Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- I The Ritual Practice of Time of the Long Count Calendar of the Classic Maya Civilisation -- The Ritual Practice of Time of the 260-day Calendar and the 365-day Calendar of the Postclassic Yucatec Civilisation -- II The Ritual Practice of Time of the 260-day Calendar of the Postclassic Yucatec Civilisation -- III The Ritual Practice of Time of the 365-day Calendar of the Postclassic Yucatec Civilisation -- IV The Ritual Practice of Time of the 52-year Calendar of the Postclassic Aztec Civilisation -- V A Comparative Analysis of Ritual Practice of Time -- Bibliography -- Index.

Calendars of Mesoamerican civilisations are subjected to what is categorised as “ritual practices of time”. This book is a comparative explication of rituals of time of four calendars: the Long Count calendar, the 260-day calendar, the 365-day calendar and the 52-years calendar. Building upon a comparative analytical model, the book contributes new theoretical insights about ritual practices and temporal philosophies. This comprehensive investigation analyses how ritual practices are represented and conceptualised in intellectual systems and societies. The temporal ritual practices are systematically analysed in relation to calendar organisation and structure, arithmetic, cosmogony and chronometry, spatial-temporality (cosmology), natural world, eschatology, sociology, politics, and ontology. It is argued that the 260-day calendar has a particular symbolic importance in Mesoamerican temporal philosophies and practices.