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Lars Kirkhusmo Pharo History of Religions University of Oslo

RITUALS OF TIME AN ANALYSIS OF THE RITUAL PRACTICE OF TIME OF THE LONG COUNT CALENDAR, THE 260-DAY CALENDAR, THE 365-DAY CALENDAR AND THE 52-YEAR CALENDAR IN MESOAMERICA. Lars Kirkhusmo Pharo History of Religions University of Oslo. Numerous calendars or time reckonings in Mesoamerica.

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Lars Kirkhusmo Pharo History of Religions University of Oslo

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  1. RITUALS OF TIMEAN ANALYSIS OF THE RITUAL PRACTICE OF TIME OF THE LONG COUNT CALENDAR, THE 260-DAY CALENDAR, THE 365-DAY CALENDAR AND THE 52-YEAR CALENDAR IN MESOAMERICA Lars Kirkhusmo Pharo History of Religions University of Oslo

  2. Numerous calendars or time reckonings in Mesoamerica • The Long Count calendar. • A seven day cycle. • A nine day cycle (“The Lords of the Night”). • 13 and 20 days cycles. • The 260-day calendar. • The 365-day calendar. • The 260 and 365-day calendars combined into a 52-year calendar (18, 980 days) called the “Calendar Round”. • A 819-day cycle (4 x 819 days). • Poorly understood time cycles of the Lunar calendar and possibly cycles defined by the movements of other heavenly bodies.

  3. Computations of time in Mesoamerica • Part of the intellectual systems of native people of the Americas: Known more than 2000 years ago. • In their writing and iconographic/narrative sequential visual systems, Mesoamerican cultures recorded several calendars (a computed number of time units) founded on meticulous astronomical observations and mathematical knowledge. • Different time reckonings could be associated with world directions, deities, myths, rituals and various symbols. • Functions: Historiography, prophecy, divination, astronomical observations, agriculture etc. • The organised and systematised (calendar) time subjected to a variety of ritual practices.

  4. Theurban ”high” civilisations of Mesoamerica • Olmec (”mother culture”), Nahua (Aztec), Mixtec, Maya, Zapotec, Toltec, Tarascan, Tlapanec, Otomí etc. from c.1000 B.C .– 1521 A.D.: • Logosyllabic (hieroglyph) and syllabic (phonetic) writing. • Iconographic or visual narrative systems. • Vigesimal number system (20, 400 etc.) • The 260-day calendar and the 365-day calendar.

  5. ”Keeping The Days: Time And Identity In Middle America” (Leiden University) • 260-day and 365-day calendars in use today: • Southern Mexico (Mixe but also Zapotecs, Chatinos, Mazatecs, Chinantecs and Mixtecs). • Highland Guatemala (Maya: K’iche’, Ixil, Mam, Akateko, Q’anjob’al, Popti and Chuj). • “Daykeepers” (ritual specialists in traditional healing and other rituals) in present-day indigenous communities. • Barbara Tedlock. Time and the Highland Maya. 1992. • Ancient deities, practices and beliefs & saints and Christian theology. • Revitalisation movements: Calendars as a symbol of cultural identity.

  6. Primary historical sources to the analysis of ritual practices of time of the Mesoamerican calendars • The Long Count calendar of the Classic Maya (and the Short Count calendar of the Post-Classic Yucatec): logosyllabic (hieroglyphs) inscriptions on stone monuments. • The 260-day calendar of the Post-Classic Yucatec: Codices (manuscripts) and Colonial accounts. • The 365-day calendar of the Post-Classic Yucatec. Codices and Colonial accounts. • The 52-year calendar (Calendar Round) of the Post-Classic Aztec culture. Codices and Colonial accounts.

  7. Methodology: The theoretical model of the investigation of History of Religions • The structure of calendar time: linear and cyclic. • The sequences and structure of the ritual practice. • The mythic past and the cosmogony: a ritual practice of cosmological time. • The ritual practice of time and space in a spatial-temporal ritual. • The future: a ritual practice of eschatological and apocalyptical time. • The community and society: the sociology of the ritual practice of time. • Power: the politics of the ritual practice of time. • The theological order (structure) of divine/sacred quality of time.

  8. The mythic past and the cosmogony: ritual practices of cosmological time The structure of calendar time: • Linear time. progressive, sequential or chronological and non-repetitive. • Cyclic time. Time is infinite and recurring, but organised in a determined sequence. • These two basic conceptions or principles of time – cyclic vs. linear – form a culture’s perception of the past, the present and the future. • The ritual practice of time can both terminate and inaugurate intervals within or of a full cyclic calendar, but it can only terminate and inaugurate intervals within a linear calendar.

