Cyrus Thomas

“ They painted her holding in one hand a spinning-wheel and in the other a certain wooden instrument with which they weave; and in order to show that of the sons which women bring forth, some are slaves and others die in war, and others in poverty, they paint her with a stream, as if carrying them away, so that, whether rich or poor, all were finally doomed to perish. ”

“ Where it extends over upon the next page or plate, it is always to be understood that the one which precedes is to have its left margin placed to the right margin of that which follows, and that the day column at the left of a division refers to all that stand to the right of it, when thus placed, until another day column is reached. In order to make this clear, let me illustrate by an example. On the middle division of Plate V we find a day column with two figures to the right of it. Turning to Plate IV, we find other figures of a similar character, but no day column. ”

“ I have reserved until now a discussion of the description of the Maya writing presented in the well-known work of Diego de Landa, the second bishop of Yucatan. Landa arrived in the province in August, 1549, and died in April, 1579, having passed most of the intervening thirty years there in the discharge of his religious duties. He became well acquainted with the language, which, for that matter, is a comparatively easy one, and though harsh, illiberal, and bitterly fanatic, he paid a certain amount of attention to the arts, religion, and history of the ancient inhabitants. ”

“ The left group may possibly signify that out of the earth (represented by the head in the lower left-hand corner) springs the tree (denoted by the curved beam with Cauac characters upon it) ; that it finally produces a god (the figure at the top) to which the people and priests offer incense and viands. If this be the true interpretation it is a severe satire upon their worship, and reminds us strongly of the sarcasm of the prophet Isaiah on the religion of the idolaters of his day.
The group to the right is possibly a figurative representation of a similar idea. ”

“ Leaving this last out of consideration for the present, let us proceed upon the supposition that the black numeral signifies the day of the month. Examining our condensed calendar (Table V) , we see that of the five days Ezanab is the only one that ever falls on the 15th of the month. As this will be found true of at least two columns out of every three throughout the Manuscript it is apparent that these numerals are not used here for this purpose; but even could all be found on the proper day of the month we would still be without any fixed date. ”

“ But the serpent may be used here only as the symbol of the cycle and the coils may have no particular signification; still I think they do have, as there are two to each on the Codex plates, and that they denote the two halves of the cycle. Landa mentions the fact that the two halves of the Ahau were specially noted by the Indians.
It is possible that on the Codex each serpent represents the series of years of one dominical day included in one cycle; that is to say, one column of a cycle as given in the previous tables. ”

“ It is surprising that any scholar should ever have thought so. It would be an exception, even a contradiction, to the history of the evolution of human intelligence to find such an alphabet among nations of the stage of cultivation of the Mayas or Aztecs.
The severest criticism which Landa's figures have met has been from the pen of the able antiquary. Dr. Phillip J. J. Valentini. He discovered that many of the sounds of the Spanish alphabet were represented by signs or pictures of objects whose names in the Maya begin with that sound. ”

“ After this ceremony they feasted upon all the offerings and presents of food, drinking the wine after their custom, as usual, until they had consumed it all. This was their feast of the new year, and the solemnity with which they believed themselves to render it perfectly agreeable to their idols. During the month Pop, there were also some of the most devout men who continued to celebrate this feast with their friends, such as the nobles and priests, they being, before others, always the first in the rejoicings and festivities. ”

“ A little careful study of this subject will suffice to convince any one at all acquainted with this calendar that by simply knowing the number and name of the last intercalated day of any year will be sufficient to enable him to determine what year of the cycle it is If he forgets the key he can easily find it by the continued subtraction of 4, commencing with 1 3, adding 1 3 when the number to be subtracted from is 4 or less than 4. The only thing necessary to be remembered is that the years Cauac, Kan, Muluc, Ix terminate, respectively, with the days Akbal, Lamat, Ben, and Ezanab. ”

“ A.—The first day of Pop commenced the first month of these Indians; it was the first day of their new year and of a very solemn feast with them; for it was general, all took part in it and all the people assembled to feast in honor of their gods. In order to celebrate it with greater ostentation, they renewed on this day the articles which they made use of, such as dishes, cups, pedestals, baskets, old cloths, and stuffs with which they covered their idols. ”

