Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts - Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Vol. 4, No. 1 by Paul Schellhas
page 21 of 53 (39%)
page 21 of 53 (39%)
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According to Förstemann, the day ruled by C seems to be Chuen.
D. The Moon- and Night-God. [Illustration: Figs. 17-20] This is a deity who is pictured in the form of an old man with an aged face and sunken, toothless mouth. He is frequently characterized by a long, pendent head ornament, in which is the sign Akbal, darkness, night, which also appears in his hieroglyph before the forehead of the deity, surrounded by dots as an indication of the starry sky. His name-hieroglyph is Fig. 17, and a second sign almost always follows (Fig. 18) which evidently serves likewise as a designation of the god, just as god A also is always designated by _two_ hieroglyphs. The second sign consists of two sacrificial knives and the sign of the day Ahau, which is equivalent to "king". The head of this deity appears in reduced, cursive form as the sign of the moon (Fig. 20). This character also has the significance of 20 as a number sign in the calendar. The association of these ideas probably rests upon the ancient conceptions, according to which the moon appearing, waxing, waning and again disappearing, was compared to man, and man in primeval ages was the most primitive calculating machine, being equivalent, from the sum of his fingers and toes, to the number 20. Twenty days is also the duration of that period during which the moon (aside from the new moon) is really _alive_. Moreover the sign (Fig. 20) appears in many places as a counterpart of the sign for the sun. God D occurs once as feminine in the same passage mentioned above, in |
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