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 traditions of the Indians in which the rabbit is brought into
relation with the sun are well known. Dr Brinton has shown in his work
on "American Hero Myths" that the Rabbit or Great Hare in the Algonquian
myths symbolized "light." He remarks in "The Lenape and their Legends"
that--
The familiar Algonkin myth of the "Great Hare," which I have
elsewhere shown to be distinctively a myth of Light, was also well
known to the Delawares, and they applied to this animal, also, the
appellation of the "Grandfather of the Indians." Like the fire, the
hare was considered their ancestor, and in both instances the Light
was meant, fire being its symbol, and the word for hare being
identical with that of brightness and light.[236-1]
It is possible that the Mexicans selected the rabbit for this day as a
known symbol of light, thus bringing it into correspondence with the
signification of the day names of the other calendars. The method by
which Drs Seler and Brinton try to bring the Maya and Zapotec names into
harmony with the Mexican appears to me to be in the wrong direction.
It is therefore quite probable, from what has been shown, that the Maya,
Tzental, and Quiche-Cakchiquel names refer to light, flame, or the
lightning flash, and that the rabbit was selected because of some
mythological relation it was supposed to bear to the sun, or
light.[237-1] As this character is seldom found in combination, or used
otherwise than as a day symbol, it is probable that the signification is
represented by some other symbol, or is not referred to in the text.
THE NINTH DAY
Maya, _muluc_; Tzental, _molo_ or _mulu_; Quiche-Cakchiquel, _toh_;
Zapotec, _niza_ or _queza_; Nahuatl, _atl_.
There are but few and slight variations in the form of the symbol of
this day. That given by Landa is shown in plate LXV, 39. The usual forms
in the codices are seen at 40-42 of the same plate. Symbol 43, which is
an important variation, is from the Cortesian Codex.
The addition of the little circle and loop in example LXV, 43, from the
Cortesian Codex, is important, as it possibly indicates that the simple
forms given in plate LXV, 40-42, are incomplete, and may be a slight
indication of phoneticism. If the latter supposition be correct, it is
probable that in this additional feature we find the element _'c_ of the
word. It is one of the characteristics of the _manik_ symbol, which, as
heretofore shown, has, in some instances at least, _ch_ as one of its
phonetic elements, whether considered truly phonetic or not.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account