Harriet J. Bauman
Objective
To understand the importance of Calendar symbols to the Aztec culture.
Procedure
|
1.
|
The students will make a calendar for the present school year creating their own symbols to represent the important facets of school culture.
|
|
2.
|
The class could be divided into small groups of students, each making their own calendar with their individual symbols.
|
|
3.
|
Each group would present its calendar, explaining the meanings of the different signs.
|
|
4.
|
Class discussion would take place to determine why a culture chooses certain symbols to represent its beliefs, and how the people decide which signs to use.
|
Results
The students can do research on the symbols of the Aztec Calendar to determine how universal these signs were in Mexico. They can then decide the importance of a Calendar Stone to the peoples of Mexico.
The solar year, made up of eighteen months of twenty days each, and a fiveday unlucky time (
nemontemi
), was the means by which the Aztecs regulated their great ceremonies. The months were dedicated to the major gods. The ceremonies varied for each god. The general purpose of these festivals was to symbolically portray the life or birth of the god. In this manner the Aztecs tried to ensure the continued benevolence of the god, and thus of that part of nature which that god represented or controlled. A chart follows which indicates the months of the solar year, when they occurred, the gods honored, and how they were celebrated.
(table available in print form)
