Part 3

This conclusion is entirely in accordance with the results of the most recent research in neighboring fields of American culture. The profound studies of the Mexican Calendar undertaken by Mrs. Zelia Nuttall have vindicated for it a truly surprising accuracy which could have come only from prolonged and accurately registered observations of the relative apparent motions of the celestial bodies.[33] We may be sure that the Mayas were not behind the Nahuas in this; and in the grotesque figures and strange groupings which illustrate the pages of their books we should look for pictorial representations of astronomic events.

Of course, as everywhere else, with this serious astronomic lore were associated notions of astrology, dates for fixing rites and ceremonies, mythical narratives, cosmogonical traditions and liturgies, incantations and prescriptions for religious functions. But through this maze of superstition I believe we can thread our way if we hold on to the clue which astronomy can furnish us. In the present work, however, I do not pretend to more than prepare the soil for such a labor.

A proof of the correctness of this opinion and also an admirable example of the success with which Dr. Förstemann has prosecuted his analysis of the astronomical meaning of the Codices is offered by his explanation of the 24th page of the Dresden Codex, laid before the International Congress of Americanists, in 1894.

He showed that it was intended to bring the time covered in five revolutions of Venus into relation to the solar years and the ceremonial years, or _tonalamatl_, of 260 days; also to set forth the relations between the revolutions of the Moon and of Mercury; further, to divide the year of Venus into four unequal parts, assigned respectively to the four cardinal points and to four divinities; and, finally, to designate to which divinities each of the five Venus-years under consideration should be dedicated.

This illustrates at once the great advance his method has made in the interpretation of the Codices, and the intimate relations we find in them between astronomy and mythology.

Such a theory of the Mayan books which we have at hand is world-wide distant from that of Thomas and Seler. Take, for example, the series of figures, Cod. Cort., pp. 14^a, 15^a, 16^a.[34] Förstemann and myself would consider them to represent the position of certain celestial bodies before the summer solstice (indicated by the turtle on p. 7); while Thomas says of them, “It may safely be assumed that these figures refer to the Maya process of making bread!!”[35]

9. _Astronomical Knowledge of the Ancient Mayas._

Our information from European sources as to the astronomical knowledge possessed by the Mayas is slight.

That they looked with especial reverence to the planet Venus is evident from the various names they applied to it. These were: _Noh Ek_, “the Great Star” or “the Right-hand Star;” _Chac Ek_, “the Strong Star” (or “the Red Star”); _Zaztal Ek_, “the Brilliant Star;” _Ah-Zahcab_, “the Controller or Companion of the Dawn;”[36] and _Xux Ek_, “the Bee or Wasp Star,” for reasons which will be considered later. In the Tzental dialect it was called _Canan Chulchan_, “the Guardian of the Sky,” and _Mucul Canan_, “the Great Guardian.”

The North Star was well known as _Xaman Ek_ (_xaman_, north, _ek_, star), and also as _Chimal Ek_, “the Shield Star,” or “Star on the Shield.”[37] It was spoken of as “the Guide of the Merchants” (_Dicc. de Motul_), and therefore was probably one of their special divinities.

The historian Landa states that the Mayas measured the passage of time at night by observations of the Pleiades and Orion.[38] The name of the former in their language is _Tzab_, a word which also means the rattles of the rattlesnake. In the opinion of Dr. Förstemann,[39] their position in the heavens decided the beginning of the year (or, perhaps, cycle, as with the Nahuas), and they were represented in the hieroglyphs by the _moan_ sign (to be explained on a later page).

Certain stars of the constellation Gemini were defined, and named _Ac_, or _Ac Ek_, “the Tortoise Stars,” from an imagined similarity of outline to that of the tortoise.[40] This may explain the not infrequent occurrence of the picture of that animal in the Codices, and its representations in stone at Copan and elsewhere.

The terms for a comet in Maya were _Budz Ek_, “Smoking Star,” and _Ikomne_, “Breathing or Blowing,” as it was supposed to blow forth its fiery train; in Tzental it was _Tza Ec_, “Star Dust.” Shooting stars were _Chamal Dzutan_, “Magicians’ Pipes,” as they were regarded as the fire-tubes of certain powerful enchanters.

The stars in Orion were known as _Mehen Ek_, “the Sons,” doubtless referring to some astronomical myth.