  9. Ritual (re)creation of time: Symbolic synchronisation of dates • Cosmology is described through creation mythology, which explains the primordial ordering of space and time. • The rituals of time associated with events of the mythical past when the time of the calendar started. • Determine whether it was a re-enactment of the primordial acts of the deities at the cosmogony as a symbolically rebuilding or recreating of the cosmos (space) and/or a renewal of time. • A symbolic synchronisation of calendar dates of cosmogony and the ritual practice.

  10. The Classic Maya and the Post-Classic Aztecs • Linear computation and rituals of time: The ritual practices of time of the Long Count calendar of the Classic Maya: Logosyllabic (hieroglyphic) inscriptions. 2. Cyclical computation and rituals of time: The 52-year calendar ritual of the Post-Classic Aztecs: Primeros Memoriales and The Florentine Codex of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún.

  11. THE SYMBOLIC SYNCHRONISATION OF DATES IN THE RITUAL PRACTICE OF TIME OF THE LONG COUNT CALENDAR OF THE CLASSIC MAYA • The “Maya” comprises c. seven million people who speak a Mayan language today (there are about 30 extant Mayan languages). • The various contemporary Mayan peoples are cultural and linguistic minorities in the Mexican states Veracruz, Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, in Belize, in Guatemala, in the western parts of El Salvador and Honduras. • Classic Maya civilisation: cities and city-states. • The southern and the central lowland (c. 200 A.D. – c. 910 A.D).

  12. The Long Count Calendar of the Classic Maya culture • First record of LC: Epi-Olmec inscription (September 3, 31 B.C.) • The Gregorian linear calendar makes a count of the number of years. • The Long Count calendar constitutes a counting of days beginning at the creation of the present world or time age at 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u (O’hl) (August 13th, 3114 B.C.). • Horror vacui: No recording of count from 0.0.0.0. • 13.0.0.0.0 is the last day of the previous LC, which consisted of 13 bak’tun. • The former Long Count was a long period of 13 x 400-year units (1,872,000 days, c. 5,200 years) or 13 bak’tun. 13 bak’tun is said in the inscriptions to be the “termination” of the preceding world age or world period (i.e. LC).

  13. The five basic time units of the LC Bak’tun (Pi’k): 144, 000 days K’atun (Winikhaab): 7, 200 days Haab (Tuun): 360 days Winal/Winik: 20 days K’in: 1 day

  14. Taboo: concept of zero or completion (nothingness) Notational variant: mih?/minan? Head variant:

  15. 12.19.16.14.7 8 Manik’ 5 Sak (October 27th, 2009) Bak’tun 12 x 144 000 days = 1728 000 days K’atun 19 x 7 200 days = 136 800 days Haab 16 x 360 days = 5760 days Winal/winik 14 x 20 days = 280 days K’in 7 x 1 day = 7 days 1 870 847 days since the creation date of 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u (August 13th, 3114 B.C.). 8 Manik’: 260-day calendar. 5 Sak: 365-day calendar.

  16. Ritual practices of time • It is the calendar position of the inscriptions that serves as the fundamental indicator. • The period-ending stations of LC fell on the twentieth day, Ajaw, of the 260-day calendar because 144, 000, 7, 200, 360 and 20 are divisible by 20. • The ceremonial undertaking must be stated to occur on a period-ending date – of whether the ritual practice was intended to be concerned with time. • Stone monuments and structures embody inscriptions that celebrate a ritual completion of bak’tun, k’atun and haab time-intervals of the LC.

  17. Ritual practices of time • K’atun-endings were the period-ending most frequently recorded and thus probably most often celebrated. For instance: 9.15.0.0.0.4 Ajaw 13 Yax (August 22nd, 731 AD). • The half- and quarter-k’atun were also quite common (every 5th year). For instance: A half-k’atun or a ten-haab ending at 9.15.10.0.0. A fifth haab of a k’atun at 9.16.5.0.0. A fifteenth haab of a k’atun at 9.16.15.0.0.

  18. Ritual practices of time • Ritually celebrated bak’tun endings in the Classic and Post-Classic periods happened only every 144, 000 days or c. 400 years. • There are only two bak’tun ending dates in the Classic period, 9.0.0.0.0 (December 11, 435 A.D.) and 10.0.0.0.0 (March 15, 830 A.D.). • The ritual practice of time of a bak’tun constituted a particular important event.

