Comisi6nreorganizadora del Archivo General y Pblico de la 'Nacin. l . Mxico, 1910, p.19-22.
http:///reader/full/Quinatzin.22http:///reader/full/Quinatzin.22http:///reader/full/years.25http:///reader/full/years.25http:///reader/full/Quinatzin.22http:///reader/full/years.25


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THE BOBAN CALENDAR WHEEL 177The year 7 Rabbit and the day 2 Water in the Nhuatl glossescould be 1538, 1590 or 1642. Caso reasons that 7 Rabbit 2 Water,

1538, is thedate the two officials wcre installed and that the Codexwas painted at the same time or soon thereafter. 29 Robertson considersthe Don Hernando mentioned to be Don Hernando Pimentel, a sonof and successor to Antonio Pimentel, and he would consequently datethe Codex after 1564.30In the Iower half, two mlers, wearing c a p ~ s and breechclouts andseated on woven reed seats with a back rest (tepotzicpalli), face eachother. Between the speech scrolls are arrows (mitl), an obsidian sword(maquahuitl) and a shield (chimalli.) The arrows and shield eithcrpainted or written (atl-chimalli) represent a metaphor for warfare.

,The information afforded us is that two mlers spoke of or declaredwar. From the Nhatl glosses below we I e ~ r n that the rulers areNezahualcoyotl and Itzcoatl. The two temple atop the pyramid tothe right are those of the war god, Huitzilopochtli, and the rain g o d ~ Tlaloc. The N huatl text reads as follows:N ~ a v a l c o y o t z i n tetzcocuytzcohuatzin. tenochti tl.tlatoani catca. yehutinquittohuaya. yn mi tova. yoteoad yn tlachinolli yhua ytlacop. yo totoquihuaztzin.amo e q'cuiya yo temochichihuaya yn d a ~ o t i l m a l 1 i . auh yomastlatl. auh y cozcapetlatl.auh y matemecatl. auh ycotzehuatl auh yo quetzallalpiloni. yo t e ~ a c a t l . y nacochtli.auh y xiuccactli quipachovaya.petlatl ycpalli. auh yo alteped.auh yo cuitlapilli y atlapalliauh nie onezca!. . . onehuapahualo

Nezahualcoyotzin was ruJer oTexcoco, Itzcohuatzin was rolero Tenochtitlan. They declaredthe so-called water-conflagration(war). And Totoquihuatzin wasroler o Tlacopan. Not withoutpurpose did they take that withwhich one was arrayed: preciouscapes, and breechclouts, and plaitedcol1ars and armbands, and leatherbands or the calf of the leg, andhead bands with sprays of quetzalfeathers, labrets, ear plugs and bluesandals. They governed the city31and the commoners.32 And in thismanner were they trained,33 reared.

The war indicated by the gIyphs and mentioned in the glosseswould be the campaign against the Tepanec of Azcapotzalco thatcommenced in theyear 1 Flint, 1428. Nezahualcoyotl and Itzcoatl211 A. Caso, op. cit., p. 72. 30 D. Robertson, op. cit., p. 149. 31 Literally "they occupied the woven reed mat, the woven reed seat." S2 Literally "the tail feathers, the wing feathers." as Read onezcalti!o.
http:///reader/full/thereafter.29http:///reader/full/thereafter.29http:///reader/full/commoners.32http:///reader/full/commoners.32http:///reader/full/thereafter.29http:///reader/full/commoners.32


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FIG. L Tecpoyo Achcauht li teaches Tlotzin to roast rus Km. (Mapa Tlotzin).

Fro. 2. Chichimec woman roasts serpent. (Mapa Quinatzin).


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Boban Calendar Wheel. (Lpez engraving)


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THE BOBA N CALENDAR WHEEL 119combined theirarmies and the squadrons were led by Nezahualeoyotl,Itzeoatl and Moteeuhzoma, respeetively. The suhordinate menton ofTotoquihuatzin of Tlaeopan in the glosses and the failure to recordhim in the Codex may be due to the faet that his eoronation as ruleroI Tlacopan was subsequent to the Tepanee: war. By 1431 the TripleAlliance had been formed and Tlacopan had been aecorded a lesserportion of the tribute.34

The arrayment cited in the glosses represents a partal list of theclothing and decorations wth which the rulers were arrayed when theydanced. Sahagn clearly indicates that these itcms were the exclusiveprivilege and prerogative of the rulers.llS. Across the bottont a native woman kneels in the entrance of a cave,facing a fire. A roan, likewise facing the fire, .holds a bow and arrowin his left hand a seeond arrow in his right hand. Both wear capesroade of grass or fibre. The Nhuatl text reads as follows: 86Auh y ye huecauh. yn chichimeca. And in andent times the Chichimecsca. . . CO O l. '. . pec V ouca came to arrive at caves, mountainsatle ma qualli q'. ' . caya. ~ a n where81 nothing was good ..TheXoc yehuad y totod. ano mazad roasted38 only birds orlll' deer,cov . . . sepents.40

The Chichiroec couple poised before the fire and the accoropanyingNhuatl text indicate their nomadic life-style and imply their potentialfor cultural change. Both in glyphic style and content the scene canbe related to scenes in Mapa 110tzin and Mapa Quinatzin.Both the glyphs and the Nhuatl text of Mapa Tlotzin inform usthat a certain Tecpoyo Achcauhtli of Toltec extraetion from ChaIcoaccompanied Tlotzin as he hunted deer, rabbits, serpents and birds. Fora first time Teepoyo Achcauhtli roastcd the kill Tlotzin had taken.For the first time he gave Tlotzin eooked food, for previously Tlotzinate his kilI uncooked. As Len-Portilla has ably noted, the scene reeordsone of the roany steps in the gradual acculturation of the Chichimecs.41.

