The following is excerpted from from 13 B'aktun: Mayan Visions of 2012 and Beyond, translated by Robert Sitler and published by North Atlantic
Books.
We can observe how some myths can
be "translated" and converted into mathematical diagrams that express
astronomical relationships and allow for the reconciliation of different
calendars … All this study has a connecting thread: to try to reconstruct, as
much as possible, the Mayan people's elementary school of mathematics and
astronomy because for them, like for the Pythagoreans, "in the beginning was
the number."— Alejandro
Jaén.
Q'in (Time)
The concept of
time was apparently one of the most interesting to our Mayan ancestors; they
dedicated a good part of their efforts to it. We've left behind so many
elements of our culture, including numerous observatories and vestiges of the
Mayan work on time. We have become completely disconnected from many of them.
One is the profound significance that time had in Mayan consciousness in the
context of its mythology, thought, and holistic vision of the world in its
cultural development. There have been many researchers, especially from other
cultures, who investigated this fascinating theme of Mayan time. In summary
form, we can state that time is the duration of things subject to change, or that
which is measured by the movement of stars and planets. But the authors
themselves have recognized their limitations regarding the great mysteries of
our ancestors. J. Eric Thompson refers to it like this: "Our outlooks are too
far removed from those of the Maya and, on top of that terrible handicap, there
are so many aspects of the problem which are imperfectly known or completely
unknown to us."
In the foreword
to León-Portilla's Time and Reality in the Thought of the Maya, Thompson
indicates that in spite of being an authority on the subject, "I fear that we
shall never attain a corner of the canvas," referring to the broad knowledge of the Mayan
"philosophy of time," as some call it.
Numerous
contemporary academic researchers have dedicated their efforts to investigation
of the Maya with relation to time. It's worthwhile listing some of those who
have ventured into this vast field: Schele, Vogt, Edmonson, Tedlock, Villa
Rojas, Gossen, Bruce, Carlson, Tichy, Aveni, Broda, Carmack, Farris,
Brotherson, Coggins, Bricker, Förstermann, Goodman, Seler, Spinden, Beyer,
Teeple, Morley, Berlin, Barthel, Satterthawaite, Thompson, etc.
Time in Mayan is q'in,
an abstract concept that leads us to consider the relationships among three
dimensions simultaneously: time, space, and life. In Q'anjob'al Maya,
q'in also is a synonym for "festival" and "happiness." In some way, for
Mayan people, time is the dynamic of life in space. Thus, if there were
emptiness or total stillness somewhere, movement would not exist and life would
not happen. Without time, life would be immortal. There would be no aging.
Perhaps that's what eternity is: frozen time in which life doesn't move and the
beings confined to that context are eternal. Perhaps that is what motivated the
Maya to dedicate so much of their time to time. For our ancestors, the passage
through our state in this dimension to the state of death invited desire for
immortality or the negation of kamich. Why were our ancestors eager to
conquer those planes and why their obsession concerning time and space?
Apparently they progressed quite a bit concerning knowledge of this mystery
through their philosophy. Like all that is mortal on the Earth, they were
anxious to achieve prolongation of life through control of time in fulfillment
of the command received from the Creators. It is assumed that time has no
beginning but instead has always existed as part of the deity's nature. They
conceived of time as something without beginning or end, which made it possible
to project calculations about far-off moments in the past without ever reaching
a starting point.
Given that the
movement of stars in space establishes a measurement of time, and that lack of
movement would mark a dead point in time, what relation is there between time
and space? Similarly, if transcendence did not exist, awareness of our own
existence would end up reduced to a simple fantasy or dream, a product of our
imagination and our desire to endure. We'd be mere images of our own creation
that terminate upon waking up from the dream at death's threshold. Thus, that
which we think we perceive here and now would be a mere product of our
illusions as creatures continually anxious to remain in time, even without
knowing in what space. All cultures, all religions, and all human philosophies
are in pursuit of that goal: the search for enduring existence and happiness.
Kawil-yib'an-q'inal
(life-space-time) is the current
linguistic formula of this three-dimensional concept. It defines the
aspirations of Mayan culture, of our civilization's philosophy, and of a being
that exists, reflects, and becomes aware of his or her location at a point in
time and space, a being aware of its exact location on Earth, that which modern
science knows as degrees of latitude and longitude, except in a cosmic and
broader sense in the vast universe. Starting from a person's location,
projections radiate out toward other dimensions that are well-defined within
his or her philosophical concepts. In this way, we construct our numbering and
mathematics: the txolq'in or sequential ordering of time in a profound
and systematic way, the study of space using numerical formulae, and the
control of life in the present and future.
The awakening of
Mayan people's awareness concerning their role as a creature located amidst the
two realities of time and space motivates them to start searching for their
origins, the reason for their existence, and the goal of their journey through
time and infinite space, and also to make a mental effort to systematize their
studies until discovering the important aspects that will allow them to
organize their own existence on Earth.