  19. Ritual practices of time • Various performances (ritual techniques) of a variety of rituals of time units within the Long Count calendar. A linear time computation: • Not calendar-ending/calendar-inaugurating. • An incorporated completion/introduction of heterogeneous interval units of time.

  20. Creation mythology and the ritual practice of time • Stories about the creation of the world (cosmogony) and pre-human or pre-historic time (the mythic past). • A symbolic synchronisation of the date of creation (13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u) and of the ritual practices of time?

  21. At least four creation myths – with local variations of places and protagonists – in the Classic period • Indicative for deciding the Classic Maya cosmogony in the inscriptions is a description of events which took place on the day of the last Long Count, i.e. 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u. • The myth of the erection and binding or wrapping of three stones (tuun) (Quirigua). • The bathing (yataj) of the Paddler Gods at Naj Ho’ Chan Ajaw’ (Tila). • The myth of the action of the seven and eleven gods (Naranjo). • The creation of 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u and 0.0.1.9.2 13 Mak end-of Mol (Palenque).

  22. Stela C, Quirigua (east side)

  23. Stela C, Quirigua (east side) On 13 0.0.00. 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u (13th of August, 3114 B.C.), three named stones were erected, bound or wrapped. The first stone, ‘The Jaguar Throne Stone’, was planted by the two supernatural beings that operate in pair – The Jaguar Paddler and The Stingray Paddler. This happened at a location called Naj Ho’Chan (“House Five Sky”). Then the god Ik’ Naj Chaahk erected a stone, ‘The Snake Throne Stone’. This took place at Kab-? (“Earth-?”). In the end the third stone, ‘The Waterlily Throne Stone’, was bound or wrapped by a fourth supernatural being, Itzamnaaj. This happened at Ti’ Chan, Yax ? Nal. 13 bak’tun was thus completed. It was done under the auspices or authority of the god Ajaw Huk Chan (“Lord Six Sky”).

  24. The creation date connected with rituals of time of the contemporary LC The west side of Stela C, Quirigua: • Rituals were recorded to be conducted, on 9.1.0.0.0 6 Ajaw 13 Yaxk’in (August 28, 455 AD) and on 9.17.5.0.0 6 Ajaw 13 K’anasiiy (December 29, 755 AD). • The inscription on the west side of Stela C record a ritual celebration of a 260-day anniversary of the day 6 Ajaw in combination with a period-ending date and is therefore not a commemoration of the creation (13.0.0.0.0) 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u.

  25. The cosmogonic model of the Classic Maya: Many previous LC • Several LC time periods or successive world ages/eras (“Great Time” or “Deep Time”). • The inscription on Stela 1, Stela 5, and probably Stela 3 of Coba (Macanxoc) records 20 Long Counts. • 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13. 13.13.13.13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u: 41 341 050 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 or 41 943 040 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 years ago.

  26. Pseudo-Maya designations for higher units ”Piktun” or 8,000 haab (Haab=360 days) ”Kalabtun” or 160,000 haab ”K’inichiltun” or 3,200,000 haab ”Alawtun” or 64,000,000,000 haab Also larger time units, which not have received similar constructed Pseudo-Maya names, in the Classic Maya notation system. These time periods was multiplied with the coefficient affixed to them.

  27. The synchronisation of period-ending dates of previous and present LC computations • The calendar positions of previous and the present LC could be calculated in such a manner that both fall on the same date in repetitive computations. • The historical date is “like in kind” to the pre-creation or mystical date. There is therefore a symmetrical relation between the “mythical” date of a previous time reckoning (LC) and the “historical” date of the present LC (Floyd Lounsbury). • Henry B. Nicholson: “pattern history”.

  28. The creation date connected with rituals of time of former LC • Inscriptions from Quirigua, Copan and Piedras Negras associate ritual practices of time with events that occurred in distant (e.g. previous) Long Counts. • They can therefore not be linked to the proceedings of creation of the contemporary world age (LC) and time reckoning.

  29. The creation date connected with rituals of time of former LC • The account on Stela A (East & West), Quirigua relates that K’ahk’ Tiliw Chan erected “the 6 Ajaw Stone” on the period-ending date 9.17.5.0.0 6 Ajaw 13 K’anasiiy (29 December, 775 A.D.) • The calendar position of 6 Ajaw is associated with the completion of a time period of a former Long Count: 19 ? (e.g. not known time-period) 6 Ajaw 13 Sak siho’m by the supernatural being Ek’ Nal-?. • Hence, the symbolic station of the 260-day calendar, 6 Ajaw is emphasised.

