http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== *Maya Astronomy Home * *Maya Tzolk'in Augury * *. * */U kahlay katunob/* *The Maya short count and katun prophecy . * *"Not only did the Indians have a count for the year and months . . . but they also had a certain method of counting time and their matters by ages, which they counted by 20 year periods, counting thirteen twenties. . . . They call these periods /katuns. / Thus it was easy for the Elder to recall events which had taken place 300 years before. * *As to who it was that arranged this count of /katuns/: If it was the evil one it was so done as to serve in his honor, if it was a man, he must have been a great idolator, for to these katuns he added all the deceptions, auguries and prophesies by which these people walked. This was the science to which they gave most credit, held in highest regard." * *--- Friar Diego de Landa, /Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan/, (1556)* *..* *U kahlay katanob: The short count <#U>* *Katun prophecy <#Katun>* *The return of Kulkulcan and the coming of Christianity <#return>* *U kahlay katanob: The short count* *.* *The /katun /is a basic unit of time in the Maya calendar, a period of 7200 days, just short of 20 years in the European calendar. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the longest calendrical cycle kept by the Maya was a cycle of 13 /katuns/, about 256 years. The Maya called this cycle /u kahlay katanob/, "the count of /katuns/". Writers on the Maya calendar often refer to it as the "short count" to distinguish the "long count " kept in the Classical era (200-900 AD) which counted time from creation of the present world. * *Each /katun /in the cycle is identified by the date of its final day in the /tzolk'in , /a cycle of 260 days used to make auguries and time rituals. Days in the /tzolk'in /are assigned one of 20 day names and one of 13 day numbers. The mathematics of the Maya calendar dictate that /katuns/ always end on a day named /Ahaw. /* *The day /Ahaw/ on successive /katun /ends cycles through the 13 day numbers in this order: 11 Ahaw, 9 Ahaw, 7 Ahaw, 5 Ahaw, 3 Ahaw, 1 Ahaw, 12 Ahaw, 10 Ahaw, 8 Ahaw, 6 Ahaw, 4 Ahaw, 2 Ahaw, 13 Ahaw. These are names of the /katuns /of the/ u kahlay katanob./* *Katun wheel from Landa (1556)* *Mathematical details: Because there are 20 /tzolk'in/ day names, and the /katun /is 7200 days long, there are 7200/20 = 360 complete cycles of the day names in the /katun. /Thus /katuns/ always end with same day name. There are 7200/13 = 553 complete cycles of the 13 day numbers in the /katun, /with 11 days left over. Thus the day number at /katun /end advances by 11 days from /katun /to /katun. /If the /katun/ ends on 2 /Ahaw/, the next will end on 13/ Ahaw/. * *11 Ahaw Katun * * (From Dresden Codex)* *The numbers are reset when 13 is reached, so the/ katun/ following /katun/ 13 /Ahaw/ is /katun/ 11 /Ahaw/. According to Maya tradition, creation of the present world occurred on a day 4 /Ahaw/, and the first /katun /after creation was completed on 2 /Ahaw. /This determined the sequence of /katuns/. For a full description of the calendar, see Note on the Maya Calendar . * *Katun prophecy* *The / u kahlay katanob /was used both to record historical events (just as we often refer to the decade in which an event occurred), and to predict the character of future /katuns. /For the Maya, time is cyclical: Events in one /katun/ were expected to mirror those of another with the same position in the cycle of 13.* *Our knowledge of /katun /prophecy comes primarily from the /Books of Chilam Balam, /manuscripts written in the native language using the Latin script after the Spanish Conquest. The /Chilam Balam/, "Spokesman of the Jaguar", was charged with both recording the past and present for the instruction of his successors, and predicting the character of future /katuns/ from his knowledge of the past. /Books /from eleven maya towns in the Yucatan have survived*. *The oldest manuscript likely dates to no later than 1595, but they were recopied and expanded down to at least the end of the 18th Century.