Ce Acatl (MH558v)

Acatl is both a day and a year sign in the calendar. The ce (one) numerical coefficient that is mentioned in the gloss does not appear in the glyph unless it is implied in the single reed shown. But the earlier glyphs for One-Reed would have had a small circle to indicate the number/notation. By 1560, when this manuscript was made, calendrical names were losing their numbers. This could have been owing to a suppressive force of the colonial context, where there was concern among the clergy that people were still naming their children according to the divinatory codices and preserving original Indigenous beliefs and practices. Or it could have been an effect of self-censoring, or even forgetting the old system. Below are some examples of calendrical names that are missing their numbers (e.g. Calli) and one where the number is either glossed incorrectly or drawn incorrectly. Calendrics were an important element in the Nahuas' religious view of the cosmos.