Day Symbols of the Maya Year: Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-1895, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 199-266.Thomas, Cyrus
Religion
Day Symbols of the Maya Year: Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-1895, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 199-266.
Thomas, Cyrus
Maya calendar
The Cakchiquel word _imox_ is translated by the grammarian Ximenes as
"swordfish," thus corresponding with the usual interpretation of the
Mexican _cipactli_. Dr Seler thinks, however, that the Maya names were
derived, as above stated, from _im_. Nevertheless he concludes that the
primitive signification of both the Maya and Mexican symbols is the
earth, "who brings forth all things from her bosom and takes all living
things again into it." If we may judge from its use, there is no doubt
that the Mexican _cipactli_ figure is a symbol of the earth or
underworld. The usual form of the day symbol in the Mexican codices is
shown in plate LXIV, 16, and more elaborately in plate LXIV, 17. As
proof that it indicates the earth or underworld, there is shown on plate
73 of the Borgian Codex an individual, whose heart has been torn from
his breast, plunging downward through the open jaws of the monster into
the shades or earth below. On plate 76 of the same codex, the extended
jaws open upward, and into them a number of persons are marching in
regular order. These apparently represent the thirteen months of the
sacred year. One has passed on and disappeared from view, and the other
twelve are following with bowed heads. It would seem from these to be
not only symbolic of the earth or hades, but also to have some relation
to time.
For positive proof that it is sometimes used to denote the earth, or
that from which vegetation comes, it is only necessary to refer to the
lower right-hand figure of plate 12, Borgian Codex. Here is Tlaloc
sending down rain upon the earth, from which the enlivened plants are
springing forth and expanding into leaf and blossom. The earth, on which
they stand and from which they arise, is represented by the figure of
the mythical _Cipactli_.
It is quite probable that the monster on plates 4 and 5 of the Dresden
Codex, which appears to be of the same genus, is a time symbol, and also
that on plate 74 of the same codex. It is therefore more than likely
that the animal indicated by the Mexican name of the day is mythical,
represented according to locality by some known animal which seems to
indicate best the mythical conception. Some figures evidently refer to
the alligator, and others apparently to the iguana; that on plates 4 and
5 of the Dresden Codex is purely mythical, but contains reptilian
characteristics.
Dr Brinton, probably influenced to some extent by the apparent
signification of the Nahuatl name and symbol, explains the other names
as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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