Macuil (MH570v)

Macuil is probably all that remains of a calendrical name that involved the number five in combination with any one of twenty day signs, such as xochitl, or the like. This would be a name given to the man as a child, depending upon the day in the 260-day divinatory calendar (tonalpohualli) that coincided with his birth. he man as a child, depending upon the day in the calendar that coincided with his birth. By the time of this manuscript, 1560, evolution was taking place in the use of the divinatory calendar, whereby either the number was dropping away, there was some self-censoring of the use of calendrical names, or people were responding to pressures from the colonial clergy requires further investigation. Macuil is an especially prevalent example of this change. On the other hand, it may have a different meaning associated with lasciviousness. There were five divine forces called Ahuiteteo ("Cheerful Deities") known for "voluptuousness and lust," and each one of the five had a calendrical name that started with the number five (macuilli), a "symbol of excesses" (according to signage at the Templo Mayor).