  30. Synchronisation of dates but no ritual of time Hieroglyphic Stairway, Yaxchilan (Mexico) In a ritual ball game Ajaw?-B’alam (IV) impersonates the deity Yax Lot Ju’n on October 21st, 744 A.D. (9.15.13.6.9 3 Muluk 17 Mak) which refers to an identical date 8 world ages back in time: 1,527 047 911 121 000 days.

  31. Summary • Rituals of time could be associated with dates and ceremonies conducted before the creation of the contemporary LC. • Rituals performed by deities in “Deep Time” or “Great Time” (i.e. former LC) could be repeated symmetrically, by identical 260-day stations, in the present LC. • This means that there was not necessarily an intimately symbolic association between the creation of the present LC, i.e. the cosmogony, and the ritual practice of time. • The principle of “pattern history” did not apply to the LC calendar, but rather to the 260-day and 365-day calendars. Winikhaab and haab anniversaries were recorded, but there is no evidence of a cycle or a repetition associated with their passing. • Only a termination and inauguration of intervals within the linear calendar.

  32. THE SYMBOLIC SYNCHRONISATION OF DATES IN THE RITUAL PRACTICE OF THE 52-YEAR CALENDAR • The Aztecs constituted a part of the last faction (Nahua) whom invaded the Basin of Mexico after the decline of the Toltecs (probably around 1100 A.D.). • After leaving their mythical place of origin, Aztlán. They founded the city of Tenochtitlan in 1345 A.D., which became their capital in an empire of Central Mexico that was destroyed in 1521 A.D.

  33. The 52-year calendar: a combination of the 260-day calendar and 365-day calendar • The 52-year calendar had a chronological mythic, historical and prophethic function. • No zero start date as in the LC. • The dates in the different 52-years calendars were not separated but repeated in eternal cycles. • The 52-year calendar comprise the 260-day calendar and the 365-calendar.

  34. The 260-day calendar • The 260-day calendars and the 365-day calendar were first recognised in the writing system of the Zapotecs in Oaxaca, Mexico. • The 260-day calendar consists of 20 day names combined with a number from 1 to 13 (13 x 20 = 260 days). • For instance the date ”1 Cuauhtli (”eagle”)” consists of two parts: the number 1 og and the day name Cuauhtli. • This name and combination of number, i.e. the date, will not be repeated until after exactly 260 days.

  35. The Aztec 260-day calendar (Tonalpohualli) 1. Cipactli (caiman/crocodile) 2. Ehecatl (wind) 3. Calli (house) 4. Cuetzpalin (lizard) 5. Coatl (snake) 6. Miquiztli (death) 7. Mazatl (deer) 8. Tochtli (rabbit) 9. Atl (water) 10. Itzcuintli (dog) 11. Ozomahtli (monkey) 12. Malinalli (plait) 13. Acatl (reed) 14. Ocelotl (Oselot) 15. Cuauhtli (eagle) 16. Cozcacuauhtli (vulture) 17. Ollin (movement) 18. Tecpatl (flint knife) 19. Quiahuitl (rain) 20. Xochitl (flower)

  36. The 260-days calendar cycle • The first day in the 260-day cycle is 1 Cipactli followed by 2 Ehecatl, 3 Calli, 4 Cuetzpallin, 5 Coatl, 6 Miquitzli, 7 Mazatl, 8 Tochtli, 9 Atl, 10 Itzcuintli, 11 Ozomahtli, 12 Malinalli, 13 Acatl. • Then: 1 Ocelot, 2 Cuauhtli, 3 Cozcacuauhtli, 4 Ollin, 5 Tecpatl, 6 Quiahuitl, 7 Xochitl, 8 Cipactli, 9 Calli, 10 Cuetzpallin etc. • The last day is 13 Xochitl. • After 260-days: 1 Cipactli etc.

  37. The 365-days calendar • The 365-day calendar consists of 18 time units each containing 20 days. • The 365-day calendar ends with a 19th time unit of 5 days. • 18 x 20 + 5 = 365 days.

