Commentary on the Maya Manuscript in the Royal Public Library of Dresden - Ernst Wilhelm Förstemann

Now the question arises as to when this ritual year began. Undoubtedly its beginning day was very different from that of the civil year (360 days) and from that of the astronomical year (365 days).

In this matter I follow Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, who has rendered such estimable service to Aztec science. At the Congress of Americanists at Stockholm in 1894, she submitted an article entitled "Note on the Ancient Mexican Calendar System," in which with keen discernment she pointed out a year beginning with the spring equinox and including in its centre the sacred Tonalamatl, i.e., 260 days, which were preceded and followed by 52 days. I recognize this ritual year also in the present passage of the "Dresdensis," as the one current in the Maya country. It probably began about the 10th of March, at that period about the time of the vernal equinox, according to the Julian Calendar.

Beginning with this date, I will now attempt to tabulate the chronology of this passage. In the first column I will place the number of the group of hieroglyphs in question, in the second I will set down to what day of the Maya year each group refers; in the third, the corresponding day of our year, and finally in the fourth, the 20-day periods which agree in general with the dates.

1.	1-130	March 10-22	Ceh.
2.	14-260	March 23-April 5	Mac.
3.	27-390	April 6-18	Kankin.
4.	40-520	April 19-May 1	Kankin.
5.	53-650	May 2-14	Moan.
6.	66-780	May 15-27,	Pax.
7.	79-910	May 28-June 9	Kayab.
8.	92-104	June 10-22	Kayab.
9.	105-117	June 23-July 5	Cumhu.
10.	118-130	July 6-18	Cumhu.
11.	131-143	July 19-31	Pop.
12.	144-156	August 1-13	Uo.
13.	157-169	August 14-26	Uo.
14.	170-182	August 27-September 8	Zip.
15.	183-195	September 9-21	Zotz.
16.	196-208	September 22-October 4	Zotz.
17.	209-221	October 5-17	Zec.
18.	222-234	October 18-30	Xul.
19.	235-247	October 31-November 12	Xul.
20.	248-260	November 13-25	Yaxkin.
21.	261-273	November 26-December 8	Mol.
22.	274-286	December 9-21	Mol.
23.	287-299	December 22-January 3	Chen.
24.	300-312	January 4-16	Chen.
25.	313-325	January 17-29	Yax.
26.	326-338	January 30-February 11	Zac.
27.	339-351	February 12-24	Zac.
28.	352-364	February 25-March 8	Ceh.

In the following I will call attention to a few points by which this arrangement is justified.

Hieroglyph 1a admits of explanation. It consists of four parts:—the left top is Kin, meaning sun or day, the right top is the sign of the year, the right bottom is the knife as symbol of separation or division, and the left bottom, which is especially decisive, is the month Ceh. Hence I read 1a thus:—the day of the change of year in the month Ceh. The sign 1b is the

familiar Kin-Akbal signifying either the beginning day or the day Akbal. If the year should be named from this sign, then this would mean a Kan year, as in the preceding section the beginning lay in the year 9 Kan. If the year in the latter section had been as equally divided as the one in question here, it would have furnished us with some very remarkable parallels.

Again the four groups:—4, 11, 18 and 25, which are alike, are important. The cross in sign a, combined with the three dotted lines passing from top to bottom, may refer to the wind and this meaning is further confirmed by the Ik sign (wind) in c. Further the sign b between them is that for the Bacab, the wind deity itself.

The most important events of the year are obviously the sowing and harvesting of the maize together with the beginning and end of the rainy season. Now we find the first two in connection with the god E, the maize-god, who is represented in 6c and 13c, 91 days apart, corresponding to the end of May and the beginning of August. Generally speaking, sixty days only were reckoned as the time between sowing and reaping, but here a quarter of a year may have been taken as a round number and it may also have reference to a more elevated region.