Chapter II: Part 2

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_.

_The Gods of Evil._—In contrast to the beneficent deities were those who presided over war, disease, death, and the underworld. Distinctively war gods were _Uac Lom Chaam_, “He whose teeth are six lances,” worshipped anciently at Ti-ho, the present Mérida; _Ahulane_, “The Archer,” painted holding an arrow, whose shrine was on the island of Cozumel; _Pakoc_ (from _paakal_, to frighten) and _Hex Chun Chan_, “The dangerous one,” divinities of the Itzaes; _Kak u pacat_, “Fire (is) his face,” who is said to have carried in battle a shield of fire; _Ah Chuy Kak_, “He who works in fire,” that is, for destruction; _Ah Cun Can_, “The serpent charmer,” also worshipped at Ti-Ho; _Hun Pic Tok_, “He of 8000 lances,” who had a temple at Chichen Itza.

Chief of all these evil beings was the God of Death. His name is preserved in the first account we have of Yucatecan mythology, that by Father Hernandez, and, according to Father Lara, it was the same among the Tzentals, Maya, _Ah-puch_, Tzental, _Pucugh_. These words mean “the Undoer,” or “Spoiler,” apparently a euphemism to avoid pronouncing a name of evil omen.[56] In modern Maya he is plain _Yum cimil_, “lord of death.” He was painted as a skeleton with bare skull, and was then called _Chamay Bac_, or _Zac Chamay Bac_, “white teeth and bones.”[57]

The spirit (_pixan_) after death was supposed to go to the Underworld, which was called _Mitna_, or _Metna_ where presided the god _Xibilba_ or _Xabalba_, sometimes called _Hun Ahau_, “the One lord,” for to his realm must all come at last.[58] Another name for this Hades was _tancucula_ (perhaps _tan kukul_, “before the gods,” _i. e._, where one is judged), which is given by the _Dicc. Motul_ as an “ancient word” (vocablo antiguo). The happy souls then passed to a realm of joy, where they spent their time under the great green tree _Yaxche_, while those who were condemned sank down to a place of cold and hunger.

_The Conflict of the Gods._—Between these two classes of deities—those who make for good and those who make for evil in the life of man—there is, both in the myths and in the picture writings, an eternal conflict.

In the Codex Troano, as Dr. Seler remarks, “The god of death appears as the inevitable foil of the god of light and heaven. In whatever action the latter is depicted, the god of death is imitating it, but in such a manner that with him all turns to nought and emptiness. Where the light-god holds the string, in the hands of the death-god it is torn asunder; where the former offers incense, the latter carries the sign of ‘fire’ wherewith to consume it; where the former presents the sign _kan_, food, the latter lifts an empty vase bearing the signs of drought and death.”

2. _The Cosmogony of the Mayas._

We know practically nothing of the cosmogony of the Mayas; but it is instructive in connection with their calendar system to find that, like the Nahuas, they believed in Epochs of the Universe, at the close of each of which there was a general destruction of both gods and men. The early writer, Aguilar, says that he learned from the native books themselves that they recorded three such periodical cataclysms. The first was called _Mayacimil_, “general death;” the second, _Oc na kuchil_, “the ravens enter the houses,” that is, the inhabitants were all dead; and the third, _Hun yecil_, a universal deluge, a term which the _Dicc. Motul_ seems to explain by mentioning a tradition that the water was so high “that its surface was within the distance of one stalk of maguey from the sky!” Another term for this catastrophe was _bulcabal_, _haycabal_ or _haycabil_ (destruccion, asolamiento y diluvio general con que fué destruido y asolado el mundo. _Dicc. Motul_).

This would make the present the fourth age of the world (not the fifth, as the Nahuas believed); and this corresponds to the prophecies contained in the “Books of Chilan Balam,” which I have quoted in another work. The scene of the creation of man, the “terrestrial Paradise,” was known as _hun anhil_, and the name of the first man was _Anum_, both apparently from the verb _anhel_, to stand erect.

Many of the high calculations of the priests must have been for the purpose of discovering the length of the present epoch and how soon the world would end. They seem to have thought this would take place when all their various time-measures would merge together into a common unity, which each could divide without remainder.[59]

3. _Cosmical Conceptions of the Mayas._

The cosmical conceptions of the ancient Mayas have not hitherto been understood; but by a study of existing documents I believe they can be correctly explained in outline.