  38. The Aztec 365-day calendar (Xiuhpohualli) 1.Izcalli 2. Atlcahualo 3. Tlacaxipehualiztli 4. Tozoxtontli 5. Hueytozoztli 6. Toxcatl 7. Etzalcualiztli 8. Tecuilhuitontli 9. Hueytecuilhuitl 10. Tlaxochimaco 11. Xocotlhuetzi 12. Ochpaniztli 13. Teotleco 14. Tepeilhuitl 15. Quecholli 16. Panquetzaliztli 17. Atemoztli 18. Tititl 19. Nemontemi

  39. The 365-days calendar cycle • The first time unit is Izcalli. • 1 Izcalli continues with 2 Izcalli, 3 Izcalli etc. until19 Izcalli. • Then 1 Atlcahualo 2 Atlcahualo, etc. • De last days of the 365-day cycle is 18 Tititl, 19 Tititl and the last unspeakable (taboo) days of the Nemontemi, 1 Nemontemi, 2 Nemontemi, 3 Nemontemi and 4 Nemontemi.

  40. The 260-day calendar and the 365-day calendar: 52-year calendar (Calendar Round) • A permutation of the 260-day cycle and the 365-day cycle form a period of 52 vague years. • It will take 18,980 days for a juxtaposed date of the 260-day and the 365-day calendar to be repeated in the Calendar Round. • A Calendar Round therefore consists of a 73 x 260-day cycle or a 52 x 365-day cycle (94,900 days or 52 vague years).

  41. The Aztec 52-year ritual of 1507 A.D. (Ome Acatl, 2 Reed) • The Aztecs celebrated a fire-ritual called xiuhmolpilli (“Binding of the new year”) at the end of the old and at the inauguration of the new 52-year calendar cycle. • An old fire was symbolically replaced on a sacred mountain near Tenochtitlan.

  42. Creation myth • Various accounts. • In a short passage of book III, ‘The Origin of the Gods’, of The Florentine Codex (Sahagún)it is related that the deities gathered in the historical city Teotihuacan when the world was in darkness. The sun and moon were still to be created. The deities debated who was to carry the burden, tlamamalli, which meant who would be sacrificed to become the sun and the moon. At midnight, the deities gathered around the hearth, teotexcalli, which had burned for four days. Four times the coward Tecuciztecatl tried to throw him self into the flames of the hearth, but he ignominiously failed. Nanauatzin, spurred by the other gods, cast himself into the flames. Tecuciztecatl thereafter followed his example. Both the sun, Nanauatzin, and the moon, Tecuciztecatl, arose together.

  43. The 52-year calendar ritual as a symbolic-ritual re-actualisation of the creation myth • A symbolic connection between a lightning of a new fire in the New Fire Ceremony ending/inaugurating the 52-year calendar cycle and the creation myth of the Aztecs? • The cosmogony myth of the present world might have served as background for celebrating the New Fire rite of the 52-year calendar ritual.

  44. Symbolic synchronisation of creation date and the date of the New Fire Ceremony • The Post-Classic Aztecs celebrated the 52-year ritual on two calendar dates in the course of their history: Year Bearer dates of the 260-day calendar: Ce Tochtli (1 Rabbit) and Ome Acatl (2 Reed). • In the majority of the creation accounts the construction of the fifth world took place on Ce Tochtli (1 Rabbit). • Ome Acatl (2 Reed) was the date of the 52-year calendar ritual in 1507 A.D.

  45. Symbolic synchronisation of the creation date and the date of the New Fire Ceremony • A symbolic link between the date of the creation on Ce Tochtli (1 Rabbit) and the New Fire Ceremony on Ome Acatl (2 Reed) cannot be established in the 1507 A.D. ritual. • The date Ome Acatl (2 Reed) of celebrating the 1507 A.D. ceremony did not have a symbolic association with the cosmogony.

  46. Political manipulation of date of celebrating the New Fire Ceremony • Change of dates due to manipulation by the ruler (tlatoani) Motecuzoma Xocoyotl (r. from 1502 –1520 A.D.). • A calendar reform of the New Fire Ceremony most likely occurred in 1506 –1507 A.D. • Due to calamities that had occurred in Ce Tochtli or 1506 A.D. • The difficult years, with flood and cease of rains, between 1499 –1506 A.D. may have motivated a calendar reform in 1506 –1507 A.D.

  47. Cosmic temporal law:The 260-day calendar in Mesoamerican ideology and ritual practices • Linear calendar (LC). • Cyclical calendar (52-year). • Maya city-states (various myths and rituals). • Aztec empire. (State mythology and rituals).

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