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CALENDAR
CALENDAR NUMBER DAILY ROUND SACRED ROUND ANNUAL ROUND CALENDAR ROUND
CALENDAR
CALENDARThe Mathematical and Numerological Construction of the Maya calendar may appear subtle and difficult to grasp, yet the system is entirely based on the cofactors 4, 5, 7, 9, 13, 20 and their factors, multiples and permutations. Once thought to constitute the sole content of Maya writing because of its prominent place in Maya writing and Maya daily life (Proskouriakoff 1960), the Maya calendar and its notations constitute by far the largest percentage of most Maya texts. Regardless, this elaborate perpetually changing structure is rooted in acutely observed experience, perfectly balanced within the logic of shamanism. Much more than a simple tool for marking time, the Maya calendar retains a vision of a universe and a people integrated in time and space.
People Are Counted At Birth, when the fingers and toes are checked for missing or additional phalanges. Although limited mobility makes it unlikely that toes were included in most digital counting displays, this first accounting of a person at birth is the most probable origen of the vigesimal system among the Maya.
A Mnemonic Count begins by holding both palms toward one's face and counting from the thumb of the left hand through the digits to the little finger of the left hand. The count then moves to the little finger of the right hand and proceeds through the digits to the thumb of the right hand. Then the hands are reversed and the process is repeated, again from left to right, thus arriving at a complete vigesimal count of twenty. This system appears to be a mnemonic aid for the person doing the counting.
A Counting Display begins by holding the palms away from the face and counting digits 1-4 on the right hand and fives, 1-4 on the left hand. This system is apparently designed to communicate the count to (a) viewer(s).
Vigesimal Numeration, employed by the Maya, is based on sequences of 20 with each successive position increasing by a factor of 20. The vigesimal count is the main organizing feature from which the Maya calendar derives its structure. Each of the twenty numerals is identified by its own glyphs, a symbolic form and a portrait form.
Positional Notation is characterized by numeral positions representing successive orders of magnitude and by Cipher or Zero, "0", which marks unoccupied positions. Positional notation employing Cipher has only been invented twice, once in India where Cipher is a logical outgrowth of the Vedic philosophical concern with the void, and once in Mesoamerica where neither the spiritual nor the intellectual implications of Cipher have been explored by Aryan scholars.
Numerical Positions in a Maya numerical text can be occupied by any digit from 1-19 or by 0, just as each position in a Hindu, 'Arabic', numerical text can be occupied by any digit from 1-9 or by 0.
In some Classic texts the numerical dot 1, hun, is replaced by u nah k'ab, the thumb, most commonly of the left hand, as in mnemonic digital counting above. In some other Classic texts the numerical dot 1, hun, is replaced by hun the index, most commonly of the right hand, as in the digital counting display recounted above. In Terminal Classic through Early Colonial painted texts the numerical dot 1, hun, is ornamented with a circle of dots to become T582, usually interpreted as mo'o, 'parrot', from depictions of its gooseflesh areola and eye. Yet, illuminations accompanying these texts suggest an additional interpretation of T582 as im, 'breast', from depictions of its gooseflesh areola and nipple. Mother's breast feeds one first is a logical extension of 1, hun, as a syncope of ah uh, 'many spike, lizard', huh, great lizard, lizard, mother earth, ah uh, great
spike, crescent moon, pointed breast big moon, full moon, full breast, full term pregnacy', and nah, 'mother, family, pedigree, source, origin, home, sheath'.
Wax, Kib, T575-578, the twentieth day, is commonly identified as a depiction of a rolled ball or candle of 'beeswax'.
Shell, huc represents Cipher "0" and "holds" empty positions, (Rafinesque 1832 in Berlin 1985:146; Brasseur de Bourbourg 1864; Pousse 1884). In numerous examples shell is displayed in end view as T575-578. In other examples shell is shown in side view as T210, huc, 'shell, husk, rind, empty, void, spent, exhausted, negated, nullified'.
Neck, k'al, is also employed for counting by twenties k'al-ob. The digits are employed as in counting the twenty units above except that they are held against the neck k'al to indicate a count of twenties k'al-ob intead of ones hun-ob. On many initial series inscriptions, the Baktun and some of the K'atun birds bear hands at the neck, the fingers of which make gestures and signs indicating such a count by twenties at the neck.
Net, kab, is also employed for cipher, T173, kan, 'hammack', sabukan, 'the merchant's net bag', and the hunter's or fisher's net kan for the four directional food drives. The peculiar outline of the net also represents the processional pattern of Maya year end ceremonies. This sign is also often identified in Aryan literature as 'completion', although it should be observed that the net is always shown 'empty'.
"C" Fillers were popular in Classic Maya texts and may derive from simplified versions of T683 ah uh crescent moon, as archetypal, kat, vessel, empty, want, lack, desire, long'.