One of these is the central design in the Chilan Balam, or Sacred Book, of Mani (Fig. 9). It was copied by Father Cogolludo in 1640, and inserted in his History of Yucatan, with a totally false interpretation which the natives designedly gave him.

The lettering in the above figure is by the late Dr. C. H. Berendt, and was obtained by him from other books of Chilan Balam, and native sources. In Cogolludo’s work, this design is surrounded by thirteen heads which signify the thirteen _ahau katuns_, or greater cycles of years, as I have explained elsewhere.[60] The number thirteen in American mythology symbolizes the thirteen possible directions of space.[61] The border, therefore, expresses the totality of Space and Time; and the design itself symbolizes Life within Space and Time. This is shown as follows: At the bottom of the field lies a cubical block, which represents the earth, always conceived of this shape in Mayan mythology.[62] It bears, however, not the lettering, _lum_, the Earth, as we might expect, but, significantly, _tem_, the Altar. The Earth is the great altar of the Gods, and the offering upon it is Life.

Above the earth-cube, supported on four legs which rest upon the four quarters of the mundane plane, is the celestial vase, _cum_, which contains the heavenly waters, the rains and showers, on which depends the life of vegetation, and therefore that of the animal world as well. Above it hang the heavy rain clouds, _muyal_, ready to fill it; within it grows the _yax che_, the Tree of Life, spreading its branches far upward, on their extremities the flowers or fruit of life, the soul or immortal principle of man, called _ol_ or _yol_.[63]

Turning now to the central design of what has been called the “Tableau of the Bacabs,” in the Codex Cortesianus, Fig. 10, we can readily see in the light of the above explanation that its lesson is the same. The design is surrounded by the signs of the twenty days, beyond which the field (not shown in this cut) is apportioned to the four cardinal points and the deities and time-cycles connected with them.

Again it is Life within Space and Time which the artist presents. The earth is not represented; but we readily recognize in conventionalized form the great Tree of Life, across it the celestial Vase, and above it the cloud-masses. On the right sits Cuculcan, on the left Xmucane, the divine pair called in the _Popol Vuh_ “the Creator and the Former, Grandfather and Grandmother of the race, who give Life, who give Reproduction.”[64] In his right hand Cuculcan holds three glyphs, each containing the sign of Life, _ik_. Xmucane has before her one with the sign of union (sexual); above it, one containing the life-sign (product of union); and these are surmounted by the head of a fish, symbolizing the fructifying and motherly waters.

The total extension of the field in these designs resembles the glyph _a_ in Fig. 6. It is found in both Mayan and Mexican MSS.,[65] and expresses the conception these peoples had of the Universe. Hence I give it the name of the “cosmic sign.”

4. _Pictorial Representations of Divinities._

Turning to the Codices and the monuments with the above mythological lore in one’s memory, it seems to me there is no difficulty in identifying most of the pictures presented by them. That this has not been accomplished heretofore, I attribute to the neglect of the myths by previous writers, and a persistent desire to discover in the mythology of the Mayas, not the divinities which they themselves worshipped, but those of some other nation, as the Nahuas, Quiches, Zapotecs, or Pueblo dwellers.[66] I shall pay small attention to such analogies, as the Mayas had a religion of their own, and it is that which I wish to define. We may turn first to the—

_Representations of Itzamna._—I have no hesitation in identifying Itzamna with the “god B,” as catalogued by Dr. Schellhas in his excellent study of the divinities of the Codices,[67] and which he believes to be Cuculcan, while the Abbé Brasseur, followed by Dr. Seler, argue, that it is a “Tlaloc” or Chac, _i. e._, a rain god.[68] He is extremely prominent in the Codices, being painted in the Dresden Codex alone not less than 130 times, and in the others about 70 times. No other deity has half so many representations, and we may well believe, therefore, that he was the Jove of their Pantheon.