The Milky Way was spoken of under two different names, both of obscure application, _Tamacaz_ and _Ah Poou_. Another meaning of the former word is “madness, insanity;” and the latter term was also applied to a youth who had just attained the age of puberty.[41] Perhaps the connection of the word lies in the ceremonies of initiation practiced by many tribes when a youth reached this age, and which, by fasting and the administration of toxic herbs, often led to temporary mania; and the deity of the Milky Way may have presided over these rites.

The moon in opposition was referred to as _u nupptanba_, from _nupp_, opposed, opposite. When in conjunction, the expression was _hunbalan u_, “the rope of the moon,” or, “the moon roped.” When it was in eclipse, it was _chibil u_, “the moon bitten,” the popular story being that it was bitten by a kind of ant called _xulab_. An eclipse of the sun was also _chibil kin_, “the sun bitten;” but more frequently the phrase was _tupul u uich kin_, or, _tupan u uich kin_, “the eye of the day is covered over,” or, “shut up.” It is useful to record such expressions, as they sometimes suggested the graphic representations of the occurrences.[42]

Footnote 14:

See my Library of Aboriginal American Literature, No. 1: _The Maya Chronicles_, Introduction, pp. 37–50 (Philadelphia, 1882).

Footnote 15:

Vincente Pineda, _Gramatica de la Lengua Tzel-tal_, pp. 154, sqq. (Chiapas, 1887). Pineda makes the multiplier 400 instead of 20, in which he is certainly in error.

Footnote 16:

The object portrayed is evidently a _shell_, probably selected as a rebus; but the name of the species I have not found. The ordinary terms are _puy_ and _xicin_.

Footnote 17:

Förstemann, _Entzifferung_, No. IV, and Maudslay, _Biologia Centrali-Americana, Archæology_. Part IV.

Footnote 18:

According to Pousse (_Archives de la Soc. Amer. de France_, 1887, p. 165), it is used to designate the particular day which falls on the 20th of the month, that is, the last day of the month, and has therefore the sense of “last,” “final,” rather than of 20. It is written as an affix to the month sign. Thomas states that it is used with month symbols “only where the month (of 20 days) is complete or follows one completed.” _Amer. Anthropologist_, Vol. VI, p. 246. There is some doubt whether No. 4 is not an element of union. Compare Seler, _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, 1887, p. 57.

Footnote 19:

Dr. Förstemann’s article, “Zur Maya-Chronologie,” assigning the reasons for these identifications, appeared in the Berlin _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, 1891.

Footnote 20:

_Etude sur le Manuscrit Troano_, p. 220.

Footnote 21:

A. P. Maudslay: _Biologia Centrali-Americana; Archæology_, Part II. Text, pp. 40–42 (London, 1890). The character _b_ closely resembles the day-sign _chuen_. This could readily be chosen to express ikonomatically _chun_, “the beginning, the first,” and my studies convince me that it repeatedly must be so understood. To this I shall recur on a later page.

Footnote 22:

Since the above was written, Mr. Stewart Culin, Director of the museum of the University of Pennsylvania, has called my attention to the fact that the cross-hatching on the “cosmic sign” would, in Oriental, especially Chinese symbolism, convey the idea of the fundamental dual principles of existence,—male and female, upper and lower, etc. The same interpretation may quite possibly apply in the Mayan symbolism.

Footnote 23:

See my _Native Calendar of Central America_, pp. 49–59 (Philadelphia, 1893).

Footnote 24:

The dictionaries give: “_bolon pixan_, bien adventurado;” _bolon dzacab_, and _oxlahun dzacab_, “cosa eterna.” The numeral “one,” as in English, had a superlative sense, as _hun miatz_, “the one scholar,” _i. e._, the most distinguished. Why a symbolic or superlative sense was attached to such numbers is a question too extensive to discuss here. I have touched upon it in my _Native Calendar of Central America_, pp. 8, 13, and in an article on “The Origin of Sacred Numbers” in _The American Anthropologist_, April, 1894. In another connection we find _maay_, odor from something burning; “_bolonmayel_, qualquier olor suavissimo y transcendente”—_Dicc. Motul._ Dr. Seler has suggested that the number 13 may refer to the thirteen heavens; but offers no evidence that the Mayas entertained the Nahuatl myth to which this refers.

Footnote 25:

Schrader: _Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples_, pp. 307–9.