"X" Fillers became popular in Late Classic times, with most Terminal Classic through Early Colonial texts employing them exclusively in Maya glyphic writings. "X" Fillers are most probably derived from a play on, kat, '+, cross, care, x, bind, marry, love' and kat, 'vessel, empty, want, lack, desire, long'.
Cardinal Numbers appear without a postfix, bolon,"nine". Cardinal numerals are common on stone monuments from all over the Maya Area.
Ordinal Numbers take the postfix T87 te, ce, bolon-te,"ninth". Ordinal numerals are common on Late Classic stone monument texts in the Central Area as well as Late Classic and Postclassic texts in the Northern Area.
Posessive Numbers take the postfix T51, pac, bolon pac, 'behind, nine behind'. T51 may be related to T116, -al, el, il, ol, ul, bol-on-ol, 'nine's, nineness of or nine of', in the books of Chilam Balam. Posessive numerals are common on stone monuments from all over the Maya Area although they almost disappear from Late Classic texts in the Central Area.
Its Name (Handle, Identity) may be monosyllabic, disyllabic or trysyllabic. Various writers have discussed the Maya forms of the twenty spirit names and their possible significance in mythological terms. It has been suggested that the names "derived from important stages in the cultivation of maize" (Cordy 1931:137; Knorosov 1982:11). Others believed that the twenty spirits "did not represent the abstract ideas of darkness, death, and storm, but gods who were closely connected therewith or had dominion over them" (Thompson 1950:69). This study does not pretend to know what the days 'derived from' or 'did not represent'. Regardless, the names are handles with which one can sieze the attention of of the holy spirit.
Monosyllabic Names of the twenty spirits correspond to single syllable "words" while disyllabic and trisyllabic names correspond to brief multisyllabic "compounds". These words and compounds can be interpreted with the aid of a dictionary to unfold the meaning(s) of the names, which in most cases are also employed in everyday speech. Nonetheless, some of these proper names have lost their ritual meanings or have fallen out of use as common words. Such names are now understood only through sound play or re-analysis on the basis of similarities with other words (Roys 1933, Tedlock 1982, Edmonson 1986). The Maya names may also be interpreted in metathesis (Tedlock 1982, Porter 1984).
Its Hue refers to the color(s) associated with a particular day and or its presiding spirit. For example Kaban is always red, Ez'nab is always white, Kauak is always black and Ahau is always yellow. However, the remaining 16 day spirits have two or more colors, depending on whether one counts them by fives or fours, or mixes colors:
Symbolic Day Signs are not true abstractions as the name might suggest. Usually "symbolic" glyphs depict real-world objects, both natural and artificial. Where these objects have not been identified, the fault lies more with Aryan scholarship than with Maya artistry. To better illustrate the clear relationship between the twenty day signs and the twenty portrait numerals, day signs are listed in order, beginning with the seventeenth (Goodman 1897:53).
The Portrait, 'Face', Form of day signs provides another conceptual origin for the cartouche which commonly surrounds the twenty spirits' glyphs during the Classic Period. Ceramic vessels containing a severed head are common features in Maya Iconography and also turn up as offerings excavated at Maya sites. In this treatment of the day sign, T125 the three-part day sign subfix represents the three ceramic feet of a tripod vessel or the three stone supports of a vessel with a plain base.
Portrait Day Signs usually depict standardized youthful, adult, mature, skeletal or masked human portrait types as well as some faunal types. These portraits are also related to the portrait numerals (Goodman 1897:53-63). Therefore, the portraits of the day signs are listed in order, beginning with the seventeenth, for easier comparison with the corresponding numeral forms (Goodman 1897:53). This numeral to day sign portrait correspondence is not exact. The twenty day signs are divided into one series of thirteen and a second series of seven. Thus, Portrait day signs from Kaban through Muluk correspond to portrait numerals from Hun through Ox-lahun. The correspondence then shifts with Portrait day signs Ok through Kib corresponding to portrait numerals from Hun through Uuk.
The patterns themselves probably varied considerably depending on the lineage and purpose of the diviner, which would explain why it is so difficult, if not impossible, to identify one single 'master pattern' based on existing sources (Thompson 1950:88-94). Some patterns are based on the concept of sequential low, middle and high number, (here represented by blue, yellow and red), like a Quiche pattern in which numbers 1-5 are considered 'weak/bad', 6-8 are considered 'indifferent', 9-13 are considered 'strong/good' or a Yucatec pattern in which numbers 1-6 are considered 'weak/low/bad', 7 is considered 'indifferent' and 8-13 are considered 'strong/high/good'. Other patterns are based on significant number sequences like the 13,7,1 pattern. However most surviving documents record more complex patterns which appear to represent combinations of various possible patterns such as those found in The Tisimin, The Mani, The Perez and Other Colonial Texts.
