Nēmontēmi
In the Aztec culture, the Nahuatl word nēmontēmi refers to a period of five intercalary days inserted between years of the Aztec calendar. Each of the 18 Aztec "months" had 20 days, for a total of 360 days. The nēmontēmi accounted for the remaining 5 days of the approximate tropical year. According to the research by R. C. Tunnicliffe, the Aztecs dealt with the remaining fractional-day discrepancy with the true tropical year length by adding a trecena (13 days) after each bundle of 52 years; these 13 days were not considered unlucky, but they were not characterized by the features (numbers and symbols) of the Aztec calendar.[1]
The word nēmontēmi means "useless days" or "unlucky days"; Spanish lexicographers glossed it as dias baldios, "wasted days". They were considered to bring ill fortune, and most activities (including even cooking) were avoided if possible during the nēmontēmi.
References
- ↑ R. C. Tunnicliffe: Aztec Astrology, 1979.
R. C. Tunnicliffe, Aztec Astrology. This work shows how the nēmontēmi days are calculated for each current year (around 5 to 10 of April every year).