Rule. The 20 day-names are divided into five groups of four names each, any name in any group being five days distant from the name next preceding it in the same group, and furthermore, the names of any one group will occupy four different positions in the divisions of successive years, these positions being five days apart in each case. This is expressed in Table [VI], in which these groups are shown as well as the positions in the divisions of the years which the names of each group may occupy. A comparison with Table [V] will demonstrate that this arrangement is inevitable.

Table VI. POSITIONS OF DAYS IN DIVISIONS OF MAYA YEAR

Positions held by days 1st, 6th,
11th, 16th		 2d, 7th,
12th, 17th		 3d, 8th,
13th, 18th		 4th, 9th,
14th, 19th		 5th, 10th,
15th, 20th
Names of days in each group Ik
Manik
Eb
Caban		 Akbal
Lamat
Ben
Eznab		 Kan
Mulac
Ix
Cauac		 Chicchan
Oc
Men
Ahau		 Cimi
Chuen
Cib
Imix

But we have seen on page [47] and in Table [IV] that the Maya did not designate the first days of the several divisions of the years according to our system. It was shown there that the first day of Pop was not written 1 Pop, but 0 Pop, and similarly the second day of Pop was written not 2 Pop, but 1 Pop, and the last day, not 20 Pop, but 19 Pop. Consequently, before we can use the names in Table [VI] as the Maya used them, we must make this shift, keeping in mind, however, that Ik, Manik, Eb, and Caban (the only four of the twenty names which could begin the year and which were written 0 Pop, 5 Pop, 10 Pop, or 15 Pop) would be written in our notation 1st Pop, 6th Pop, 11th Pop, and 16th Pop, respectively. This difference, as has been previously explained, results from the Maya method of counting time by elapsed periods.

Table [VII] shows the positions of the days in the divisions of the year according to the Maya conception, that is, with the shift in the month coefficient made necessary by this practice of recording their days as elapsed time.

The student will find Table [VII] very useful in deciphering the texts, since it shows at a glance the only positions which any given day can occupy in the divisions of the year. Therefore when the sign for a day has been recognized in the texts, from Table [VII] can be ascertained the only four positions which this day can hold in the month, thus reducing the number of possible month coefficients for which search need be made, from twenty to four.

Table VII. POSITIONS OF DAYS IN DIVISIONS OF MAYA YEAR ACCORDING TO MAYA NOTATION