Ocelotl
1300-1500 CE
12.25" x 10" x 3"
Sculpture, Sculpture, Furniture, Objects, Carved basalt
Region: Mesoamerica
Culture: Aztec Culture
12.25" x 10" x 3"
Sculpture, Sculpture, Furniture, Objects, Carved basalt
Region: Mesoamerica
Culture: Aztec Culture
The Aztec culture flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec peoples included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries.
The Aztec sun stone, often erroneously called the calendar stone, is on display at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. The actual Aztec calendar consists of two interlocking cycles, a 365-day calendar cycle called the xiuhpōhualli (year count), and a 260-day ritual cycle called tōnalpōhualli (day count). These two cycles together form a 52-year "century", sometimes called the "calendar round”.
The tōnalpōhualli contained two smaller cycles: an ordered sequence ( or trecena) of 20 named days, each having its own symbol, patron deity and augury. This ran simultaneously with a sequence of days numbered from 1 to 13, creating a 260 day cycle with a unique match of name and number (e.g.: 4-Rabbit) for each day. Each day had its own intrinsic meaning, and each trecena was also governed by its own presiding deity and was associated with specific themes or spiritual focuses.
After all possible combinations of names and numbers had been achieved, 260 days had passed and the cycle would repeat.
The 14th of the 20 named days is symbolized by the ocelotl, or jaguar.
The work seen here depicts an ocelotl shown in profile. The glyph for Ocelotl typically shows a jaguar head or full body, with its signature spots and sharp teeth.
This carving was likely once part of a stone calendar.
Ocelotl Day in the Aztec Calendar evokes the jaguar — fierce, sacred, and feared — a creature of twilight who walks between worlds.
Ocelotl descends into night, instinct, and the raw force of survival and stealth. In Aztec cosmology, the jaguar symbolized strength, night, and the elite warrior class. It moved with silence but struck with overwhelming force. As a night predator, the jaguar became a living emblem of the hidden, the powerful, and the sacred darkness.
The Ocelotl day is governed by the deity Tlazolteotl as its provider of tonalli life energy. An Ocelotl day is considered a good day for doing battle and signified power, valor, and reckless abandon in the face of danger. It is also a day of the Warriors of Tezcatlipoca, the god of the Smoking Mirror.
He is the god of the nocturnal sky and ancestral memory, god of time and the embodiment of change through conflict. Tezcatlipoca’s animal disguise, or ‘nagual’, is a jaguar whose spotted skin was often compared to the starry sky, which is how Ocelotl came to symbolize the deity.
The Aztec sun stone, often erroneously called the calendar stone, is on display at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. The actual Aztec calendar consists of two interlocking cycles, a 365-day calendar cycle called the xiuhpōhualli (year count), and a 260-day ritual cycle called tōnalpōhualli (day count). These two cycles together form a 52-year "century", sometimes called the "calendar round”.
The tōnalpōhualli contained two smaller cycles: an ordered sequence ( or trecena) of 20 named days, each having its own symbol, patron deity and augury. This ran simultaneously with a sequence of days numbered from 1 to 13, creating a 260 day cycle with a unique match of name and number (e.g.: 4-Rabbit) for each day. Each day had its own intrinsic meaning, and each trecena was also governed by its own presiding deity and was associated with specific themes or spiritual focuses.
After all possible combinations of names and numbers had been achieved, 260 days had passed and the cycle would repeat.
The 14th of the 20 named days is symbolized by the ocelotl, or jaguar.
The work seen here depicts an ocelotl shown in profile. The glyph for Ocelotl typically shows a jaguar head or full body, with its signature spots and sharp teeth.
This carving was likely once part of a stone calendar.
Ocelotl Day in the Aztec Calendar evokes the jaguar — fierce, sacred, and feared — a creature of twilight who walks between worlds.
Ocelotl descends into night, instinct, and the raw force of survival and stealth. In Aztec cosmology, the jaguar symbolized strength, night, and the elite warrior class. It moved with silence but struck with overwhelming force. As a night predator, the jaguar became a living emblem of the hidden, the powerful, and the sacred darkness.
The Ocelotl day is governed by the deity Tlazolteotl as its provider of tonalli life energy. An Ocelotl day is considered a good day for doing battle and signified power, valor, and reckless abandon in the face of danger. It is also a day of the Warriors of Tezcatlipoca, the god of the Smoking Mirror.
He is the god of the nocturnal sky and ancestral memory, god of time and the embodiment of change through conflict. Tezcatlipoca’s animal disguise, or ‘nagual’, is a jaguar whose spotted skin was often compared to the starry sky, which is how Ocelotl came to symbolize the deity.
