days and six hours into eighteen months of twenty days each, and these months again into four weeks of five days. This left an excess of five days which did not belong to any month. During this time it was considered to be worse than useless to do any work, since the powers of evil would thwart their best endeavors unhindered by the gods, who were all off duty. No prayers were offered to them, therefore, and those who had a heart to laugh when everything was in such dire confusion gave themselves up to amusement. The fact that
"Satan finds some mischief still.
For idle hands to do"
must often have been emphasized in these times of general license, and probably furnished the reason why these days came to be considered particularly unlucky days. The leap-year of the Aztecs came at the close of their period of fifty-two years, or four cycles of thirteen years each, when thirteen days were added to make the time right with the seasons. These thirteen days were the solemn season of year-binding, described in a previous chapter.
