Note 4 — THE TONALAMATL AND THE SOLAR CALENDAR

Gama describes these nine gods as Acompañados (Companions) and as Señores de la Noche (Lords of the Night), and from his obscure rendering of Cristoval de Castillo, as well as from the Manuel de Ministros de Indios of Jacinto de la Serna, we gather that they held sway over the night from sunset to sunrise. The Mexicans divided the night into nine hours, and it is obvious from the astrological point of view that the Mexican soothsayers who used the tonalamatl must have found it necessary to estimate not only the “fate” of the several days, but also that of the several hours and times of the day and night.4