The Origin of the Sacred Round in some natural cycle has been sought by Aryan Mayanists for quite some time. Recent research among Modern Maya bearers of the Sacred Round has revealed a correspondence to human gestation which is difficult to ignore (Shultze Jena 1954, Tedlock 1982:93, Earle 1983, Earle and Snow 1985:241-244). This new data shows the Maya Sacred Round is "quintessentially human in orientation, not only with regard to birth but also in relation to the cycles of destiny that constitute life, and that address those forces which bring life to its eventual termination." (Earle and Snow 1985:243).
The Name(s) of the Sacred Round remain unknown today. For this reason, a variety of invented terms have come into use. Some terms, like Tonal Amatle, 'Day Book', are borrowings from Aztec. Other terms, like Zol K'in, 'Arrangement of Days', and Buk Xok, 'permutation table', may actually refer to the physical object 'calendar'. Still other terms Xok K'in, 'Count of Days', are Maya terms for the actual counting or reading of calendars. Nonetheless, there are a variety of other Maya terms which may identify the Sacred Round.
Uinal, moon of birth, beaded, swelling, rotund, uin is not glossed in the Colonial dictionaries as a distinct morpheme. However, the glosses of several compound words employing uin, eg. uinik' "person", suggest a close relationship with "order, similitude and person" in addition to "month of twenty days". Al, on the other hand has several important recorded meanings, "love, birth, pain, heavy, serious, speech". It is not surprising that a ritual cycle so closely linked to the gestation of human individuals would also be implicated in the creation of the world. A passage from the book of Cilam Balam of Cumayel illustrates this concept, employing mnemonic word play to illustrate the role of Uinal, the Sacred Round, in the ordering of the world.
Cuen has also been employed as a name for the Sacred Round, based on the identity of its glyph and the glyph of the eleventh of the twenty day spirits, Cuen. Cuen-el is used in the Book of Cilam Balamof Kaua as a proper name of the 20 day month. Also, Cuen is the initiation day for both calendar diviners and priests (Tedlock 1980).
Ix Cel, 'Little Tree, Ms. Bush', is associated with the conceptually vegetative processes of pregnancy and childbirth according to Landa because the midwives, "the sorceresses, . . . put under their beds an idol of a goddess called Ix Cel, whom they said was the goddess of making children" (Tozzer 1941:129). In addition to its more obvious sexual references, "Little Tree, Ms. Bush" is a likely metaphoric reference to the placenta and umbilicus, which together resemble an uprooted bush or squash vine with the infant as its "fruit". The newborn also embodies the "face" or "eye" (personality) and receives the mnemonic of the day of the Sacred Round on which it is both conceived and born. Subsequently the destiny of the individual is inextricably linked with his or her day in the Sacred Round. This 'Name Day' is conceptually identical to Roman Catholic naming practices,
Ihik'-il Ix Cel "Engender breath of Little Tree", the name of a ceremony for sanctifying lots employed in calendar divination, asserts the patronage of "Little Tree" over the divining bundle and by extension the Sacred Round (Porter 1988). Because each of the days of the Sacred Round bears an ic, usually translated "face" or "eye" but also meaning "fruit", it is not surprising that "Little Tree" should be involved with the Sacred Round. Iz am na, "Wise Lot Mother", Cit Bolon Tun "Father Chaste Seed" and Ahau Cam Ah Es "Opener Pudenda Enchanter, Spirit of Altar Enchanter". Other powers named in "Engender breath of Little Tree" are also related to the themes of wisdom and parenthood.
Bolon ti K'u, Ox-lahun ti K'u "Nine in the Womb and Thirteen in the Womb" are also associated with the period from conception to birth throughout a series of Maya ritual texts (Roys 1965). Among some Modern Maya groups, the period of pregnancy is called "Nine withholdings", meaning nine lunar months of 29-30 days during which menstrual blood is "withheld" by the archetypal woman, the moon (Neuenswander 1981). The Maya phrases "one of nine moons" or "one of nine stars" also mean "human" in some Guatemalan Maya languages (Schultze Jena 1954:74).
This documentation suggests that both the period of human gestation and the Sacred Round were counted in "moons". The period of human gestation was counted as nine "moons" of 29-30 day menstrual cycles and the Sacred Round was counted as thirteen "moons" of 20 Day Spirit cycles. This conceptual parallelism is reflected in the literary pairing of bolon ti k'u, "ninth nest", the completion of all nine 29-30 day months of a pregnancy and ox-lahun ti k'u "thirteenth nest", the completion of all thirteen 20 day "months" of a Sacred Round.
Symbolic Month Signs are usually constructed from a variety of main signs and affixes.
Portrait Month Signs usually depict a combination of standardized youthful, adult, mature, skeletal or masked human portrait types as well as some faunal types. These glyphs also combine portrait and symbolic modes, with main signs appearing in portrait form and affixes generally appearing in symbolic form.
