Sacred geometry was at the FOURfront of Aztec life and world (2)

• ‘There were four quadrants on the patolli board, four arms and four safe squares, and the number of dice was four. Correspondingly, there were four sides of the universe, four cardinal directions, four seasons of the year, four divisions of thirteen years in the fifty-two year “century”, and four distinct astronomical and mythological ages prior to the present one.’ (Timothy Kendall, Patolli: A Game of Ancient Mexico)

Mexica players of patolli, Fray Diego Durán ‘The Gods...’

• ‘To catch [a pelican] they stalk it two, three or four days. But if they fail to catch it by the third day, on the fourth day the water folk prepare themselves and then assemble and steel themselves to go forth to die. For this is the custom of the water folk.
‘For this pelican, after four days, sits awaiting the water folk; it rests on the water’s surface; it sits looking at them. For if they fail to catch it in four days, by sunset, when the fifth sounds, the water folk thus know it is a sign that they will die; for they who have failed to catch it have been tried.’ (Florentine Codex Book XI, trans. Dibble & Anderson).

Mexica water-folk catching and gutting a pelican to read their fortune; Florentine Codex Book XI