Chapter IX
[Footnote 9.1: The text of the cedula in question may be found at pp. 18v-22r in Avendano's MS.]
[Footnote 9.2: The reader's attention is called here to Plates Ia and Ib, and also to Maler, 1908, p. 56 for a reproduction and translation of the map by Avendano.]
[Footnote 9.3: This refers to the myth, shared alike by the Toltecs and Mayas, of the culture hero, Quetzalcoatl-Kulkulcan, who was to return to the land from across the ocean.]
[Footnote 9.4: A gloss reads "Cajon con el huesso."]
[Footnote 9.5: This work has never been found.]
[Footnote 9.6: Cogolludo (lib. iv, cap. 5) gives the following description of the calendar and the method of reckoning time. "In the time of their heathendom the Indians of Yucathan had books made of the bark of trees; over this was a white cement which was perpetual, and these books were from ten to twelve varas long, being doubled over and folded.... On these the Indians painted the accounts of their years, wars, inundations, famines, hurricanes, and other events. From one of them, which Dr. Aguilar took away from some Idolaters, it was learned that in ancient times there was a plague called _Mayacimil_ and also another called _Ocna Kuchil_, which is to say Sudden Deaths, and Times-in-which-ravens-entered-the-houses-to-eat-the-corpses. Inundation and hurricane they called _Hunyecil_, Overflowing-of-trees....
"They counted the year as having 365 days, divided into months of twenty days each, corresponding to ours in this order:
Jan. 12-Feb. 1 was Yaax July 11-July 17 was Vayeab Feb. 1-Feb. 21 " Zac July 17-Aug. 6 " Poop Feb. 21-Mch. 13 " Ceh Aug. 6-Aug. 26 " Voo Mch. 13-Apr. 2 " Mac Aug. 26-Sept. 15 " Cijp Apr. 2-Apr. 22 " Kan Kin Sept. 15-Oct. " Zeec Apr. 22-May 12 " Muan Oct. -Nov. " Zul May 12-Jun. 1 " Paax Nov. -Dec. " Yax Kin Jun. 1-Jun. 21 " Kayab Dec. -Dec. " Mool Jun. 21-July 11 " Cum Ku Dec. -Jan. 11 " Cheen
By this count the year was divided into eighteen months, but their year began on the seventeenth of our July. The five days which were lacking to complete the 365 were called Nameless Days. They held them to be melancholy, and they said that on them happened disastrous deaths and unforeseen events, such as stings and bites from poisonous snakes and wild or venomous animals as well as quarrels and dissensions; and they especially feared the first of these days. During this period they tried not to go out of their houses, and so they always provided themselves with what was necessary beforehand so as not to have to go to the fields or elsewhere. At this time they attended especially to their Heathen Rites, begging their Idols to keep them free from harm in those dangerous days and to grant that the following year might be fertile and abundant. And these days so greatly feared were the 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 (sic) of our July. All the days of the month had each its name, which I leave untold for fear of prolixity.
"By means of this count they know the time in which to clear the woodlands and to burn the underbrush, to expect rains, to sow the Maize and other vegetables, for all which actions they have their Proverbs. The first Religious (says Aguilar), holy men, and true Keepers of the Vineyard of Jesus Christ, tried to abolish this count, holding it to be superstitious, but they did not progress far because most [of the Indians] know it. This matter was laid before a great and Apostolic Man named Padre Solana, and before another scarcely less great called Fray Caspar de Naxara, who were great Ministers and Preachers and who felt that it was not prejudicial to the Christianizing of the Indians; but Padre Fuensalida says in his Relacion, treating of the ancient counts: 'It would be far better in every way if the Indians did not learn and know of the ancient peoples, because they have been found still at their idolatries, and those who were converted to our Holy Catholic Faith still perform the rites, adoring the Demon through thousands of Idols which have been found in this Province.' ...
"They counted their eras and ages which they put in their books by groups of twenty years and by lustra of four years. The first year they fixed in the East, calling it _Cuchhaab_; the second in the West, calling it _Hijx_; the third in the South, _Cavac_; the fourth in the North, called _Muluc_." These refer to the four dominical days, which he has given incorrectly. They should be Kan, Muluc, Ix (Hijx), and Cauac. (See Bowditch, 1910, p. 278.) "When these lustra reached five, which is exactly twenty years, they called it a _Katun_ and placed a carved stone upon another, fixing them with lime and sand in the walls of their Temples and the houses of their Priests, as is to be seen today in the edifices which have been spoken of and in certain ancient walls of our Convent in Merida, over which there are cells. In a village called Tixualahtun, which signifies Place-where-a-carved-stone-is-placed-upon-another, it is said that there were Archives where were preserved all the events, as is done in Spain at the Archivo de Simancas.
"The common way of counting their age was by these periods or Katuns, as, for instance, to say 'I have sixty years' _Oxppelvabil_--'I have three eras of age,' that is, three stones; for seventy it is three and a half. Wherever it was known that there were not too many barbarians, they continued to live by this count, and it was said to be very accurate, so much so that not only did they know with certainty of an event, but also of the day and month on which it took place."]
[Footnote 9.7: A gloss reads "the devil excites their minds."]
[Footnote 9.8: A gloss reads "varias cosas que tratamos."]
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