Fig. 59.—The new-year ceremonies at the commencement of a muluc-year.
(Troano-Cortesianus MS.)
(After Seler)
The new-year ceremonies were especially important, since the fortune to be experienced during the year depended to a very large extent upon their proper performance. They commenced in the Uayeb days of the dying year, that is to say in the second week of July, according to Landa. In preparation for a year beginning on the day-sign kan, an image of the Bacab Hobnil was taken to the pile of stones at the southern entrance to the town (the south being the point associated with the dying year), and a figure of Ah Bolon Tzacab was carried in procession and set up opposite it. Various offerings were made, including the worshippers’ own blood, and Hobnil was then carried to the east entrance (the point associated with the commencing year) and left there to watch over the town, while Ah Bolon Tzacab was taken to the temple. Good luck and fertility were expected during the kan years, and if misfortune supervened, a special image of Itzamna-canil was made and sacrifices, including a man, were offered to it. At the end of this year, and in preparation for the next, a muluc-year, the ceremonies commenced at the pile of stones where Hobnil had been left, and a figure of Kanzicnal was substituted for it. The figure of Ah Bolon Tzacab was replaced by one of Kinich Ahau, which was confronted with the new Bacab and then borne to the temple, Kanzicnal being taken to the north entrance, the quarter associated with muluc-years. This year was again supposed to be good, and in the event of misfortune special ceremonies were performed to Yaxkokahmut, another name of Itzamna, including a dance on stilts and the sacrifice of dogs bearing offerings of bread. It may be remarked in passing that both the Dresden and Troano-Cortesianus codices illustrate these ceremonies (Figs. [58] and [59]), though there is reason to believe that the lower portion of two pages of the former manuscript have been transposed by the carelessness of the scribe. In this MS. (Fig. [58]) the upper scene shows the emblem of the presiding god being carried in by a priest in an animal mask, the central picture shows him installed and receiving offerings, the lower (when properly arranged) illustrates the god of the next year confronted with a pillar representing the Bacab on the Uayeb days at the end of the year. Arranged in a column down one side of the page are the signs of the last day of the old year and the first of the new. As stated above the Dresden codex gives the days commencing the year as ben, eznab, akbal and lamat, as do the monuments. The ben-years here seem to correspond to the kan-years of later times, and so on. The Tro.-Cor. (Fig. [59]) seems to picture, in the upper register, the ceremonies (including the dance on stilts in the muluc-year) which were corrective of ill-luck, while the lower register shows the year-god and the maize-god, the latter either flourishing, or the prey of birds and beasts, according to the fortune predicted for the year. For the ix-years the Bacab was Zaczini, and the presiding god Itzamna; the ceremonies began at the north entrance and concluded at the west. Maladies of the eyes, plagues of locusts, wars and changes of dynasties were feared, and the year was considered bad for the food-crop but good for cotton. Ceremonies were performed to Kinich Ahau Itzamna to avert these evils. Cauac-years were the most unpropitious of all, for the presiding deity was Uacmitun Ahau, the death-god. The Bacab was Hozanek, and the ceremonies began in the west and terminated in the south. Many deaths were expected, together with plagues of birds and ants, to avert which four idols were made, Chichac-chob, Ekbalam-chac, Ahkan-uolcab and Ahbuluk-balam, and the ceremonies in their honour included a dance round a large fire, across which, when reduced to glowing ashes, the worshippers ran with bare feet.
The principal ceremonies connected with the months were as follows (for the signs, see Fig. [54], p. 250):—
Pop. The year began, according to Landa, on July 16th. The priests and men of rank fasted for at least thirteen days in preparation, and the commoners employed themselves in cleaning their houses and renewing and repainting all utensils. Chacs or assistant priests were elected for the ceremonies, and the temple court was purified with incense, the Chacs holding cords to form a square, a proceeding which, ceremonially, was supposed to exclude all evil. Finally new fire was made by the Chacs and fresh incense was offered; the proceedings terminated with a feast.
Uo. No special ceremonies attached to this month, but the priests commenced to fast in preparation for the next.
Zip. A festival in honour of Kinich-ahau Itzamna was held, at which the priests exhibited their religious books of bark-paper, and uttered the prognostications, regarding the fortunes of the year, which their calculations had revealed. Next day their bags of charms were exposed to view, including all images of the goddess Ixchel and the divining-stones, and the gods of medicine were invoked. The hunters and fishers also held a private festival during this month. The former performed a dance holding arrows and the heads of deer, while the latter painted their fishing-implements blue, a sacred colour. These ceremonies took place on different days, and in honour of special gods whose names are given by Landa. When the fishing-festival was finished in the towns, the lords repaired to the coast, where it was repeated.
Zotz. Bee-keepers prepared for their festival in the next month.
Tzec. The bee-keepers’ festival, to Hobnil and the other Bacabs, during which much honey-wine was offered and consumed.