If the gods in the top thirds are those of the past year and those in the
middle the gods of the year just beginning, we should expect to find in
each top third the deity who is represented in the middle of the preceding
page. But this does not hold good. For then we should expect to find K on
page 26 and not the tiger, on page 27 B or G and not E, on page 28 D and
not A, and on page 25 A and not B.
Hence there is some confusion here. Yet it seems to be in the nature of a
correction, that on page 26 the third sign, next to that of the sun-god, is
actually the sign for E who is in the top section on page 27, and that the
sixth sign is Kan-Imix belonging to this god.
On pages 25 and 26 this line also refers to the past year, _i.e._, to the
year set down in the top third. The fourth sign on page 25 is a Manik,
_i.e._, originally a grasping hand denoting taking away, disappearance, and
the fifth sign on this page is a Muluc, which seems to denote the ending of
the Muluc years. The fifth sign on page 26, is, in fact, the tiger pictured
above.
The lunar hieroglyph as the third sign on page 25 and the _a_ as the fourth
on page 26 are strange and unaccountable. Both appear to be almost without
significance here and seem almost like mere points between the names of
gods in groups of two each.
The Ahau as the third sign on page 27 is the usual determinative of D,
whose hieroglyph stands beside it.
On page 28 the main part of the third sign corresponds to the sixth of the
upper section. I do not know, however, how to explain either the upper part
suggesting a mat or the familiar leaf-shaped prefix.
6. The Bottom Pictures.
In the left-hand lower corner of each page we see the sign for the year of
360 days, which at the same time designates the heap of stones, on which
the stelae were erected, the two thick black lines indicating the two
columns of hieroglyphs usually found on them. A tree is growing out of this
sign, having on its trunk an abbreviated Cauac sign, at least, on pages 26,
27 and 28, which probably refers to rain as the most desired event of the
year. The tree on page 25 has no leaves, but the top is carved into the
shape of the head of the god B. In the other three cases it has leaves, but
instead of ending in the god's head the tree is draped with a mantle and a
breech-clout, and a serpent is coiled about it denoting a period of time
(here, the year). Furthermore there are foot-prints on the trunk or the
drapery of the tree, which represent it as the goal of a pilgrimage.
If the top and middle thirds refer to the mere transportation of the idols,
the bottom thirds refer to the feasts connected with this act, or, at any
rate, to those dedicated to the _new_ god. For we see here on page 25 the
god B, on 26 the god K, on 27 A and on 28 D, _i.e._, the same deities as in
the middle sections, yet so placed that the first two and the last two have
changed places.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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