Footnote 26:

To enter into this debated question at length would not be possible in this connection; but I would merely note: (1) The positive assertion of Landa that the Maya year “invariably” began July 16 (_Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 236), could not be true even for five years, unless the bissextile correction was made, which he asserts was done; (2) the example of a Maya year given by Aguilar (_Informe contra Idolum Cultores del Obispado de Yucatan_, Madrid, 1639), is actually one containing six intercalary days, “_seis_ dias que fueron sus caniculares;” and (3) Father Martin de Leon, in his “_Calendario Mexicano_,” pointedly states that the fourth year was a bissextile year (_Camino del Cielo_, fol. 100, Mexico, 1611). I do not maintain that this knowledge was general, but that it had been acquired by the astronomer-priests of certain localities. The investigations of Mrs. Zelia Nuttall tend to demonstrate this opinion.

Footnote 27:

On these points I would refer the reader to my work, _The Native Calendar of Central America and Mexico; A Study in Linguistics and Symbolism_ (Philadelphia, 1893).

Footnote 28:

Professor Cyrus Thomas, in his carefully written article, “The Maya Year,” in the _Bulletins_ of the Bureau of Ethnology (Washington, 1894), has collected evidence that the same calendar system, based, he believes, on the year of 365 days, was used in Palenque, Menche (Lorillard City), and Tikal, as well as in the Cod. Dresdensis. That the Mayas had, at the time of the Conquest, long known the year of 365 days, was demonstrated from the Codices by Dr. Förstemann. (See his _Erläuterungen zur Maya-Handschrift_, Dresden, 1886, p. 21, and his “Die Zeitperioden der Mayas,” in _Globus_, January, 1892).

Footnote 29:

See especially his articles, _Die Zeitperioden der Mayas_, 1892, and his _Zur Entzifferung der Maya-Handschriften_, IV, 1894.

Footnote 30:

The grounds for this opinion are stated in his _Zur Entzifferung_, etc., No. II.

Footnote 31:

A. Pousse, in _Archives de la Société Américaine de France_, 1886, 1887.

Footnote 32:

In the _American Anthropologist_ for July, 1893.

Footnote 33:

See her “Note on the Ancient Mexican Calendar System,” communicated to the Tenth International Congress of Americanists, Stockholm, 1894.

Footnote 34:

As the pages of the Codices are generally divided into compartments by transverse lines, the custom of students is to designate these from above downward by small letters added to the number of the page.

Footnote 35:

In _American Anthropologist_, July, 1893, p. 262.

Footnote 36:

“El lucero de la mañana, que parece hacer amanecer.” _Dicc. de Motul._

Footnote 37:

Like _chimal ik_, “north wind.” _Chimal_ is the Nahuatl _chimalli_, shield, so these terms must be of late origin in Maya.

Footnote 38:

“Regianse de noche, para conocer la hora, por el lucero, i las cabrillas i los astilejos; de dia, por el medio dia.” Landa, _Cosas de Yucatan_, cap. 34.

Footnote 39:

_Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften_, No. IV.

Footnote 40:

“Las tres estrellas juntas que estan en el signo de Geminis, las quales, con otras, hacen forma de tortuga.” _Dicc. de Motul._

Footnote 41:

These definitions are given in the _Dicc. Motul_.

Footnote 42:

In Cod. Peres., pp. 18, 19, the sun is shown bitten by birds, snakes, etc. We probably have in this a reference to an eclipse. On a later page I shall show the hieroglyph of the double loop of the rope, which probably signifies the moon in conjunction.

III. The Pictorial Elements.

To understand the pictorial portions of the inscriptions some acquaintance with the native mythology is indispensable.

1. _The Religion of the Ancient Mayas._

The religion of the Mayas was a polytheism, but the principal deities were few in number, as is expressly stated by Father Francisco Hernandez, the earliest missionary to Yucatan (1517);[43] and these, according to the explicit assertion of Father Lizana, were the same as those worshipped by the Tzentals of Tabasco and Chiapas.[44] Both these statements are confirmed by a comparison of the existing remains, and they greatly facilitate a comprehension of the Codices and epigraphy.

The spirit of this religion was dualistic, the gods of life and light, of the sun and day, of birth and food, of the fertilizing showers and the cultivated fields, being placed in contrast to those of misfortune and pain, of famine and pestilence, of blight and night, darkness and death. Back of them all, indeed the source of them all, was _Hunab Ku_, “the One Divine;” but of him no statue and no picture was made, for he was incorporeal and invisible.[45]

_Itzamna._—Chief of the beneficent gods was _Itzamna_. He was the personification of the East, the rising sun, with all its manifold mythical associations. His name means “the dew or moisture of the morning,” and he was the spirit of the early mists and showers. He was said to have come in his magic skiff from the East, across the waters, and therefore he presided over that quarter of the world and the days and years assigned to it.

