Aids to the study of the Maya codices / by Cyrus Thomas.

  • Cyrus Thomas
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Aids to the study of the Maya codices / by Cyrus Thomas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    first as though, placed at the end of it, the third following the second, and so on to the end of the eighteenth. Whether or not it was the ancient custom to include the 5 added days in the year, as asserted by the old Spanish writers, is somewhat doubtful, at least in study- ing the Dresden Codex, we shall find but few occasions, if any, to use them, for there are few if any positive indications in this codex that they were added. As stated, each column of the table forms a month, though the numbering is carried to thirteen only; but at present the chief object in view in presenting it is to use it in explaining the method of count- ing the days and the intervals of time. The table is in truth a con- tinuous series, and it is to be understood as though the 365 days were written in one column, thus: 1. Kan. 2. Chicchan. 3. Cimi. 4. Manik. 5. Lamat. 6. Muluc. 7. Oc. 8. Chuen. 9. Eb. 10. Been. 11. Ix. 12. Men. 13. Cib. 1. Caban. 2. Ezanab, &c., the 20 days being repeated over and over in the order in which they stand in the table. This order is never changed; we may com- mence at whatever point in the series occasion may require, but the order here given must always be maintained, just as in our cal- endar the order of our days is always Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, &c. In other words, Chicchan must always follow Kan, Cimi must al- ways follow Chicchan, &c. The method of counting intervals in the Maya calendar is very simple, if these explanations are borne in mind, and may be illus- trated thus: Counting 14 days from 1 Kan — the first day of the year given in Table I —brings us to 2 Ezanab (the day we count from being excluded); 12 days more bring us to 1 Oc, in the second column of our table; 17 days more to 5 Manik, in the third column; and 17 days more to 9 Kan, in the fourth column. The number of the day required is readily ascertained by adding together the number of the day counted from and the number of days to be counted, casting out the thirteens when the sum exceeds this number (excepting where the remainder is thirteen); thus: 1 + 14 — 13=2, the number of the day Ezanab given above. So 1 + 14+12 — 13—13=1, the number of the day Oc, second column, Table I; and 1 + 14+12 + 17+17- 13- 13 — 13—13=9, the number of the day