The Great Tenochtitlan on 13 August 1521: Reconciled with Twilight

Abstract

13 August 1521, exactly 500 hundred years ago, is the date when the Mexicas chose to capitulate to the Spanish conquerors by yielding the wondrous city known as the Great Tenochtitlan. Mesoamerican astronomy had long established certain dates in their calendars as propitious for different life events. These dates were also related to specific cardinal points determined by sunrise and sunset, and connected to specific concepts. Thus, the South was evoked by the Rabbit, Tochtli; the East, by the Reed, Acatl; the North by the Flint, Tecpatl; and the West by the House, Calli. Many important monuments and cities throughout Mesoamerica, including the magnificent Sun Pyramid of Teotihuacan, were oriented according to the position of sunrise and sunset on two dates, equivalent to 2 February and 13 August. Thus, Daniel Flores argues, it appears that the date for the yielding of Tenochtitlan, associated to sunset and the the end of one cycle and the beginning of another, was not a coincidence, but a deliberate choice. This cyclical worldview was reinforced by the spotting of further astronomical phenomena, such as a comet, which was read as the announcement of momentous change. Cities, just like nature, were subject to life cycles, and on 13 August 1521 Tenochtitlan, present day Mexico City, entered a new phase, in time and tune with what was meant to be.