For similar reasons he received the name _Lakin chan_, “the Serpent of the East,” under which he seems to have been popularly known. As light is synonymous with both life and knowledge, he was said to have been the creator of men, animals, and plants, and was the founder of the culture of the Mayas. He was the first priest of their religion, and invented writing and books; he gave the names to the various localities in Yucatan, and divided the land among the people; as a physician he was famous, knowing not only the magic herbs, but possessing the power of healing by touch, whence his name _Kabil_, “the skilful hand,” under which he was worshipped in Chichen Itza. For his wisdom he was spoken of as _Yax coc ah-mut_, “the royal or noble master of knowledge.”

_Cuculcan._—In some sense a contrast, in others a completion of the mythical concepts embodied in Itzamna, was _Cuculcan_ or Cocol chan, “the feathered or winged serpent.”[46] He also was a hero-god, a deity of culture and of kindliness. He was traditionally the founder of the great cities of Chichen Itza, and Mayapan; was active in framing laws and introducing the calendar, at the head of which some Maya tribes placed his name; was skilled in leechcraft, and was spoken of as the god of chills and fevers.

As Itzamna was identified with the East, so was Cuculcan with the West. Thence he was said to have come, and thither returned.[47] In the Tzental calendars he was connected with the seventh day (_moxic_, Maya, _manik_); hence he is mystically associated with that number. He corresponds to the _Gukumatz_ of the Quiche mythology, a name which has the same signification.

In the myth he is described as clothed in a long robe and wearing sandals, and, what is noteworthy, _having a beard_. In the calendars of the Tzentals he was painted “in the likeness of a man and a snake,” and the “masters” explained this as “the snake with feathers, which moves in the waters,” that is, the heavenly waters, the clouds and the rains; for which reason Bishop Nuñez de la Vega, to whom we owe this information, identified him with the Mexican Mixcoatl, “the cloud serpent;”[48] whereas Bishop Landa was of opinion that he was the Mexican Quetzalcoatl.

_Kin ich._—As Itzamna was thus connected with the rising, morning sun, and Cuculcan with the afternoon and setting sun, so the sun in the meridian was distinguished from both of them. As a divinity, it bore the name _Kin ich_, “the eye or face of the day.” The sacrifices to it were made at the height of noontide, when it was believed that the deity descended in the shape of the red macaw (the _Ara macao_), known as _Kak mo_, “the bird of fire,” from the color of its plumage, and consumed the offering. Such ceremonies were performed especially in times of great sickness, general mortality, the destruction of the crops through locusts, and other public calamities. It seems probable from the accounts that Kin ich was a much less prominent divinity in the popular mind than either of the other two solar deities, and his attributes were occasionally assigned to Itzamna, as we find the combination _Kin ich ahau Itzamna_ among the names of divinities.

_Other Gods._—To Itzamna was assigned as consort _Ix Chel_, “the rainbow,” also known as _Ix Kan Leom_, “the spider-web” (which catches the dew of the morning). She was goddess of medicine and of childbirth, and her children were the _Bacabs_, or _Chacs_ (giants),[49] four mighty brethren, who were the gods of the four cardinal points, of the winds which blow from them, of the rains these bring, of the thunder and the lightning, and consequently of agriculture, the harvests, and the food supply. Their position in the ritual was of the first importance. To each were assigned a particular color and a certain year and day in the calendar. To _Hobnil_, “the hollow one” or “the belly,” were given the south, the color yellow, and the day and years _kan_, the first of the calendar series, and so on. The red Bacab was to the east, the white to the north, and the black, whose name was _Hozan Ek_, “the Disembowelled,” to the west.[50]

_The Cardinal Points._—Much attention has been directed to these divinities as representing the worship of the cardinal points and to the colors, days, cycles, and elements mythically associated with them. Uniform results have not been obtained, as the authorities differ, as probably did also the customs of various localities.[51] Pio Perez assigns _kan_ to the east, _muluc_ to the north, _ix_ to the west, and _cauac_ to the south. The arrangement based on Landa’s statements would be as follows:—

_Cardinal _Bacab._ _Days._ _Colors._ _Elements._ point._

South, Hobnil (the Belly), Kan, Yellow, Air.