This at once suggests Itzamna; but a phrase of the historian Cogolludo leaves no doubt about it. The “god B” is associated with the signs of the east, and his especial and invariable characteristic are two long, serpent-like teeth, which project from his mouth, one in front, the other to the side and backward.[69] These traits enable us to identify “B” with Lakin Chan, “the serpent of the east,” who was portrayed “with strangely deformed teeth,” and this was unquestionably but another name for Itzamna, the god of the east.[70]

An abundance of evidence may be adduced to confirm this opinion. This deity is represented in close relations with the serpent, holding it in his hand, sitting upon it, even swallowed by it, or emerging from its throat. As a “medicine man” he carries the “medicine bag,” and the wand or baton, called in Maya _caluac_, “the perforated stick,”[71] surmounted with a hand, hinting at his name above given, _Kabil_, the Skilful Hand. He is often in a boat, to recall his advent over the eastern sea, and he is frequently associated with the showers, as was Itzamna, who said of himself, _itz en muyal, itz en caan_, “I am what trickles from the clouds, from the sky.” As the rising sun which dispels the darkness, or else as the physician who heals disease, he is portrayed sitting on the head of the owl, the bird of night and sickness; and as the giver of life he is associated with the emblem of the snail, typical of birth.

He himself is never connected with the symbols of death or misfortune, but always with those of life and light. The lance and tomahawk which he often carries are to drive away the spirits of evil.

Besides the above peculiarities, he is portrayed as an elderly man, his nose is long and curved downward, his eye is always the “ornamented eye,” which in the Maya Codices indicates a divinity. He is associated with all four quarters of the globe, for the East defines the cardinal points; and what is especially interesting, it is he who is connected with the Maya “Tree of Life,” the celebrated symbol of the cross, found on so many ancient monuments of this people and which has excited so much comment. This I shall consider later.

We know from the mythology that Itzamna, like most deities, was multiform, appearing in various incarnations. In the ceremonies this was represented by masks; with this in mind I class as merely one of the forms or epiphanies of Itzamna that figure in the Codices described by Dr. Schellhas as a separate deity, “the god with the ornamental nose,” whom he catalogues as “god K.” I am led to this conclusion by a careful study of all the pictographs in which this deity appears; they all seem to show that it is Itzamna wearing a mask to indicate some one manifestation of his power (see especially Cod. Dresden., pp. 7, 12, 25, 26, and 34, 65, and 67, where Itzamna is carrying the mask on his head). That there is a particular monogram for this character merely indicates that it was a separate mythological manifestation, not a different deity.

A remarkable and constant feature in the representations of Itzamna is his _nose_. Thomas calls it “elephantine,” but, as Waldeck and Seler have shown, it is undoubtedly intended to imitate the snout of the _tapir_.[72]

When we remember that this animal was sacred to Votan, who played the same part in Chiapas that Itzamna did in Yucatan, dividing and naming the land, etc.; and that the interesting slate tablets from Chiapas, in the National Museum of Mexico, portray the sacred tapir in intimate connection with the symbol of _the hand_,[73] that associated with Itzamna,—we are led to identify the two mythical personages as one and the same. According to Bishop Landa the tapir was not found in Yucatan except on the western shore near the bay of Campeche,[74] which shows that the myth of the tapir god was imported from Tzental territory.

It may be asked why the tapir, a dull animal, loving swamps and dark recesses of the forests, should have been chosen to represent a divinity of light. I reply, that it arose from the “ikonomatic” method of writing. The word for tapir in Maya is _tzimin_, in Tzental _tzemen_, and from the similarity of this sound to _i-tzam-na_ the animal came to be selected as his symbol. No such sacredness attached to the brute among the Quiches, for in their tongue the allusive sound did not exist, the tapir being called _tixl_. This rebus also confirms the identity of Itzamna with the tapir-nosed deity of the Codices.[75]

The annual festival to Itzamna was called _Pocam_, “the cleansing.” On that occasion the priests, arrayed in all their insignia, assembled in the house of their prince. First, they invoked Itzamna as the founder of their order and burned to him incense with fire newly made from the friction of sticks. Next they spread out upon a table covered with green leaves the sacred books, and asperged their pages with water drawn from a spring of which no woman had ever tasted. This was the ceremonial “cleansing.” Then the chief priest arose and declared the prognostics for the coming year as written in the holy records.[76]

We may well believe that the Dresden Codex, pages 29–43, which are entirely taken up with the deeds and ceremonies of Itzamna, was one of the books spread out on this solemn occasion.

