Calli (MH493r)

The calli is both a day sign in the tonalpohualli and a year sign in the xiuhpohualli. As a personal name, it is more likely to come from the religious divinatory calendar (tonalpohualli). Probably, here, it was a day sign that once had a numeral to go with it, indicating on which calli day the person was born. Dropping the use of such a number could represent a fading tradition or an effort to disguise the continuing use of the tonalpohualli calendar. The calli is rarely given in a frontal view. When it is a frontal view, it is because there an unusual feature or building with a specific purpose that is being emphasized. Otherwise, normally, a generic calli is shown in profile. It can face left or right. See some examples below.

The tonalpohualli, being used for "prognostication and divination, had no parallel and contravened Christian dogma so its use was disavowed and prohibited." [See Rubén G. Mendoza, Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica (2024), 439.] Nevertheless, calendrics were an important part of Nahuas' religious views of the cosmos, and this practice survived a long time under colonialism, even if in modified form.