“ Ixkan-Leox was the name of a female divinity supposed to be the spouse of Zamna; the signification of the name, according to Brasseur, is "Celle de la fronde jaune aux grains de mais"; in other words, the "silk." In the upper division of Plate 19 (Codex) is the figure of a woman bearing the same characters on her back, one above another, as on the Manuscript plate. Just behind her is the figure of a man or male deity, which I judge from the long beard to be Kukulcan, or Zamna, bearing on his back the same two characters. ”

“ When the time arrived, the nobles and the priest elected the chief who should celebrate the feast. This done, they modeled, as in the preceding year, the image of the idol called Chac-u-Uayeyah, and carried it to the heap of stones at the eastern side, where they had left it the year before. They made a statue of the god called Kinch-Ahau, which they placed in a suitable spot in the house of the chief; then, from there, setting out by a road neatly swept and ornamented, they returned together with their accustomed devotion to the statue of Chac-u-Uayeyab. ”

“ If we turn now to Table XVII, made according to my theory, we find that 7 Cauac of the 8th Ahau is the year 1435, and that by adding-the 43 years—the number Perez has antedated the death of Ajpula—all the dates agree substantially, and also drop into their proper places in the Maya Calendar.
As the authorities to whom Perez refers obtained their information from the Indians, the date was as a matter of course given according to the Maya method of reckoning time; hence the "year 7 Cauac and 8th Ahau" are most likely to be correct. ”

“ We are now prepared to discuss the question presented as to whether the numerals and day characters found so frequently in connection with each other are simply dates, somewhat as we find them in our ordinary calendars, or not. The first point to be determined is whether these day characters are used simply to denote days, or because of the signification of the words, as Brasseur supposed. This, as will be readily perceived, also involves the important question as to whether Landa was correct in his statement, that they were the symbols or characters used to denote days. ”

“ Besides the feast which they made to the god U-uayeyab, by right of which alone they went out from home, they solemnized especially these five days, seldom quitting their houses, except to present, besides the offerings made in public, different trifles to their gods in the other temples. They never afterwards employed, for their particular use, the bagatelles which they offered to the idols, but they bought the incense which they burned with it. They neither combed nor washed themselves during these days; neither men nor women cleansed themselves. ”

“ After we have carried this comparison to its utmost extent the number of cases where we find such resemblances in form where there is a similarity in sound are so few, compared with those in which we do not, that we are forced to abandon, at least to a great extent, the attempt to decipher the writings of the Manuscript by the use of these letter characters upon the theory that they are phonetic. I say "to a great extent," because, as we have seen, there is some evidence that phonetic elements were introduced to a limited degree. ”

“ We know much more about the ancient civilization of Mexico than of Yucatan; we have many more Aztec than Maya Manuscripts, and hence we are more at a loss to speak with positiveness about the Maya system of writing than about the Mexican. We must depend on the brief and unsatisfactory statements of the early Spanish writers, and on what little modern research has accomplished, for means to form a correct opinion ”

“ The females and god of death figured on Plate XP appear to be weaving, or making ropes. The figures themselves indicate this so plainly as to leave no doubt in my mind in reference to it. Moreover, some of the written characters, as I think, correspond with this interpretation. It is probable the figures are also symbolic representations of human life. The female figure, I presume, is intended to represent the goddess Ixchel, who, in addition to her other powers or attributes, was supposed to preside over the formation and birth of infants. ”

“ I am pretty well satisfied from some things observable in the Manuscript Troano that it recognizes Cauac as the dominical day of the first year of the Ahaues.
First. The order of the four plates XX-XXIII, which refer exclusively to the four dominical days. That Brasseur has paged these plates in exactly the reverse order to what they should be, I think is evident from the following facts: As now paged they bring these days in the following order: Ix, Muluc, Kan, Cauac, exactly the reverse of that in which they come in the calendar. This alone is sufficient to cause us to suspect a reversal. ”

“ As the reader will find the characteristics and symbols, and also a very reasonable and probably correct interpretation of these given at length by Bancroft in his Native Races, I will omit the mention of them here. I only add that here we see the feathers, the shield, the snake belt, the arrows and spear, and everything, even to the attitude, that betokens a warlike deity. The accompanying serpent, which here clearly denotes a cloud, is not wanting; the rain pours down in fearful torrents, and on each side is the death symbol. ”