* *It is important to understand that the sequence of /katuns/ did not dictate specific events: The cycle determined only the /quality /or /character /of each /katun/. /Katun /prophecy was not a simple matter. The /Chilam Balam /was required to/ interpret/ the past to divine the future, not simply read a prognostication from an ancient book. According to the /Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin, /prophecies where made in a trance state, during which a deity spoke to the unconscious /Chilan./* *The passages in the /Books of Chilam Balam /that contain /katun /prophecy also allude to history, contemporary events, and ritual prescriptions. Although this mixing of history and prediction makes it difficult to sort out the the fate of each /katun,/ it is possible to extract a summary account of the character of the /katuns. /The following summary was made by Sir J. Eric Thompson/ /from the /Books of Chilam Balam/ of Chumayel and Tizimin:* *Katun Wheel * *(Chilam Balam of Chumayel)* *11 Ahau. Niggard is the katun; scanty are its rains . . . misery.* * 9 Ahau. Drought, famine.* * 7 Ahau. Carnal sin. roguish rulers.* * 5 Ahau Harsh his face, harsh his tidings.* * 3 Ahau. Rains of little profit, locusts, fighting.* * 1 Ahau. The evil katun.* * 12 Ahau. The katun is good.* * 10 Ahau Drought is the charge of the katun.* * 8 Ahau. There is an end of greed; there is an end to causing vexation . . . much fighting* * 6 Ahau. Shameless is his speech.* * 4 Ahau. The Quetzal shall come . . . Kukulcan shall come.* * 2 Ahau. For half the katun there will be bread; for half the katun there will be water. * * 13 Ahau There is no lucky day for us. * */./* *As an example of the full text of a /katun /prophecy, consider the first prophecy for /katun /11 /Ahaw /in the /Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel:/* *Katun 11 /Ahau /is established at Ichcaanzihoo [Merida]. /Yax-haal Chac/ is its face [the Green Rain God, Lord of the Katun]. The heavenly fan, the heavenly bouquet shall descend. The drum and rattle of /Ah Bolon-yocte/ [the regent or priest of the Katun] shall resound. At that time there shall be the green turkey; at that time there shall be/ Zulim Chan/; at that time there shall be /Chakanputun/ [symbols of times when the people were driven from their homes into the forest]. They shall find their food among the trees; they shall find their food among the rocks, those who have lost their crops in /katun/ 11 /Ahau/. (p. 133). * *A second prophecy for the /katun, /presented in a later chapter, contains the phase used in Thompson's summary, "niggard is the katun; scanty are its rains."* *Lord of the Katun * *(Chilam Balam of Chumayel)* *Although the chilans' cyclical concept of time dictates that the character of every /katun/ with the same name will be similar, the prophecies also likely contain information that relates to specific cycles of the /u kahlay katunob. /Roys found evidence in the text of the /Chumayel/ that the first series of /katun /prophecies refers to the 13th Century. Linda Schele has shown that the Lords of the Katuns likely have astronomical names, representing astronomical events associated with the /katuns/ over which they preside. Schele and Roys fix the first series of prophecies in historical time by equating /katun /4 /Ahaw /to 1224-1244 AD.* *Katun Prophecy in the Glyph Books* *Two of the surviving pre-Conquest Maya glyph books, called Codices , include what appear to be a pages devoted to the /u kahlay katunob. /The /Paris Codex/ contains a full set of 13 /katun/ pages, but they are badly damaged. The /Dresden Codex/ has a page that appears to concern /katun/ 11 /Ahaw, /probably originally part of a complete set of /katun /pages. * *The first glyph on the part of page 60 of the /Dresden Codex /illustrated at the left reads 11 /Ahaw. /The second glyph in the second column is the /katun /glyph. According to Landa's 16th Century account, images of two deities were set up in /katun/ rituals/. /The glyph at top of the second column includes the logograph /Yax/, and may name /Yaxal Chak/, the Lord of /katun /11 /Ahaw. /He is likely illustrated standing on the dias, above a deer sacrificed in the /katun /ritual. The glyph at the top right reads /Bolon/ (9) /Ok-te/, the /katun /regent. Elsewhere on the page, Sir J. Eric