Cipactli

Cipactli 'Crocodile' or 'Caiman', was the first day of the Aztec divinatory count of 13 X 20 days (the tonalpohualli), and Cipactonal 'Sign of Cipactli' was considered to have been the first diviner. In Aztec cosmology, the crocodile symbolized the earth floating in the primeval waters. According to one Aztec tradition, Teocipactli 'Divine Crocodile' was the name of a survivor of the flood who rescued himself in a canoe and again peopled the earth. In the Mixtec Vienna Codex (Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I), Crocodile is a day associated with dynastic beginnings.