_Representations of Cuculcan._—As I believe the reasons above given are sufficient to establish the identity of the “god B,” of Dr. Schellhas’ catalogue, with Itzamna, so I think his “god D” is Cuculcan.[77] He himself believes it to be a “night god,” or a “moon god,” while Dr. Seler considers it to portray Itzamna.

The characteristics of this divinity are: A face of an old man, with sunken mouth and toothless jaws, except one tooth in the lower jaw, which, in the Tro. and Cortes. Codices, is exaggerated as a distinctive sign; he has the “ornamented eye” peculiar to deities; and to his forehead is attached, or over it hangs, an affix, which generally bears the sign _akbal_, which means “darkness,” because he is the setting or night sun; for which reason his head-dress is often the horns of the eared owl. He is clearly a beneficent deity, and is never associated with symbols of misfortune or death. Indeed, he is at times evidently a god of birth, being accompanied with the symbol of the snail, above explained, and is sometimes associated with women apparently as an obstetrician. He is connected with serpent emblems, and holds in his hand a sacred rattle formed of the rattles of the rattlesnake.

All these traits coincide with the myths of Cuculcan; but when we perceive that he, and he alone of all the deities, is occasionally depicted _with a beard under his chin_, just as Cuculcan wore in the legend, the identification becomes complete.[78]

The most striking of his representations, and that which is most distinctive of his identity with the “green-feathered serpent,” is the picture which extends over pp. 4 and 5, middle, of the Dresden Codex. Here he is seen with face emerging from the mouth of the great, green-feathered snake-dragon, indicative of his own personality, his hieroglyph immediately above his head.[79]

_Representations of Kin ich._—As has already been observed, the sun at noon, conceived as a divinity, did not occupy a prominent place in Maya mythology; and this is also the case in the pictorial designs.

There is no doubt as to his representation. It is accompanied by the well-known ideogram of the sun scattered over his body and represented above him. It will be seen on a later page.

He is richly arrayed with large ear-rings and a characteristic, prominent nose decoration. He has the “ornamented eye” and a full head dress. (God “G” of Schellhas.)

Proceeding now to consider other divinities of the beneficent class, I begin with—

_Representations of Xaman Ek, the Pole Star._—This is the “god C, of the ornamented face,” of Dr. Schellhas’ list, who suggests its identity with the pole star. The very characteristic face recurs extremely frequently, especially in Codices Troano, Cortesianus, and Peresianus. We have evidently to do with an important divinity, and, as Dr. Schellhas says, “one of the most remarkable and difficult figures in the manuscripts.” That it is the personification of a star he argues, (1) from the ring of rays with which it is surrounded, Cod. Cort., p. 10; (2) from its appearance in the “constellation band;” (3) from its surmounting in certain pictures the “tree of life;” and that it is the North Star is shown by its presence in the hieroglyph of that quarter and its association with the sign for north.

There is another, and, to me, decisive argument, which at once confirms Dr. Schellhas’ opinion, and explains why the north star is represented by this peculiar, decorated face.

The term for “north” in Maya is _xaman_, whence _xaman ek_, north star. The only other word in the language which at all resembles this is _xamach_, the flat, decorated plate or dish (Nahuatl, _comalli_) on which tortillas, etc., are served. In the rebus-writing the decorations on the rim of this dish were conventionally transferred to the face of the deity, so as to distinguish it by recalling the familiar utensil. For a similar reason it is also called “the shield star,” _chimal ek_ (like _chimal ik_, north wind); but as this is a foreign word (from the Nahuatl, _chimalli_, shield), it was doubtless later and local. I shall refer to this peculiar edging or border as the “pottery decoration,” and we shall find it elsewhere.

That the figure is associated at times with all four quarters of the world, and also with the supreme number 13 (see above, p. 24), are not at all against the identification, as Dr. Schellhas seems to think, but in favor of it; for at night, all four directions are recognized by the position of the pole; and its immovable relation to the other celestial bodies seems to indicate that it belongs above the highest.

The North Star is especially spoken of as “the guide of merchants.” Its representation is associated with symbols of peace and plenty (removing the contents of a tall vase, C. Cortes., p. 40; seated under a canopy, ibid., p. 29). In front of his forehead is attached a small vase, the contents of which are trickling into his mouth (?).

