Incidents of Travel in Yucatan Volume I Part 20

Manik. Eb. Caban. Yk.

Lamat. Been. Edznab. Akbal.

As those names corresponded in number with the days of the month, it followed that, the name of the first day of the year being known, the names of the first days of all the successive months were equally known; and they were distinguished from each other only by adding the number of the week to which they respectively belonged. But the week consisting of thirteen days, the month necessarily consisted of a week and seven days; so that if the month began with the first number of a week, it ended with the seventh number of the week ensuing.

[In order to know the number of the week corresponding with the first day of each month respectively, it is necessary only to know the number of the week with which the year begins, and to add successively seven, but subtracting thirteen whenever the sum of this addition exceeds thirteen, which gives the following series for the first days of the eighteen months: 1, 8, 2 (15-13), 9, 3 (16-13), 10, 4, 11, 5, 12, 6, 13, 7, 1, 8, 2, 9, 3, supposing the first day of the year to be the first day of the week, and generally taking for the first number of the series the number of the week by which the year begins.]

4. _The Year._

To this day the Indians call the year _Jaab_ or _Haab_, and, while heathens, they commenced it on the 16th of July. It is worthy of notice that their progenitors, having sought to make it begin from the precise day on which the sun returns to the zenith of this peninsula on his way to the southern regions, but being dest.i.tute of instruments for their astronomical observations, and guided only by the naked eye, erred only forty-eight hours in advance. That small difference proves that they endeavoured to determine, with the utmost attainable correctness, the day on which the luminary pa.s.sed the most culminating point of our sphere, and that they were not ignorant of the use of the gnomon in the most tempestuous days of the rainy season.

They divided the year into 18 months, as follows:

1st, Pop, beginning on the 16th of July.

2d, Uoo, beginning on the 5th of August.

3d, Zip, beginning on the 25th of August.

4th, Zodz, beginning on the 14th of September.

5th, Zeec, beginning on the 4th of October.

6th, Xul, beginning on the 24th of October.

7th, Dze-yaxkin, beginning on the 13th of November, 8th, Mol, beginning on the 3d of December.

9th, Dchen, beginning on the 23d of December.

10th, Yaax, beginning on the 12th of January.

11th, Zac, beginning on the 1st of February.

12th, Quej, beginning on the 21st of February, 13th, Mac, beginning on the 13th of March.

14th, Kankin, beginning on the 2d of April.

15th, Moan, beginning on the 22d of April.

16th, Pax, beginning on the 12th of May.

17th, Kayab, beginning on the 1st of June.

18th, c.u.mku, beginning on the 21st of June.

As the 18 months of 20 days each contained but 360 days, and the common year consists of 365, five supplementary days were added at the end of each year, which made part of no month, and which, for that reason, Neg. Name. Days.

they called "days without name," _xona kaba kin_. They called them Year.

also _uayab_ or _uayeb Jaab_; which may be interpreted two different ways. The word _uayab_ may be derived from _uay_, which means "bed" or "chamber," presuming that the Indians believed the year to rest during those days; or _uayab_ may equally be derived from another signification of _uay_, viz., to be destroyed, wounded, corroded by the caustic juice of plants, or with ley and other strong liquids. And on this account the Indians feared those days, believing them to be unfortunate, and to carry danger of sudden deaths, plagues, and other misfortunes. For this reason these five days were a.s.signed for the celebration of the feast of the G.o.d _Mam_, "grandfather." On the first day they carried him about, and feasted him with great magnificence; on the second they diminished the solemnity; on the third they brought him down from the altar and placed him in the middle of the temple; on the fourth they put him at the threshold or door; and on the fifth, or last day, the ceremony of taking leave (or dismissal) took place, that the new year might commence on the following day, which is the first of the month _Pop_, corresponding with the 16th of July, as appears by the preceding table. The description of the G.o.d _Mam_ may be seen in Cogolludo.

