How Ancient Maya and Aztecs Celebrated New Year’s Eve

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How Ancient Maya and Aztecs Celebrated New Year’s Eve

The ancient Maya and Aztecs had detailed calendars that celebrated New Year’s Eve at different times, with traditions to mark them. Arian Zwegers, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Maya and Aztecs had distinct calendars, celebrating New Year’s Eve at various times with unique traditions.

The Aztec and Maya calendars shared similarities with today’s calendar, including a 365-day cycle like the Gregorian calendar. However, they also had a 260-day calendar for rituals, with distinct practices and meanings attached to their holidays.

The Aztecs and Maya New Year’s Eve Calendars and Traditions

Though they lived in what is now Mexico, the Mayans and Aztec people were completely separate civilizations with their own cultures, traditions, and holiday celebrations.

Aztec New Year’s Eve

The Nahua, or Aztecs used the term “Yancuic Xihuitl,” which means New Year, to talk about the five-day ******* that leads to transitioning years. Credits: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Nahua, or Aztecs, referred to the five-day transition between years as “Yancuic Xihuitl,” meaning New Year. They viewed this time as one of misfortune, engaging in ritual cleansing and fasting to please the gods while avoiding major activities to prevent bad luck.

The Aztec New Year’s Eve fell on March 11th in the Gregorian Calendar, marking the end of the dangerous Nemontemi, or “empty days.” The Nahua anticipated the new year and celebrated its coming by blowing conch shells, a tradition still observed by the Nahua in Mexico today.

Aztec priests conducted significant renewal ceremonies on New Year’s Day to appease deities associated with fertility and agriculture, including Tlaloc, the god of rain, and Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war.

Ultimately, Aztec New Year’s traditions were focused on appeasing the gods to avoid cosmic calamity. To avoid major tasks, they focused on ritual practice and fasting to safely navigate the five days of misfortune and cleanse themselves for New Year’s Day.

Mayan New Year’s Eve

The Mayans held similar beliefs to the Aztecs but on a different scale. Credits: Theilr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Credits:

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, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Mayans held similar beliefs to the Aztecs but on a different scale. The Maya dedicated five days strictly to the New Year, reflecting their calendar’s influence. However, this time was a separate month, so to say, called the Wayeb. It was at the end of their 365-day calendar and similarly tied to misfortune like the Aztec New Year.

During the Wayeb, the Mayan people would avoid travel or major life decisions, instead focusing on prayer and making offerings. They offered incense to appease the gods and danced over fires to ask for their mercy.

Their New Year’s Day was called 1 Pop, and New Year’s Eve was called “The Seating of Pop.” On New Year’s Eve, practices of divination would take place. Mayan priests would make predictions for the upcoming year for the cities, neighborhoods, and individual people.

The Mayan Empire citizens would also go to participate in ritual cleansing. The Mayans annually replaced the patron gods’ statues in each cardinal direction of the capital and the central temple.

On New Year’s Day, people cleaned their homes, discarded old items, and refreshed personal altars, viewing time as cyclical. Priests performed grand rituals in the main temple to ensure cosmic harmony.

Overall, the Mayan New Year symbolized a rebalancing of cosmic harmony. The Maya aimed to endure the last five days of misfortune and start the new cycle in balance, deeply aligned with cosmic and astrological order.

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