34 Fernando de Alva IxtlixochitI, Obras histricas, 2 voIs. Edicin EdmundoO'Gorman. Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, Instituto de Investigaciones Histricas, Mxico, 1975. vol. n. p. 79, 82.

35 B. de Sahagn, Florentine Codex, op. cit., Book 8, p. 27, 56.3


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180 CHARLES E. DIBBLEA comparable scene depicting the Chichimec mode qf. subsistenceappears also in Mapa Quinatzin. Below a hunter and facing a fire,

a woman is shown in the act of roasting a serpent. These similar sceneSin Mapa l10tzin and Mapa Quinatzin enable us to conceive thegeneral import of the Chichimec couple and the Nhuatl glosses inthe Boban Calendar Wheel.In ad judging the central portion of the Boban Calendar Wheel;the intrusive nature of the four buildings becomes apparent. Noteworthy is the lack of a place glyph and name glyphs for the six personspainted therein .The glyphic metaphors water and mountain for city,arrow and shield for war, the many metaphors included in the glosses,i.e., in all in tepetl, in teQatl in tlachinolli, petlall iepa/U, in cuitlapilliin atlapalli, suggest an earIy date for the painting of the Codex.Robertson's sug.gested date of Ca. 1564 seems reasonable.42

BIBLIOGRAPHYBOBAN, Eugene1891 Documents pour servir ti l'histoire du Mexique.Catalogue raisonn de la collection de M. E. Eugene Goupil. 2

vols. and atlas. Paris.CASO, Alfonso1961 Los calendarios prehispnicos. Universidad Nacional Aut6nomade Mxico, Instituto de Investigaciones Hist6ricas, Mxico.DOUTRELAINE, Colonel1861 "Rapports. . . sur un manuscrit mexicain de la collection Boban."Archives de la Commission Scientifique du Mexique, 3: 120-33,1 folding pI. Paris.GLASS, John B.1915 "A Survey of Native Middle American Pictorial Manuscripts,"Handbook o[ Middle American Indians, v. 14, Part IJI. University

o Texas, Press, Austin.GLASS, John B. and Donald Robertson1915 "A Census o Native Middle American Pictorial Manuscdpts,"Handbook of Middle American Indians, v. 14, Part 1II. University o Texas Press, Austin. .X61otl". Estudios de Cultura Nhuatl, vol. 7. Universidad Nacional Aut6noma deMxico, Instituto de Investgaciones Hist6ricas, Mxico, 1967. .

42 D. Robertson, op. cit., p. 149.
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181HE BOBAN CALENDARWHEELIXTLILXOCHITL, Fernando de Alva,1975 Obr'as hist6ricas, 2 vols. Edicin Edmundo O'Gorman, Univer

sidadNacional Autnoma de Mxico, Instituto de Investigaciones Histricas, Mxico.JONOHE, Edouard de1906 "Der altmexikanische Kalender." Zeitschrift fr Ethnologie, 38:485-512. Berlin.KUBLER, George and Charles Gibson1951 "The Tovar Calendar: An illustrated Mexican manuscript ofca. 1585." Memoirs 01 the Connecticut Academy of Arts andSciences, vol. 11. New Haven.LEN-PORTILLA, Miguel1967 "El proceso de aculturacin de los Chichimecas de Xlotl." Es-tudios de Cultura Nhuatl, vol. 7, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, Instituto de Investigaciones Hhistricas, Mxico.Mapa Quinatzin, Mapa Tlotzin1885 In Aubin, J. M. A., Mmoires sur la peinture didactique etl'criture figurative des anciens mexicains. Prceds d'une introduction par E. T. Hamy. Pars.McAFEE, Byron and Robert H. Barlow1946 "The Titles o Tetzcotzinco". Tlalocan 2: 110-27. Azcapotzalco.OLMOS, Fray Andrs de1875 Grammaire de la langue Nahuatl ou Mexicaine. . . Publie. .

par Rmi Simon. Imprimerie National. Pars.PASO y TRONCOSO, Francisco del1898 Descripcin historia y exposici6n del c6dice pict6rico de los an-tiguos Nuas que se conserva en la Biblioteca de la Cmara de

Diputados de Paris. Florencia.1910 Proceso inquisitoral del cacique de Tetzcoco. Publicaciones de laComisin reorganizadora del Archivo General y Pblico de la Nacin, 1, Mxico.

ROBERTSON, Donald1959 Mexican manuscript painting of the early colonial periodo YaleUniversity Press, New Haven.SAHAON, Bernardino de

1956 Historia general de las cosas de Nueva Espaa. Angel Ma. Garibay, ed. 4 vals. Editorial Porrua, Mxico.


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182 CHARLES E. DIDBLE1950 Florentme Codex: General llistory 01 the ThiTigs of New Spain

. 19S2 A ~ t h u r J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble, t ~ . and e d ~ . 12Books and Introductory Vol. The School f .merican Researchand the University of Utah.,1,>SIMON, Rmi1889 "Annales de Domingo Francisco de San Ant6nMu6n Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, sixieme et septieme Relations (1258-1612)." Bibliotheque Linguistique Amricaine, vol. 12. Paris. ..

VEYTIA, Mariano Fernndez de Echeverra y1907 Los calendarios mexicanos. Introduccin por Genaro Garca. M-

xico.

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