The division of the year into 18 months of 20 days would have given only the sum of 360 days; and the first day of the year falling on _Kan_, the last would have fallen on _Akbal_, so as to begin again the next year with the same _Kan_, making all the years alike. But as, in order to complete the year, they added five days, the result was that the year which commenced in _Kan_ ended in _Lamat_, the last of the first series of five days; the ensuing year commenced in _Muluc_, the first of the second series of five days; the third commenced in _Gix_, the first of the third series; and the fourth in _Cauac_ (the first ending in _Akbal_), the last of the fourth series of five days; so that the fifth year again began with _Kan_. It has also been stated that the year consisted of 28 weeks of 13 days each, and of one additional day; so that, if the year commenced with the number one of the week, it ended with the same number, and the ensuing year began with number two; and so on through the thirteen numbers of the week, thus forming, with the four initial days, the week of years, or indiction, of which we shall speak hereafter.

The following is the order of the twenty days in each of the 18 months composing the years formed by the four initial days together with the intercalary or complementary days.

Year beginning Year beginning with the day with the day Year of Year of _Kan_. _Muluc_. _Gix._ _Cauac._

Kan. Muluc. Gix. Cauac.

Chicchan. Oc. Men. Ajau.

Quimi. Chuen. Quib. Ymix.

Manik. Eb. Caban. Yk.

Lamat. Ben. Edznab. Akbal.

Muluc. Gix. Cauac. Kan.

Oc. Men. Ajau. Chicchan.

Chuen. Quib. Ymix. Quimi.

Eb. Caban. Yk. Manik.

Ben. Edznab. Akbal. Lamat.

Gix. Cauac. Kan. Muluc.

Men. Ajau. Chicchan. Oc.

Quib. Ymix. Quimi. Chuen.

Caban. Yk. Manik. Eb.

Edznab. Akbal. Lamat. Ben.

Cauac. Kan. Muluc. Gix.

Ajau. Chicchan. Oc. Men.

Ymix. Quimi. Chuen. Quib.

Yk. Manik. Eb. Caban.

Akbal. Lamat. Ben. Edznab.

_Intercalary _Intercalary _Intercalary _Intercalary days._ days._ days._ days._ Kan. Muluc. Gix. Cauac.

Chicchan. Oc. Men. Ajau.

Quimi. Chuen. Quib. Ymix.

Manik. Eb. Caban. Yk.

Lamat. Ben. Edznab. Akbal.

5. _The Biss.e.xtile._

The connexion between the days or numbers of the week which designate the beginning of the year, and the four initial or first days of the series of five, is so intimate that it is very difficult to intercalate an additional day for the biss.e.xtile, without disturbing that correlative order of the initials which is constantly followed in the denomination of the years, and forms their indictions, or weeks. But as the biss.e.xtile is necessary to complete the solar course, and as I have not any certain knowledge of the manner in which the Indians effected that addition, I will exhibit the method adopted by the Mexicans, their computation being very a.n.a.logous to that of Yucatan, which in its origin probably emanated from Mexico.

Veyta a.s.serts, in ch. x. of his "Historia Antigua de Mexico," that the biss.e.xtile was made by adding at the end either of the 18 months or of the five supplementary days, a day which was marked with the same hieroglyphic as the one preceding, but with a different number of the week, viz., with the succeeding number. But in each way that numerical order by which the years follow each other till they form the week of years, is disturbed; since the fifth year would thus be designated by the number 6 instead of 5, and the regular order of the years 4 to 6 be thereby interrupted. These interruptions, recurring every fourth year, would render it impossible to preserve that continuous harmony (on which rests the whole system of the Indian computation) between the numbers of the week which designate the ending year and its successor, as shown in the uniform succession of the four initial days.

In order to prevent that inconvenience, it is necessary to suppose that the Indians, whether they intercalated the additional day at the end of the 18 months or after the five supplementary days, did not only give to it the same number and hieroglyphic as to the day immediately preceding, but also designated it by some peculiar sign or number, in order that it might not be confounded with any other.