He is especially prominent in the earlier pages of the Cod. Peres., where his presence seems to have been practically overlooked by previous writers; and it is true that the drawings are nearly erased. Close inspection will show, however, that he is portrayed on both sides of the long column of figures which runs up the middle of page 3. On the left, he is seated on the “Tree of Life,” as in Cod. Troanus, p. 17, _a_ (which is growing from the vase of the rains, precisely as in Cod. Tro., 14, _b_, where the star-god is sailing in the vase itself). On the right of the column he is shown in the darkness of night (on a black background), holding in his hand the _kan_ symbol of fortune and food. A similar contrast is on page 7, where on the right of the column he is seen above the fish, and on the left, in the dark, again with the _kan_ symbol. On the intermediate page he is seated opposite the figure of Kin ich Ahau, which is head downward, signifying that when the sun is absent the pole star rules the sky.

_Representations of the Planet Venus._—In view of the prominent part which the Venus-year plays in the calculations of the Codices, it has surprised students that no pictorial figures of this bright star appear on their pages. On this point I have some suggestions to make.

In one part of the Codex Troano (pp. 1*–10*) there are a great many—nearly fifty—pictures of an insect resembling a bee in descending flight. These pages have been explained by Thomas as relating to apiculture and the festivals of the bee-keepers, and by Seler, who rejects that rendering, as referring generally to the descent of deities to receive offerings. Direction downward is indicated not only by the position of the insect, but by the accompanying hieroglyph, which reads _caban_, the first syllable of which, _cab_, means “downward.” My suggestion is that in this bee-like insect we have an ikonomatic allusion to the Evening Star, which, as I have already stated, was sometimes called _xux ek_, “the bee or wasp star.”[80]

Not only is the picture phonetically appropriate, and the “sign” consistent, but that a deity is referred to is shown by three anthropomorphic pictures of the bee (two on p. 4* and one on p. 5*). Furthermore, the “sign” or monogram of the bee deity (Fig. 20) appears on the so-called “title pages” of the Cod. Tro. and Cod. Cortes., adjacent to that of the north star, indicating that another stellar deity is represented.

The object toward which the insect descends is generally either a fire, or that shown in Fig. 22.[81] This was supposed by Brasseur to be a honeycomb, and by Seler, a food offering. It is almost precisely the conventional representation of the clouds, as may be noted in the interesting scene on Cod. Tro., p. 5*, where this object is placed upon the earth, below which is the cloud symbol. Often it is yellowish, a point which has been urged in proof that it is honey. Does it not mean the golden-hued clouds of sunset, and the fire, the flame of the setting sun, into which the Evening Star descends?

The sign _caban_, “downward,” naturally refers to the Earth.[82] Thither sinks the star of evening to join the departed orb of day; hence this star mythically becomes the Earth-goddess, the associate of the setting sun. Cuculcan is very frequently depicted in relation to an old crone, having, like himself, but one tooth, and, like himself, ever engaged in kindly offices, good to men. She, I take it, is the Evening Star in her epiphany as Mother Earth, source of life, ancestress of the race.

A striking verbal analogy supports this. In the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiches, the “feathered serpent,” Gukumatz, is positively said to be the bisexual principle of life represented by the male Xpiyacoc and the female Xmucane, ancestor and ancestress of all that is.[83] Here, _x-mucane_ is most likely the Quiche feminine form of _muc_ (_ul_) _canan_, which is a Tzental name for the planet Venus, as I have already mentioned.[84] My conclusion is, therefore, that the old woman so frequently associated with Cuculcan is the Evening Star, in her form as the Earth-Goddess. I shall recur to her on a later page.

I think all these representations of the bee should be interpreted as indicating the movements of Venus, and the mythical conceptions with which they were connected in the native mind.

_Representation of Ghanan, God of Growth and Fertility._—Bishop Nuñez de la Vega tells us that in the calendar he discovered among the natives of his diocese, the fourth “sign” or day corresponded to the Mexican Centeotl, god of fertility and the maize harvests. This fourth day in the Tzental calendar bore the name _Ghanan_, and on turning to the Tzental Dictionary prepared by Father Lara, we find that _ghan_ is the general term for the ear of maize; _aghan_, when the grains are still soft.