Thompson identified glyphs he read as "war" and "drought." Note the armed warrior threatening the /katun /Lord. This is consistent with the dire prophecies for this /katun /in the /Books of Chilam Balam./* *The return of Kulkulcan and the coming of Christianity* *"As the Mexican people had signs and prophecies of the coming of the Spaniards . . . so also did those of Yucatan. Some years before they were conquered by Admiral Montejo, in the district of Mani, in the province of Tutul Xiu, an Indian named /Ah cambal/, filling the office of /Chilan/ . . . told publicly that they would soon shift to fresh calendar bearers, and be ruled by a foreign race who would preach a God and the virtue of a wood which in their tongue he called /Ua hom che, /meaning a tree lifted up, of great power against the demons." -- Friar Diego de Landa, /Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan/, (1556)* . *The most famous of the /katun /prophecies in the /Books of Chilam Balam /are predictions of the coming of Christianity and the Spanish Conquest, purportedly made decades, or even centuries, before the arrival of the Europeans in the Yucatan. The most complete version of the prophecy is attributed to "/Chilam Balam/, the singer, of Cabal-chen, Mani," a /chilan /who the /Books/ tell us lived shortly before the Conquest, in the /katun /2 /Ahaw/ which began in about 1500. * *The singer of Cabel-chen's prophecy is for /katun /13 /Ahaw, /which ended about 1539. Cortez reached Mexico is 1519, near the beginning of the /katun; /The Spanish established themselves at Merida in the Yucatan at the end of the /katun/. The /Book of Chilam Balam of Chuyamel /records the prophecy thus:* *The prophecy of /Chilam Balam/, the singer, of Cabal-chen, Mani. On [the day] 13 /Ahau/ the/ katun/ will end in the time of the Itzá [a people of the Yucatan], in the time of Tancah [Mayapan, the last Maya city to dominate the Yucatan], Lord. There is the sign of /Hunab-ku/ [the one true God] on high. The raised wooden standard [Christian Cross] shall come. It shall be displayed to the world, that the world may be enlightened, Lord. There has been a beginning of strife, there has been a beginning of rivalry, when the priestly man shall come to bring the sign [of God] in time to come, Lord. . . . * *Receive your guests, the bearded men, the men of the east, the bearers of the sign of God, Lord. Good indeed is the word of God that comes to us. The day of our regeneration comes. . . . * *The First Tree of the World [The World Tree, a symbol of the cosmos associated with the Christian cross by the Maya] is restored; it is displayed to the world. This is the sign of /Hunab-ku/ on high. Worship it, Itzá. You shall worship today his sign on high. You shall worship it furthermore with true good will . . . You shall be converted to the word of /Hunab-ku/, Lord; it came from heaven. * *Believe in my word itself, I am /Chilam Balam/, and I have interpreted the entire message of the true God. (Chapter XXIV)* *This prophecy is the last of a series of five reproduced in the C/huyamel /and several other /Books of Chilam Balam/. They are contained in separate chapters from the other katun prophecies in the Books. As we have them, these prophecies have almost certainly been re-worked after the time of the events they predict, by Maya writers who had accepted at least a semblance of Christianity.* *.* *"[When the world was created] a pillar of the sky was set up . . . . The [great] green [ceiba] tree of abundance was set up in the center [of the world]". (/Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel/)* *The World Tree is the most pervasive Mesoamerican symbol of the creation and ordering of the world. It is the axis of the Earth-Sky. Its roots lie in Xibalba, the Underworld, and its top reaches into the heavens. After the Conquest, the World Tree came to be identified with the Christian Cross. The Cross, conceived as a living thing, continues to figure in Maya religious practices that combine Christianity and native traditions. See Raising the Sky: The Maya Creation Myth and the Milky Way at this web site for more about World Tree symbolism.