In a treatise published by Akerman, the opinion is expressed that the Indians, at the end of their cycle of 52 years, added a week of days in lieu of the biss.e.xtile days which had been neglected. This method has not the defect of disturbing the numerical order of the years, but that of deranging the series of the four initial days, which, as has been stated, gives designation to the years. It will be seen by the table of indictions, that each cycle consists of four complete weeks of years, formed by series of each one of the four initial signs, each week of years commencing with number one and ending with number thirteen; consequently, if, at the end of each cycle, a week of days be added, the first day of the ensuing year would be the 14th in the series of the 20 days of the month (instead of being the 1st, 6th, 11th, or 16th), thus abandoning the regular series of the four initial days, and subst.i.tuting others, changing them again at each new cycle.

6. _Katun, or Cycle._

The Indians made (painted) a small wheel, in which they placed the four hieroglyphics of the initial days, _Kan_ in the east, _Muluc_ in the north, _Gix_ in the west, and _Cauac_ in the south, to be counted in that order. Some suppose that when the fourth year was accomplished, and _Kan_ was again in order, a _Katun_ or l.u.s.tre of four years, was completed; others, that three revolutions of the wheel, with its four signs, were reckoned, with one (sign) more, which made 13 years, and that this completed the _Katun_; others, again, that the four complete weeks of years, or indictions, const.i.tuted the _Katun_; and this is probable. Besides the small wheel aforesaid, they made another great wheel, which they also called _buk xoc_ and in which they placed three revolutions of the four signs of the small wheel, making 12 signs; beginning to count by the first _Kan_, and continuing to reckon all until the fourth naming of the same Kan, which was included, thus making thirteen years, and forming one indiction, or week (of years); the second reckoning began with _Muluc_, ending in the same, which formed the next thirteen; and so on, till they came to Cauac, which formed a Katun.

7. _Of the Indiction and Cycle of 52 Years, or Katun._

As in the preceding explanations sufficient idea has been given of what const.i.tuted the indiction and the cycle of 52 years, called by the Indians _Katun_, the facts are briefly recapitulated here, that the reader may not be fatigued hereafter with new explanations.

1st. The name of indiction is given to each one of the four weeks of years composing the cycle of 52 years.

2d. The American week was formed by the course of 13 numbers, applied indiscriminately to the 20 days of the month.

3d. It has been explained, that as the year was formed of 26 weeks and one day, by this overplus the years succeeded each other, following the correlative order of their numbers up to 13, in order to form a week, or indiction; for if the year had been composed of exactly 28 weeks, the numbers of the new years would never have formed a correlative week, because they would have commenced with the number 1, and finished with 13; by the other method, one year begins with the first, and terminates in the same; the second year commences with the number 2 and also finishes with it; and so on successively, until the 13 are completed.

4d. It has also been explained that the Indians, seeing that 18 months of 20 days did not make up the sum of 365, in order to complete them added five days more; resulting from this, the 20 days were divided into four portions, and the first of each of these, being _Kan_, _Muluc_, _Gix_, and _Cauac_, became initials, forming in turn the beginning of the years by courses of four years, every fifth year commencing again with Kan. But as the weeks were composed of 13 numbers, there were in each week three revolutions of the four initials and one initial more, by this excess of one causing each initial to have its own week: thus the indiction, or week, which began with _Kan_ concluded also with the same _Kan_; so that the next indiction might commence with _Muluc_, the second initial, and in its turn conclude with the same _Muluc_; and so on continually, until each one of the initials had formed its own indiction, or week, and given to it its name; the whole composing 52 years, which is the sum of the four weeks of 13 years each, as may be seen in the following table.

_Order of the years in the cycle of 52, divided into four indictions, or weeks of years, and as the year 1841 happens to be the first of one of these cycles, it is taken as the starting-point._

|----------------|----------------|-----------------|---------------- | 1st indiction | 2d indiction | 3d indiction | 4th indiction |----------------|----------------|-----------------|---------------- |1841 1. Kan. |1854 1. Muluc. |1867, 1. Gix. |1880, 1. Cauac.

|1842, 2. Muluc. |1855, 2. Gix. |1868, 2. Cauac. |1881, 2. Kan.