TonalamatlTonalamatl · 50 s
The Origins of Our Timekeeping
Before we learned to count time, there were those who learned to observe. The stars, nature, and inner life.
A living tradition from ancient Mexico
The origins
A living oral tradition from Mexico, in an app for exploring dates and understanding their cycles.
Read the narration
It all began long before we learned to count time.
More than thirteen thousand years ago, our earliest ancestors began to walk and observe.
They watched the stars. They began to understand them and, through them, to understand time.
They listened to the wind, the birds and the waters. They recognized the cycles of the sun, the moon and the earth.
They turned their attention inward. They observed their breath, their heartbeat, their emotions and their thoughts.
They learned about their own nature, their essence and that which gives meaning to our lives.
That knowledge lives on.
Tonalamatl. The timekeeping tradition of ancient Mexico.
The calendar continues in your day.
The Tonal, Xiuhtonal, and the cycles of each date, with their explanations.