Chilam Balam: Translation: VI: Notes on the Calendar
VI
(NOTES ON THE CALENDAR)
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The beginning of Katun 11 Ahau was in the year |
1513 4 |
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Then it ended. |
|
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Tihoo (Merida) was begun in the year |
1519 5 |
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(The convent of) San Francisco was founded at Santiago 6 in Tihoo |
1519 |
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The principal church was founded in the center of the town of <Ti>hoo in the year |
1540 |
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The months in a year are twelve |
12 |
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The count of the days in one year |
365 |
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The count of the nights in one year 7 |
365 |
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The count of weeks in one year |
52 |
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The number of Sundays in one year |
53 |
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The count of the days in the first six months (of the year) |
181 / [p. 22 C] |
The count of days in the second six months which complete the year
184 This is the count of days in a week: seven days in one week is the total of this count. / [p. 23 C] The count of the uinals 1 in one year.
Yaax--January 12th. The time is good for gathering the ears of corn.
Muan--April 22nd, when there is a ring around the sun in the sky. 4
¢eyaxkin 2--November 13th. The corn-stalks are bent double. 3
Poop--July 16th.
Uoo--August 5th.
Zac.--February 1st, when the white <flowers> bloom.
Zip-August 25th.
Ceeh--February 21st.
Zo¢--September 14th.
Mac--March 13th when the turtles lay their eggs.
Zec--October 4th.
Kankin--April 2d.
Xul--October 24th, when the fish spawn.
Paax--May 12th.
Mol--December 3rd.
Kayab--June 1st.
Cheen--December 23rd.
Cumku--June 21st. The five days<called>Uayabhaab.(Chumayel MS.) / [p. 24 C]
Chumayel, 28, is born the god-daughter, Micaela Castañeda 5 /
| p. 25 C |
Footnotes
84:4 It is generally agreed that Katun 11 Ahau began some time during the last half of the fourth decade of the Sixteenth Century. There was, however, a school of Maya writers during the Eighteenth Century who taught that the katun was composed of 24 years of 365 days each. They believed that a certain Katun 4 Ahau ended in 1752; and counting back to Katun 11 Ahau by their assumed katuns of 24 years, they came to the conclusion that it began in a year 10 Cauac which fell in 1512.
84:5 Cortez landed in Cozumel in 1519.
84:6 Santiago was a suburb of Merida occupied by the Nahua allies of the Spaniards (Cogolludo Bk. 7 Chap. 4).
84:7 It is significant to note that the Maya still preserved the idea of a night-count at this late date.
85:1 The uinal was the Maya month of twenty days.
85:2 Literally Little Yaxkin. Yaxkin is the usual name of this uinal.
85:3 The ear is left on the stalk, which is bent double so that the husk will completely shed the rain. Until the fall rains are over, the corn is said to keep better in this manner than in the granary.
85:4 Probably due to the smoke from the fields which are burned over at this time.
85:5 Written in a different hand. The rest of the page is blank.