nemontemi

Nemontemi is a term from the Nahuatl language used to describe the five final days of the xiuhpohualli, the 365-day solar year in the Aztec calendar. The name, often rendered as nemontēmi or nemontemi, is commonly interpreted as meaning “empty days” or “days without significance.” These days are traditionally considered inauspicious or dangerous, marking a period of heightened ritual attention as the old year ends and the new year approaches.

The five nemontemi occur after the year’s 360 days, which are organized into eighteen 20-day months. Because they were viewed as unlucky, people often limited certain activities, performed purification rites, and offered sacrifices or prayers to avert misfortune in the coming year. The specific practices associated with the nemontemi varied by locality and period, but the overarching aim was to protect communities, crops, and individuals from harm during a transition believed to be spiritually unstable.

In scholarly sources, nemontemi are described as a distinctive feature of the Aztec calendrical system that reflects a broader concern with calendrical auspiciousness and ritual renewal. The concept also reflects how the Aztec understood time, fate, and social order, emphasizing the need to end the old year properly before beginning anew. While details differ across codices and ethnohistorical accounts, the nemontemi are consistently identified as the five concluding,-and notably significant, days of the xiuhpohualli.