The Annals of the Cakchiquels | Page 7

side of the ravine, there were a number of mounds,
about a quarter of a league apart, extending for a considerable distance.
On these, lookouts were constantly stationed, to give notice of the
invasions of the Quiches or of the Sotojil king."
The site of Iximche was visited in 1840 by the eminent American
traveler, John L. Stephens. He states that its position, the steep and
profound barranca, and the plain, "warrant the description given of it by
Fuentes." A century and a half had, however, almost erased the vestiges
of human life. "The ground was covered with mounds of ruins. In one

place we saw the foundations of two houses, one of them about one
hundred and fifty feet long by fifty feet broad."
Mr. Stephens was also fortunate enough to see and examine the
mysterious divining stone, preserved in the church of Tecpan
Guatemala. But a great disappointment awaited him. "This oracular
slab is a piece of common slate, fourteen inches by ten, and about as
thick as those used by boys at school, without characters of any kind
upon it."[27-1]
A few years after Mr. Stephens' visit, the government of Guatemala
appointed a commission to survey and examine these ruins. They
completed their labors successfully, but I have been unable to learn that
the results were published, although they were written out and placed in
the governmental archives.[28-1]
Computation of Time.
I propose, in a future work, to discuss the methods of reckoning time in
use in Central America; but a brief explanation of that adopted by the
Cakchiquels is essential to a comprehension of their Annals.
The Cakchiquels were probably acquainted with the length of the year
as 365 days; there is even some evidence that they allowed an
intercalary day every four years, by beginning the reckoning of the year
one day earlier.
The beginning of their year is stated, by most authorities, to have been
on the day corresponding to our January 31st or February 1st, old style
(February 11th or 12th, new style).
The year was not divided into lunar months, as was the case with the
hunting tribes, but in a manner similar to the highly artificial and
complicated system that prevailed among the Mayas and Mexicans.
This allotted to the solar year twenty months of eighteen days each,
leaving a remainder of five days, which the Mexicans called nemontemi,
insufficient; the Mayas n yail kin, days of pain or of peril, and the
Cakchiquels [tz]api [t]ih, days of evil or days at fault; and which were

not included in the count of the months.[28-2]
Dates, however, were not assigned by a simple reference to days of the
month, but by days of the week; these weeks being of thirteen days
each, and including every day of the year. The week days were not
named, but numbered only.
As will be noted in the Annals, more importance was attached to the
day on which an occurrence took place than to the year. This is
common with untrained minds. Every citizen of the United States
knows that George Washington was born on the 22d of February; but it
would puzzle a large portion of them to be asked the year of his birth.
Names of the Cakchiquel Months.
Name. Signification. 1. Tacaxepual, Corn planting 2. Nabey tumuzuz,
First of winged ants. 3. Rucan tumuzuz, Second of winged ants. 4.
Çibix, Smoky, or clouds. 5. Uchum, Re-planting 6. Nabey mam, First
grandson. 7. Rucab mam, Second grandson. 8. Li[t]in[t]á, Soft to the
hand. 9. Nabey to[t], First cacao harvest. 10. Rucab to[t], Second cacao
harvest[TN-1] 11. Nabey pach, First incubation. 12. Rucab pach,
Second incubation. 13. Tziquin [t]ih, Bird days. 14. Cakan, Red clouds.
15. Ibota, Mat rolling. 16. Katic, Drying up. 17. Itzcal [t]ih, Bad road
days. 18. Pariche, In the woods.
To appreciate the bearing of these names, one must remember that this
is a rural calendar, in which the months were designated with reference
to farming and household incidents. Thus, the "winged ants" referred to,
are a species that appear in March and April, shortly before the first of
the rainy season; the fourth month is cloudy or misty, from the frequent
rains; the first and second grandsons refer probably to the "suckers,"
which must be plucked from the growing corn; in the eighth month the
earth is moist, and must be kept, by tillage, "soft to the hand;" the
others have obvious rural allusions, down to the last, when the natives
went "in the woods" to gather fuel. The names appear to be all in the
Cakchiquel dialect, except the first, Tacaxepual, the resemblance of
which to the name of the second Mexican month, Tlacaxipehualiztli, is
too striking to be a coincidence, and perhaps the seventeenth, Itzcal,

which is very like the eighteenth