* *Right: The World Tree is symbolized in the heavens by the Milky Way* . *In fact, the oldest sources are not the /Books of Chilam Balam, /but accounts of Spanish missionaries, who were understandably interested in encouraging native prophecy of the coming of a new religion. However, the consensus of opinion is that the prophecies do preserve an an authentic native tradition. After a careful survey of sources, Alfred Tozzer concluded that "These prophecies were doubtless adapted by the Spanish to proselytizing purposes but they seem fundamentally to have been native accounts of the return of /Kulkulcan/, one of the culture heroes of the Mayas, and corresponding to /Quetzalcoatl/ of the Mexicans."* *The role of the legend of /Quetzalcoatl's /return in the conquest of the Aztecs is of course a well-known theme. * * It is worth noting that most of the prophecies of the new religion in the /Books of Chilam Balam /are much less specific than the account of the "singer, of Cabal-chen," whose original prophecy may have been influenced by accounts of the arrival of Europeans in the Caribbean. The oldest, and possibly most authentic, attributed to the priest Napuctun, reads:* *It shall burn on earth; there shall be a circle in the sky. /Kauil/ [A deity whose image was erected on ritual occasions] shall be set up; he shall be set up in front in time to come. It shall burn on earth; the [very] hoof shall burn in that katun, in the time which is to come. Fortunate is he who shall see it when the prophecy is declared, who shall weep over his misfortunes in time to come. (Chapter XXIV)* *In addition, only the prophecy of the "singer, of Cabal-chen" is unequivocally associated with /katun /13 /Ahaw, /when the Spanish in fact arrived in the Yucatan. This is interesting because elsewhere in the /Books of Chilam Balam, /the return of /Kulkulcan /is identified with /katun /4 /Ahaw. /It is possible that, under missionary influence, the authors of the /Books /not only substituted the Christian God for /Kulkulcan, /but also shifted the /katun /to which the prophecy originally applied.* *The Maya long count measured the time elapsed since creation of the present world. Classical Maya creation accounts suggest that this world began after dissolution of a previous world that had lasted 13 /baktuns./ The /baktun/ is 20 /katuns/ in length. The/ tzolk'in /date at the beginning of the long count was 4 /Ahaw/. The count will reach a total of 13 /baktuns/ again on a /katun /4 /Ahaw /end date, in 2012 AD (according to he GMT correlation between the Maya and European calendars). * *No Maya text actually tells us explicitly what the Maya believed would transpire in 2012 AD, but the the end of the cycle was no doubt regarded as a highly significant time of transition between epochs. According to the /Books of Chilam Balam, Kulkulcan /will return in/ katun /4 /Ahaw . / Prophecy of the return of this deity, transformed in the /Books / into predictions of the coming of Christianity, may have originally been inspired in part by the coming end of the long count cycle.* *..* */Katun /4 /Ahau/ . . . . The /katun/ is established at Chichen Itzá. The settlement of the /Itzá/ shall take place [there]. The quetzal shall come, the green bird shall come. /Ah Kantenal/ shall come. Blood-vomit shall come. /Kukulcan/ shall come with them for the second time. [It is] the word of God. (/Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel, XXII/)* *Ralph L. Roys (trans.), /The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel,/ (U. of Oklahoma Press, 1967).* *On-line version at the Sacred Texts web site. See in particular chapters XVIII A Series Katun Prophecies , XXII A Book of Katun Prophecies , XXIV Prophecies of a New religion , and Roy's Discussion of Maya Prophecies (Appendix D) * *Antonio Mediz Bolio, /Chilam Balam de Chumayel/, (SEP, México 1985).* *On-line excerpts from this Spanish translation, including the prophecies of a new religion.* *Eugene R. Craine and Reginald C. Reindorp (trans.), /The Codex Pérez and the Book of Chilam Balam of Maní/, (University of Oklahoma Press, 1979).* *Victoria Bricker and Helga-Maria Miram (trans.), /An Encounter of Two Worlds: The Book of Chilam Balam of Kaua,/ (Tulane University, 2002).