CHAPTER III.
EXPLANATION OF FIGURES AND CHARACTERS ON PLATES XX-XXIII OF THE MANUSCRIPT TROANO AND 25-28 OF THE DRESDEN CODEX.
As heretofore stated, the figures that occupy the spaces on Plates XX-XXII[1] appear to relate, in part at least, to the close and commencement of the more important periods of time. I have already given my reasons for believing that the blue figure in the upper compartment of Plate XXIII represents an Ahau, and that the piercing of the eye with the dagger signifies that the last year of the period has arrived and is about to close.
Referring to Landa's Relacion de Cosas §§ XXXV-XXXVIII, I find the following account of the religious festivals which occurred during the intercalated or closing days, of the old and the commencement of the new year, each of the four years, Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac, having its own peculiar ceremonies.
As this is really the key to the explanation of the figures on the four plates mentioned, I quote his statement in full, translated from Brasseur's French, giving the original Spanish in Appendix No. 1.
"XXXV.—Fetes of supplemental days—Sacrifices of the commencement of the new year of the sign Kan.
"It was the custom in all the cities of Yucatan that there should be at each of the four entrances of the place—that is to say, the east, west, north, and south—two heaps of stone facing each other, intended for the celebration of two feasts of unlucky days. These feasts took place in the following manner:
- ↑ The reader is reminded again that Plates XX-XXIII of the Manuscript are the same as our Plates I-IV, a fact which will not be repeated hereafter in the text.
