The Annals of the Cakchiquels | Page 7

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. ?ibix, Smoky, or clouds. 5. Uchum, Re-planting 6. Nabey mam, First grandson. 7. Rucab mam, Second grandson. 8. Li[t]in[t]��, 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 of the Mexican calendar, Izcalli; but if borrowed from the latter, two Cakchiquel words, of similar sound but different meaning, have been substituted for the original by the familiar linguistic principle of otosis or paronomasia.
Names of the Cakchiquel Days.
Name. Name. 1. Imox, 11. Batz, 2. I[t], 12. Ee, 3. A[t]bal, 13. Ah, 4. Kat, 14. Yiz, 5. Can, 15. Tziquin, 6. Camey, 16. Ahmac, 7. Queh, 17. Noh, 8. Kanel, 18. Tihax, 9. Toh, 19. Caok, 10. Tzii, 20. Hunahpu,[TN-2]
The calendars in use were