Malinalli (Grass): Aztec day sign Meaning

Malinalli, 'grass', day sign 12 of the Aztec tonalpohualli. Patron: Patecatl.

Malinalli, the twisted grass, suggests persistence and regrowth — grass returns however often it is cut — but also penance and the twisted cord used in ritual. Its patron is Patecatl, god of medicine and of the plants used to ferment pulque.

The patron deities of the day signs differ between the surviving codices; the list used here follows the Codex Borgia tradition as reconstructed by modern scholars. The tonalpohualli was read by trained diviners together with the number of the day and its trecena, so a sign was never interpreted alone.

Personality

persistent · resilient · enduring · healing · patient · self-sacrificing

In the Aztec tonalpohualli, a person whose tonalli, or birth sign, is Malinalli is described as persistent, enduring and resilient, like the twisted grass that grows back however often it is cut. The sign also evokes penance and the twisted cord used in ritual, and its patron is Patecatl, god of medicine and of the plants used to ferment pulque.

Modern readings of the sign credit Malinalli people with patience, tenacity, the ability to recover from hardship and a gift for healing and for helping others endure difficult times. Their challenges are said to be a life of more struggle than most, a tendency to self-sacrifice or self-punishment, and stubbornness that can become rigidity. Colonial sources treat some grass days as difficult, which modern interpreters often read as hardship that strengthens.

In love Malinalli people are portrayed as faithful and enduring partners who stay through adversity; in work, as healers, herbalists, labourers and those who rebuild what has been lost. As with every tonalli, the Aztec diviners read the sign with the number of the day and its trecena, and could choose a better day for a child's naming.

Sources and further reading

The Aztec Calendar Stone — Khristaan D. Villela and Mary Ellen Miller (eds.), 2010
Codex Borgia: A Full-Color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript — Gisele Díaz and Alan Rodgers, 1993
The Aztecs — Michael E. Smith, 2012