To understand how
our ancestors studied time, I'll start with a person's birth. My son is named
Kab' Iq', Two Wind, because he was born that day on our ritual txolq'in. It's
different than the date of his birth on the Gregorian calendar. He was probably
conceived on 7 Ix, a date foreseen in the wisdom of the gods that
determines the future and personality of each individual. This calendar day
radiates its influence over the life, the work, the soul, the science, the
religion, and all that relates to the existence of a person, both in the
present and future. Time acts on the lives of plants — the times for planting,
the harvest — the raising of animals, the fertile times of living beings, the
cycle of rains, droughts, hunting and fishing, the time for celebration of
festivals and the time for meditation, etc.
There were no
telescopes, no satellites, nor any instruments as in the present. But there was
intelligence and there were methods of observation in combination with
mathematical and astronomical calculations. On the basis of many years, perhaps
many centuries, of observing the phenomena of sky and earth — hurricanes,
eclipses, earthquakes, the passing of comets in the firmament, lunar and solar
cycles, stars that appear and disappear, the rainy and dry seasons, cold and
hot, the migration of animals, the fertility of the Earth, the longest and
shortest days, the phases of the moon — Mayan people managed to train their minds
to know intimately the movement of time and space, the effects that cause
everything concerning the beings and elements of the Earth. Based on this, they
established a culture of corn, control over the births and lives of plants and
animals, and systematic measurement by means of calendars for different uses.
The movements of heavenly bodies such as Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Sirius, and
Neptune are recorded in the few documents that remain after the book burning
carried out by the invaders. We still have four of these codices in different
parts of the world, but so much must have been lost in that fateful act of
burning the complete library where the wisdom of our ancestors was written.
The ordering of
time best known by the people is the Komam Ora (txolq'in) that here we
will call the "ritual calendar" since this is the one guiding obligatory
observation by all members of society, especially for ritual purposes.
Within it, one is born and one dies, and there is the recording of
events in a "year" that has 13 rounds of 20 days. Landa indicates to us
that the ancients had a name for each period of the day and of time:
"During the day they had terms for midday, and for different sections
from sunrise to sunset, according to which they recognized and regulated
their hours for work … They had their perfect year like ours…."
This txolq'in is
made up of 20 days, each one assigned a numeral from 1 to 13 that indicates the
degree of importance in ranking it occupies on the scale across time. (On the
14th day, the count starts at 1 again. There are 260 possible combinations.) It
begins with the day Imox and ends with Ajaw, which is the
quintessential deity whose name means "Lord," as already explained. Once the
first 13 days are completed, the numbers begin again with the number 1 and the
Lord of the day that follows until completing all 20 day names, and in this way
you get 260 days of the ritual year, that is, 13 "months" of 20 days. The
following day is the ritual new year, which is variable.
The origin and
meaning of the txolq'in are complex since it arose as a result of the
observations mentioned earlier. The 260 days arise from the 13 levels of the
universe. Five Venus "years" (5 x 584 days) is equal to eight Earth years (8 x
365), and adding those together also gives 13. Multiplying 13 by the 20 Lords
that are the basis for the vigesimal numerical system gives us 260 days. One
modern investigator considers that the "great finding in this case was
discovering that the indigenous people had not thought just in terms of time
but also of space. Curiously, on incorporating space an extraordinary
phenomenon was produced, [and] the legends began to transform themselves into
mathematical diagrams."
Numerical
relationships are not coincidental; they are conclusions that Mayan people
arrived at for utilitarian purposes in orienting life and the future. For
example, there are 52 influences that the txolq'in can project on any
particular day through numerical combinations. There are the 13 degrees of the txolq'in
under each of the cosmic cross's four world supports, the Year-bearers. At
the same time, the number 13 is one-fourth of 52 years, half of a calendar
wheel of 104 years.
Some researchers,
such as R. Girard, believe that Mayan numbers have a relation to cosmogonic and
astronomic aspects, especially the passage of the sun through the zenith — that
is, the highest point in the sky over the Earth — which occurs on either April 30
or May 1 at a latitude of 14 degrees, 35 minutes, and 24 seconds. This is a
sort of "equinox" in the Pacific area of Guatemala, the place of origin for the
calendar as a cultural element for Mayan people.
In creating the
ritual calendar, science is complemented by mysticism and philosophy in view of
the fact that the txolq'in has a strong relation to the spiritual beings
known as the twenty Lords that were created at the beginning of time and who
represent the elements of the visible realm as well as the supernatural world.
The Lords of the Days
The Lords are supernatural beings
that serve as intermediaries between Ajaw and humans and all creation.
As different manifestations of the one Great Energy, they adopt the nature of
physical and spiritual elements with powers that come from the Heart of Sky to
help in the development of life on Earth. They are not gods; they are visible
and invisible elements that collaborate in the mediation of life's development
in time and space from the viewpoint of Mayan culture. Through them, the human
being can order its relationship with the Supreme Being.
Copyright © 2010 by Gaspar Pedro Gonzàlez. Reprinted by permission of
the publisher.
Image by ramonbaile, courtesy of Creative Commons license.