“ The year is therefore 9 Kan. We next find Oc in the Muluc column, and by the same process obtain the year 1 Muluc. Next we find Oc in the Ix column, and by the same process ascertain the year to be 12 Ix.
Pursuing the same method with the other days, we obtain the following result:
Now, let us construct a table (No. VIII) of years for one cycle, as this includes all possible variations in the numbers and names of the years, and see where those obtained will fall. Marking each of the years with a star, we find that they belong to one continuous period. ”

“ It is true that "Ahau Katun" is sometimes used as equivalent to "Ahau," but this is very rarely, if ever, found in the few Maya documents that remain to us. The true rendering appears to be "Grand or Great Cycle," as given in the 9th line of Nahau Pech's prophecy. If this interpretation, which is that given by Abbe Brasseur, is the correct one, we then find here the number of one of the great cycles. To suppose that the number here refers to the Ahau will carry this prophecy back to the year 1470-'71, which is improbable. ”

“ So long as they are withheld from the examination of scientific men they can add nothing to the general stock of knowledge, and as statements about them are not verifiable it is useless to make any. I may merely say that there are two in Europe and two or three in Mexico, which, from the descriptions I have heard or read of them, I think are probably of Maya origin.
In addition to the Manuscripts, we have the mural paintings and inscriptions found at Palenque, Copan, Chichen Itza, and various ruined cities within the boundaries of the Maya-speaking races. ”

“ The figures in the lower division of the first two I think indicate the formation or commencement of the storm. We see in both a young or small serpent, which, I think, is here the symbol of a cloud. That on Plate XXV is a rattlesnake, indicating its deadly character, as does also the death symbol near by. The apron of the great, robust female is cross-hatched—which here may signify Zih, "origin" or "birth"—and denote that the serpent, which is issuing from behind it, is in process of birth. ”

“ Brasseur de Bourbourg has designated the day columns "legends," believing them to contain a summary of what is written, or represented by the figures in the compartments to which they severally belong. That they are characters representing the Maya days he admitted, but as the names of these characters have each one or more significations, it was his belief that they were used to express this signification, and not simply as the names of days. ”

“ When the conquest was an accomplished fact and the priests had got the upper hand, the natives did not dare use their ancient characters. They exposed themselves to the suspicion of heresy and the risk of being burnt alive, as more than once happened. But their strong passion for literature remained, and they gratified it as far as they dared by writing in their own tongue with the Spanish alphabet volumes whose contents are very similar to those described by Landa (above, page xxvi) . ”

“ If it had been impossible to obtain large animals, such as tigers, lions, and alligators, they represented the hearts of these by incense; but if they had them, they tore out their hearts also and put them in the fire. As soon as all the hearts were consumed, the Chacs extinguished the fire with the water in the pitcher.
The object of this sacrifice and of the feast following was, also, to obtain an abundance of water for their crops during the year. ”

“ I call attention to the fact that both these periods commence with a Muluc year, which would render it impossible for the commencement or ending of an Ahau, if these are Ahaues, to coincide with the commencement or ending of a cycle or grand cycle. If we suppose the Ahau to contain twenty-four years, and the periods marked on Table X to omit two years at the commencement and two at the close; in other words, extend the upper and lower lines bounding the groups, across the table, we will then have no difficulty in making all the periods agree with each other and with the cycles. ”

“ We will next proceed on the supposition that these indicate the months. In that case the dates given in the present example will be 9 Oc, 9 Ik, 9 Ix, 9 Cimi, and 9 Ezanab of the 15th month (Muan) . In this the feast, religious ceremony, or whatever the date refers to, occurs always in the same month, and so far agrees with what is left on record in reference to religious ceremonies and observances. As only the day and month are given, it is possible, as heretofore stated, to find four dates to each day. ”

“ I may be permitted to remark in this connection that in all the attempts to decipher these documents which have thus far been made, one very essential part of Landa's statement has been too lightly passed over, and not sufficiently considered. Speaking of the Maya writing, he says: "The people made use of certain characters or letters with which they wrote down in their books their ancient affairs and their sciences, and by means of these and by certain figures, and by particular signs in these figures, they understood their affairs, made others understand them, and taught them." ”