His representations in the Codices are moderately frequent and quite peculiar. They all present in a marked degree the flattening of the forehead and prolongation of the occiput upward which is so striking in many of the sculptures.

Dr. Schellhas, indeed (who catalogues him as “God E”), is so impressed by this that he argues that all such forms were imaginary, obtained by the artists through copying the conventional drawings of an ear of maize arranged as a head-dress. This, however, is going too far, as there is evidence, derived from ancient skulls, that certain classes of Maya priests used to have the head artificially flattened in this manner.[85] Perhaps they were those destined for the service of this or similar deities. The officiants on the Palenque “Tablet of the Cross,” presenting offerings to the “tree of life,” are both deformed in this manner.

The maize god is associated with symbols of food, of vegetable growth, and of prosperity. He carries a vase or is drawing forth the contents of one, Cod. Cort., p. 40; he is seen with the loom, Cod. Dres., p. 45, and he generally has about him the _kan_ symbol, that of means and comfort.

_Representations of the Serpent Goddess._—One of the most striking pictures in the Codices is the Serpent Goddess, whose familiar is the rattlesnake, which she wears as a head-dress or as a girdle. She is depicted as an old woman, her costume ample and often splendid, decorated with embroidery and bells, with necklace and ear-rings of jade.

In expression she is severe, her lips protrude in anger, and her hands and feet sometimes end in claws. The sinister cross-bones sometimes decorate her skirts. Her business is with water and the rains. She is pouring from a vase (_Cod. Dres._, pp. 43, 67, 74); or water is flowing from her armpits, hands, and mammæ; or she is ejecting it forcibly from her mouth (_Cod. Tro._, pp. 25, 27, 34*).

She is, however, not always represented as in old age, or else there was another serpent goddess in the mythology; for in a number of places a similar serpentine head-dress is borne by a young woman who holds a vase containing the rattles of the rattlesnake (_Cod. Dres._, pp. 15, 18); or (ibid., p. 20), a figure which shows seven black dots. May this be a sign of the constellation of the Pleiades, which in the Maya language bore the same name as the rattles of the rattlesnake, _tzab_?

As to the signification of the serpent goddess, I think there can be no question of it, from a study of her appearance, signs, and associations. She was the _personification of the thunderstorm_. The vase she empties is the descending torrent of rain, the rattles she carries are the thunderclaps, her severe mien is the terror inspired by the din of the elements. In Maya, the word for “thunder,” _pecchac_, is derived from the noun _pec_, which means “a sound like that of a bell or rattle” (_Dicc. Motul_).

_Representations of Xmucane._—A third goddess who can be clearly distinguished is one with features of an old woman, her face wrinkled, her mouth sunken, and but one tooth left in her lower jaw. She usually wears her hair in a peculiar style, two wisps or ends of it twisted above her head.

She does not appear in the Peresianus, and perhaps not in the Dresden manuscript, but holds a prominent place in the Troanus and Cortesianus. Her occupations are peaceable; she is weaving on a loom (C. Tro., p. 11), carrying a plate of cakes, etc. (Cod. Cortes., pp. 10, 11).

In appearance she is the female counterpart of Cuculcan, and is plainly intended to represent his companion or wife. In the “Tableau des Bacabs” of the Codex Cortes., these two alone are represented sitting under the central “tree of life,” where they are placed back to back (see above, p. 49); while in the section of the tableau showing the West, they are placed face to face, she seated under a canopy hung with black and red dotted lines.

In her, therefore, we have a person of great importance, the consort of Cuculcan, intimately associated with the quarter of the West to which he belongs. Dr. Seler has argued that she was the goddess Ix chel, and the personification of the Earth. With the last supposition I agree, but not with the name. Ix chel was distinctly by name and myth the goddess of the rainbow. Much more probably we have in this ancient crone, as I have already said, the personification of the Evening Star, and the Earth, Xmucane, the companion of the sun when worn out by his day’s work, whose home is with him in the West, and whom she soon joins.

