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 origin of the symbol is uncertain, and Dr Seler makes no attempt to
explain it. The difference between the simple form with the three teeth
only (plate LXVI, 2) and the typical _Chuen_ symbol indicates a
difference in the word equivalents, or in the signification if
ideographic. It is possible that Brasseur is right in rendering the
former by _co_, which signifies "tooth;" in which case we may be
justified in assuming that the additions in the _Chuen_ symbol give the
additional phonetic elements in the word. It may be, as supposed by some
authors, that it was intended to represent the front view of an open
mouth of some animal, as _chi_ is the Maya word for mouth.
THE TWELFTH DAY
Maya, _eb_; Tzental, _euob_; Quiche-Cakchiquel, _e_ or _ee_; Zapotec,
_pija_; Nahuatl, _mallinalli_ or _itlan_.
There are comparatively few variations in the symbol of this day; some,
however, are of sufficient importance to render recognition doubtful but
for their presence in the day series. That given by Landa is seen in
plate LXVI, 4; the form most usual in the Tro. and Cort. codices is that
shown in LXVI, 5; the variations seen in LXVI, 6, 7, 8, are from the
Dresden Codex, and that in LXVI, 9, is from the Peresianus.
This character occurs very seldom, if ever, except as a day symbol,
hence it is presumed to be purely ideographic or pictorial. There is,
however, a deity symbol found in the Tro. Codex (plate LXVI, 10) in
which we see apparently the chief characteristic of the _eb_ symbol.
Here, however, instead of a dot-bordered tooth, there is a dot-bordered
dark stripe which runs downward entirely across the face. This is
accompanied usually by the numeral prefix 11. The symbol of the same
deity as found in the Dresden Codex is shown in plate LXVI, 11. Here the
stripe is reduced to a single broken line. Dr Schellhas contends that he
is a Death god and the equivalent of the Mexican Xipe. That he is a god
of the underworld in the Tro. Codex is apparent from his ornaments and
the dotted lines on his body or limbs; yet in two instances--plates 5a
and b--he is represented as a traveling merchant. Whether the deity in
the Dresden Codex is the same as that of the Tro. Codex is not
positively certain, but the presence of the numeral 11 with the symbol,
and in some instances the dotted lines on the body of the deity,
indicate that the two are identical. Whether this deity glyph bears any
relation to the day symbol is, however, doubtful. The only names of Maya
deities I find with _buluc_ ("eleven") as a prefix are Ahbuluc-Balam and
Buluc-Ahau (?). The first, which signifies "He of the Eleven Tigers,"
was one of the idols made at the festival of the new year Cauac. On one
of the four plates of the Dresden Codex representing the festivals of
the new year (26a) we observe that the image carried by the chac is a
tiger-like animal marked with dotted lines. Whether this is to be
connected with the deity above mentioned is doubtful. The other name,
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