* *M. S. Edmonson (trans.), /The Ancient Future of the Itza: The Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin,/ (U. of Texas Press, 1982). Includes the tzolk'in almanac presented here, and katun prophecies.* *M. S. Edmonson, "Some Postclassic Questions about the Classic Maya" (Fifth Palenque Round Table, 1978). Includes discussion of evidence of persistence of Classical calendar divination through the Postclassic into the Conquest era.* *On-line at Mesoweb.* *M. S. Edmonson, /Quiche Dramas and Divinatory Calendars, /(Tulane University, 1997).* *M. S. Edmonson, /The Book of the Year: Middle American Calendrical Systems/, (University of Utah Press, 1988).* *Diego de Landa, /Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan/ (1556), English translation by W. Gates, /Yucatan Before and After the Conquest/ (Dover Press, 1978).* *On-line English translation . See in particular Landa's reference to prophecies of a new religion (chapter XI), and the /U Kahlay Katunob /(chapter XLI). Original Spanish text On-line * *John L. Stephens, /Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, /(1843, Dover reprint, 1963).* *Appendices supplied by Pio Perez include an augural almanac, and an excerpt from the /Chilam Balam of Mani /recounting pre-Conquest history of the Yucatan arranged by /katuns./* *Barbara Tedlock, /Time and the Highland Maya,/ (University of New Mexico, rev. 1992)*. *Account of the calendar lore and augury of Quiche shamans in Highland Guatemala. See a detailed review and discussion of this book on-line.* *Maya World Studies Centre, /Maya Divination by the Maya Calendar / Web page online .* *Describes Maya divination, and includes a good survey of the contributions of Tedlock and other Mayanists.* *Charles A. Hofling and Thomas O'Neil, "Eclipse Cycles in the Moon Goddess Almanacs in the Dresden Codex" in /The Sky in Mayan Literature/, ed. Anthony Aveni ( Oxford University Press, 1992)*. *Discussion of the "Moon Goddess" chapter of the /Dresden Codex/, including translation of the /tzolk'in /auguries.* *A. Aveni, S. Morandi, and P. Peterson. "The Maya Number of Time", (/Archaeoastronomy/ no. 21, 1996).* *On variations in the structure (and associated auguries) of /tzolk'in /almanacs in the codices: A partial explanation of discrepencies.* *Gabrielle Vail. "Evidence of haab associations in the Madrid Codex", (/Rev. Esp. Antropol. Am/. 30, 2000). Vail argues that day auguries in at least some almanacs in the codices are linked to full calendar round dates rather than /tzolk'in /dates alone. See also her discussion of the structure of almanacs in the codices at the Maya Codices Project web site.* *Michael Finley, "Structure of Tzolk'in Almanacs in Maya Glyph Books"* *A brief note on the structure of augural almanacs in the codices at this web site .* *J. Eric Thompson, /A Commentary on the Dresden Codex, /(American Philosophical Society, Memoir no. 93, 1972).* . *Includes the summary of /katun/ prophecies reproduced above, discussion of the /katun /page in the /Dresden Codex. /See the full /katun/ page on line at Andreas Fuls' Dresden Codex web site .* *Khristaan D. Villela and Linda Schele, "Astronomy and the Iconography of Creation Among the Classic and Colonial Period Maya" (Eighth Palenque Round Table, 1993) Includes Schele's evidence that /katun/ prophecies are linked, via astronomical imagery, to specific historical cycles of the katuns. On-line at Mesoweb.* *Alfred M. Tozzer, /A Maya Grammar/, (Dover reprint, 1977).* *Includes a survey of post-conquest Maya literature, including the /Books of Chilam Balam. /Good discussion of the provenance and problems in translating the prophcies of a new religion.* * Miguel Leon-Portillo, /The Broken Spears : The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico/, (Beacon Press, 1992).* . *Includes Aztec prophecies of the Spanish Conquest. See a summary of Aztec accounts of the Conquest on line at Mexico Connect. * *Brant Gardner, /Quetzalcoatl and the Myth of the Return/, 1998*. *This interesting on-line article presents the dissenting view that the prophecies of the Conquest and coming of Christianity were essentially a product of Spanish propaganda, not native tradition. *Michael John Wells Finley Feb, 2004. Revised June 04.*