The sign of the year of Quetzalcoatl was, as I have said, One Reed, Ce Acatl.

In the Mexican calendar this recurs only once in their cycle of fifty-two years.

The myth ran that on some recurrence of this year his arrival was to take place.
The year 1519 of the Christian era was the year One Reed, and in that year Hernan Cortes landed his army on Mexican soil! The approach of the year had, as usual, revived the old superstition, and possibly some vague rumors from Yucatan or the Islands had intensified the dread with which the Mexican emperor contemplated the possible loss of his sovereignty.

Omens were reported in the sky, on earth and in the waters.
The sages and diviners were consulted, but their answers were darker than the ignorance they were asked to dispel.

Yes, they agreed, a change is to come, the present order of things will be swept away, perhaps by Quetzalcoatl, perhaps by hideous beings with faces of serpents, who walk with one foot, whose heads are in their breasts, whose huge hands serve as sun shades, and who can fold themselves in their immense ears.[1] [Footnote 1: The names of these mysterious beings are given by Tezozomoc as _Tezocuilyoxique, Zenteicxique_ and _Coayxaques.