_Representation of Ah-Puch, God of Death._—Next to Itzamna, god of Life, the god of Death, Ah-Puch, is represented most frequently on both Codices and monuments. In the former his picture is given about eighty times, usually as a skeleton with tremendous jaws, always with fleshless skull and backbone,—a true “God Barebones,” as the _Dicc. de Motul_ describes him.

His symbols are unmistakeable,—the head of a corpse and cross-bones, the ill-omened owl and the ravenous dog,—wonderfully “European” indeed. He has numerous costumes and head dresses, some quite fanciful, and occasionally bells are attached to his ankles and clothing. Some of his delineations seem to reveal a sense of ghastly humor, as we see in the medieval “dance of death.”

He is associated with the north, because in that direction lay the mythical home of departed souls; but he is also present in the other quarters of the compass, for death knows no distinction of places or persons. Besides the cross-bones, usually shown as in Fig. 25, No. 1, he often bears the curious design No. 2,[86] which I take to be _a maggot_, and his head-dress is sometimes as No. 3, decorated with teeth, or flints, with rays.

_Representation of the God of War._—Frequently associated with the figure of death is that of a deity with a black line across his face. This is numbered by Dr. Schellhas the “god F,” and called by him a “god of death.” Much has been made of the line across his face as identifying him with the Mexican god Xipe, “the flayer;” but this is not a constant mark of Xipe, as Father Duran neither mentions it nor portrays it. In fact, it is nothing more than the line of black paint athwart the face which meant “war” very generally among the American Indians. An inspection of the pictures clearly indicates that this is a war god. For instance, in Cod. Tr., 27*, 28*, 29* _c_, he is shown repeatedly at full length, armed with a flaming torch in one hand and a flint knife in the other, firing the canopies of princes, his body striped with war-paint like his face, following the god of death, who goes before him beating on a drum and singing a song of war (as shown by the lines issuing from his mouth). In Cod. Dresden., p. 6 _e_, he wears a war helmet with nose-piece, and his body is black-striped also.

Which of the gods of war I have named this leading one may have been, I leave undetermined.

_Representations of Ek Ahau and Other Black Gods._—In the Codices there are about fifty figures painted black, evidently intended to represent deities supposed to be thus colored. Forty of them are in the Codex Troano, which is in parts devoted to a prominent character of this hue. He is depicted with a truculent expression, a reddish-brown band around his mouth, and with a large, hanging under-lip. He is generally armed and often fighting. His figure is sometimes drawn unusually large, of a ferocious appearance, and carrying a huge spear, a shield, a tomahawk, a lighted torch, or other fearful sign of war. (See Cod. Tro., pp. 24, 25.)

Previous writers have not been able to assign a name to this deity. Prof. Thomas suggested that it was Ek Chuah, said by Landa to be the god of the cacao planters; but to this, Schellhas objects that his warlike traits exclude such a supposition.[87] So the latter refers to him merely as “the god M.”

About his name, however, there can be no doubt. The paintings correspond precisely with what Nuñez de la Vega tells us of the Tzental divinity _Ical Ahau_, Maya, _Ek Ahau_, names which he translates, “the black chief,” or, “the king of the blacks.” He was reported to have been “a famous warrior and most cruel.” He was depicted “in the figure of a ferocious blackamoor with the members of a man.”[88] The “blacks” of whom he was king were seven in number, and were painted in most of the native calendars which the bishop found among the Tzentals. They were the signs of seven days, beginning, he adds, with Friday, which may have been an erroneous explanation of the “masters.”

Among the remainder of the seven were doubtless the god _Ek Chuah_, of the cacao planters, and the god “L” of Dr. Schellhas’ list. The latter is found in the Cod. Dresden., pp. 7, 14, 21, 24, 46; but not at all in the Troanus. It is evident, however, that, as Dr. Schellhas observes, several minor black gods are depicted, which is explained by the statement of the Bishop of Chiapas, that there were seven of them.[89]

5. _The Maya Priesthood._

Not all the designs of the inscriptions and Codices are to be considered deities, however. Doubtless the priests, their representatives, also appear. These were numerous and of both sexes, called respectively, _ah-kin_ and _ix-kin_, masters of days and mistresses of days, that is, having power to predict auspicious and inauspicious days. The chief priest was variously called _ah-kin mai_ and _ahau can mai_, the word _mai_, dust, fragrance, vapor, referring to the sacred rite of blowing substances through a tube in incantation, as we find often represented in the Codices.[90] _Ahau can_, which at times means “rattlesnake,” should perhaps here be translated, “master of words,” as another term for the high priest was _ah-chun can_, which is rendered “one who has the right of the first speech in business; also, high priest.” (_Dicc. Motul._)

