The Tonalamatl as Talking Book: Conversing with Time-Persons in the Key of Life

Jim Maffie, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Emeritus and Affiliate, University of Maryland

The Mexica conceived the paint-ink-on-paper figures of the Aztec tonalamatl (or "divinatory codices") as teixiptlahuan, i.e., as living and talking deities. As such they were presentations -- not re-presentations, pictures, symbols, or depictions -- of the relevant deities of the tonalpohualli (or 260-day ritual calendar). The Mexica tonalpouhque (or "diviner") communicated orally with these deity-presences in the courses of understanding the powers in play on any given day of the tonalpohualli. Using the tonalamatl to understand the tonalpohualli thus involved speaking, not reading.

Jim Maffie is Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Emeritus and Affiliate, Departments of Philosophy, Latin American Studies, & Religious Studies, University of Maryland, College Park. He is author of Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion, University Press of Colorado (2014) and numerous articles on Aztec ethics. He is currently working on a book entitled Talking with Time: Rethinking the Aztec Tonalamatl from which tonight's presentation is taken.

The November monthly lecture will be hosted in person as well as virtually. The meeting will be held in the lecture theatre of the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives, located at M and 17th Streets, NW, Washington, D.C. Photo ID is required to enter the building. Doors to the in-person meeting will open around 6:30 PM and light refreshments will be available before the lecture. For those of you who cannot make it to the Sumner School in person, the lecture will be live streamed via Zoom but you must pre-register to attend virtually. Click HERE to register.

All monthly lecture meetings of the Pre-Columbian Society are free and open to the public.