The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations: A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical SystemsNuttall, Zelia
Religion
The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations: A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical Systems
To these supplicants the winter solstice betokened little or nothing and
it is not surprising to find no proofs of the employment of the triskelion
as a sacred symbol in ancient Mexico. On the other hand, it has been
traced by Mr. Willoughby on pottery from Arkansas, and in Scandinavia,
where the circumpolar constellations have doubtlessly been observed from
remote times, and the winter solstice has ever been hailed as the herald
of coming spring, the triskelion is often found associated with the
swastika.
[Illustration.]
Figure 12.
I am indebted to Prof. Thomas Wilson’s work already cited for the two
following illustrations of objects exhibiting this association. The first
is a spearhead found in Brandenburg, Germany (fig. 12). The second is a
bronze brooch from Scandinavia, to which I shall presently revert (fig.
13). It exhibits, besides the triskelion, swastika and circle, the
S-shaped figure which was, as I shall show further on, the sign actually
employed by the ancient Mexicans and Mayas as the image of the
constellation Ursa Minor, whose outline it indeed effectually reproduces.
Before referring to the Mexican and Maya representations of the
star-group, I would next demonstrate that the sacred numbers of Mexico,
and of other countries situated in the northern hemisphere, coincide
exactly with the number of stars in the circumpolar constellations
themselves and in simple combinations of the same.
Ursa Major and Ursa Minor each contains seven stars, and the number seven
is the most widely-spread sacred number. Ancient traditions record that
the race inhabiting Mexico consisted of seven tribes who traced their
separate origins to seven caves, situated in the north. In memory of
these, at the time of the Conquest, there were seven places of sacrifice
in the city of Mexico. I shall recur to the number seven further on, in
discussing the native social organization, and now direct attention to the
five stars of Cassiopeia and to the fact that the combination of the stars
in this constellation with Polaris and Ursa Major yields the number
thirteen. This result is specially interesting since the entire
Calendar-system of Mexico and Yucatan is based on the combination of the
numerals 13+7=20, the latter again being 4×5.
[Illustration.]
Figure 13.
On the other hand the same number, 13, is also obtained by the combination
of the Ursæ star-groups with Polaris. The number 5 is constantly yielded
by Cassiopeia and the four-fold repetitions of the groups supply the
suggestion of the number 4. The combination of Ursa Minor and Cassiopeia
yields 12. The accompanying figure exhibits swastikas composed of Ursa
Minor accompanied by Ursa Major and Cassiopeia separated and combined
(fig. 14). I next direct attention to the peculiar difference in the
numerical values of the Ursæ swastikas.
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