They were divided into a number of classes exercising special functions; as the _ah-mac ik_, who conjured the winds; the _ah-uai chac_, who could bring rains; the _ah-pul_, “fetchers,” who could cause sickness, induce sleep, etc.; the _ah-uai xibalba_, who made a specialty of interviewing departed spirits; the _ah-cunal than_, who conjured by magical words; and others.[91]

In their rites they were accustomed to appear in masks, _koh_, and dressed in skins of wild animals, as tigers, etc.[92] Their ceremonies were often painful, as the old writers report, and as the words to express them, _kup_, to cut, _ppeta_, to cry out with pain, testify. This is also abundantly shown by the pictures of scarifying the body and transfixion of the tongue and ears, on the monuments.

They are said to have worn their hair uncombed and long, often matted with the blood of the sacrifices. The expression for this was _hunhun buclah u tzotzel hol_, (el que trae largos revueltos y marañados los cabellos como los traen los idolatras. _Dicc. Motul_).

6. _Fanciful Analogies._

It were easy in these names, myths, and pictures, to pick out abundant analogies to the mythologies of Peru and Mexico, of the Pueblos and of the Old World. It has been done over and over again, usually with a total oversight of the only point in which such analogies have much value—the similarity disclosed the world over by independent evolutions of the religious sentiment. The effort by such resemblances to prove identity of historical origin is to be deprecated whenever the natural growth of myths and rites will explain the facts considered. For that reason I shall say nothing about “Tlaloc deities,” “serpent gods,” etc., with which so many pages of other writers have been fruitlessly taken up. That the adjacent nations of equal culture influenced the people of Yucatan to some extent, was no doubt a fact. It could not have been otherwise. But that the Mayan mythology and civilization were distinctly independent, and were only superficially touched by their neighbors, I am deeply convinced.

On the other hand, just how far the influence of this potent and personal culture of the Mayas extended, it is difficult to delimit. I have found no trace of its peculiar forms in South America, nor anywhere in North America, beyond the boundaries within which that extraordinary calendar was accepted, upon which so much of it was based; but this, as I have shown elsewhere, included not less than seven entirely different linguistic stocks.[93]

7. _Total Number of Representations._

The actual progress toward an analysis of the pictorial elements of the Codices which the above identifications indicate, may best be shown by a few statistics.

I find that the total number of figures of men and women, or of anthropomorphic deities, which are preserved in the manuscripts, is just about 950, of which 825 are males and 125 are females.

They are distributed as follows:—

Codex Peresianus, 40 males no females
Codex Cortesianus, 157 males 6 females
Codex Troanus, 345 males 47 females
Codex Dresdensis, 283 males 72 females
——— ———
825 125

Confining our attention to the male deities, the attributes of which have been above described, we find their pictures are distributed as follows:—[94]

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
PERESIANUS. CORTESIANUS. TROANUS. DRESDENSIS.
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Itzamna, 4 30 32 130
Cuculcan, 22 54 20
Kin Ich, 4 2 8 22
Xaman Ek, 7 20 20 5
The God of Maize, 16 60 6
Ah Puch, 2 21 25 29
The God of War, 9 3 26 13
The Black Gods, 2 2 39 4
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Total, 28 116 264 229
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

This gives a total of 638 figures which have been recognized; in other words, more than three-fourths of the whole number.

Of the remainder a considerable portion are unimportant men and persons, victims of sacrifice, captives, attendants, etc.; others are priests or officiants in ceremonies; allowing for which, it is certain that no prominent figure in Mayan mythology under the human form remains to be discovered in the Codices. This is a satisfactory result, and shows that, as far as their pictographs go, the contents of these once mysterious volumes are scarcely an unsolved enigma.

8. _Figures of Quadrupeds._

The pictorial portions of the Codices contain delineations of various animals, some of which are evidently introduced with symbolical meanings, and others probably so.