East, Canzicnal (Serpent Being), Muluc, Red, Fire.

North, Zaczini (White Being), Ix, White, Water.

West, Hozan ek (the Disembowelled Cauac, Black, Earth. Black one),

On the other hand, it should be noted that the names of the winds in Maya distinctly assign the color white to the east, thus:—

East wind, _zac ik_, “white wind.” Northeast wind, _zac xaman ik_, “white north wind.” Southeast wind, _zac nohol ik_, “white south wind.”

The solution of these difficulties must be left for future investigation.

_The Good Gods._—Divinities of a beneficent character were _Yum Chac_, “Lord of Waters or Rains;” _Yum Kaax_, “Lord of the Harvest Fields;” _Cum Ahau_, “Lord of the Vase,” that is, of the rains, who is described in the Dic. Motul as “Lucifer, Chief of the Devils” and is probably a name of Itzamna; _Zuhuy Kak_, “Virgin Fire,” patroness of infants; _Zuhuy Dzip_, “The Virgin of Dressed Animals,” a hunting goddess; _Ix Tabai_, “Goddess of the Ropes or Snares,” also a hunting goddess as well as the patroness of those who hanged themselves; _Ah Kak Nech_, “He Who Looks after the Cooking Fire,” _Ah Ppua_, “the Master of Dew,” and _Ah Dziz_, “The Master of Cold,” divinities of the fishermen.

To this list should be added _Acan_, “the God of the Intoxicating Mead,” the national beverage, that being its name; _Ek Chua_, “the Black Companion,” god of the cacao planters and the merchants, as these used the cacao beans as a medium of exchange; _Ix Tub Tun_, “she who spits out Precious Stones,” goddess of the workers in jade and amethysts; _Cit Bolon Tun_, “the Nine (_i. e._, numberless) Precious Stones,” a god of medicine; _Xoc Bitum_, the God of Singing, and _Ah Kin Xoc_ or _Ppiz Lim Tec_, the God of Poetry (_xoc_, to sing or recite); _Ix Chebel Yax_, the first inventress of painting and of colored designs on woven stuffs (_chebel_, to paint, and a paint-brush).

A minor deity was _Tel Cuzaan_, “the swallow-legged,” a divinity of the island of Cozumel (“Swallow Island”).

On a lofty pyramid, where is now the city of Valladolid, Yucatan, was worshipped _Ah zakik ual_, “Lord of the East Wind.” His idol was of pottery in the shape of a vase, moulded in front into an ugly face. In it they burned copal and other gums. His festival was celebrated every fourth year with sham battles.[52] Probably this was a representation of Itzamna as lord of the cardinal point.

The “Island of Women,” Isla de Mugeres, on the east coast, was so named because the first explorers found there the statues of four female divinities, to whom altars and temples were dedicated.[53] They were _Ix-chel_, _Ix-chebel-yax_, _Ix-hun-yé_, and _Ix-hun-yeta_. The first two have already been mentioned. The last two seem to have been goddesses connected with the moonrise and sunrise, as the dictionaries give as the meaning of _yé_, “to show one’s self, to appear;” as in the phrases _yethaz y ahalcab_, “at the appearance of the dawn;” _yethaz u hokol u_, “at moonrise;” _yet hokol kin_, “at sunrise.”

Prominent among mythical beings were the dwarfs, known as _ppuz_, “bent over;” _ac uinic_, “turtle men;” _tzapa uinic_, “shortened men;” and _pputum_, “small of body.” They are sometimes represented in the carvings, an interesting example being in the Peabody Museum. A legend concerning such brownies was that before the last destruction of the world the whole human race degenerated into like diminutive beings, which prompted the gods to destroy it.[54] One class of these little creatures, called _acat_, were said to become transformed into flowers.

As I have shown elsewhere,[55] many similar superstitions survive in the folk-lore of Yucatan and Tabasco to-day. But it is not safe to look at such survivals as part of genuine ancient mythology. For instance, the goddess _Ix-nuc_, or _Xnuc_, said by Brasseur to have been goddess of the mountains, by Seler, goddess of the earth, and by Schellhas, goddess of water, is in fact not a member of the Maya Pantheon. The name means simply “old woman,” and was first mentioned by an anonymous modern writer in the _Registro Yucateco_.