The Months of the year kaqchikel Or cachiquel, are part of the sophisticated system of old mesoamerican calendars of the Mayan villages .
These have a peculiarity: they have their own names corresponding to the linguistic branch of the south of the peninsula of Yucatán.
It is still considered today as one of the most accurate systems ever formulated to calculate time and cycles of the sun, moon and Earth. Calculate ages, years, months, weeks and days, based on the combination of 3 measurement units: long, solar and sacred calendar.
The months are considered as such within the solar calendar, called in its dialect the Haab or Chol'Ab , That at the moment the Mayan towns have replaced practically by the Gregorian one.
The most common nomenclature used and studied for the calendar is that of the Yucatecan, which is the language most spoken and studied among Mayan peoples. Although the cachiquel as a dialect differs from the Yucatecan, its calendars preserve the cultural parallel mentioned above.
The use of the months of the year kaqchikel
This calendar was based on the rotation of the Earth around the sun. It was also called agricultural or civil calendar, since its months indicated the seasons for agricultural tasks of planting and harvesting, something very important for all the Mayas.
As the life of these peoples revolved around agriculture, the rest of the civil activities of the year also depended on it. Thanks to this, the calendar included a kind of guide with which people, every month, carried out activities of a personal nature or with the community.
In this particular, it worked as if it were a Mayan zodiac, where each month represents an important aspect of social and personal life according to its culture. Currently, the Haab As an astrological alternative in Central America, along with Chinese astrology and the well-known Western.
Like all horoscopes, it does not escape being surrounded by symbolism and mystery, with multiple interpretations available among the various ethnicities. The local inhabitants in the modernity have not offered more detail than already has. Consequently, the meaning of each month within the calendar is not completely clear.
Nevertheless, there is enough numerical, functional and symbolic correlation between the different Mayan peoples with respect to the calendar and its months. The cachiquel enters inside this conglomerate.
The months of the Haab calendar
Below is a list of the different months in cachiquel, its reference in yucateco, the glyph of the first day of the month or day"0"or"seat of the month that starts"and some meanings of it.
1- Takaxepwal
- Reference in yucateco: Pop.
- Meaning: jaguar, leadership, soft earth.
2- Nab'ey Tumusus
- Reference in yucateco: Wo.
- Meaning: black conjunction, night, two soft lands.
3- Rukab 'Tummusus
- Reference in yucateco: Sip.
- Meaning: Red Conjunction, deer, deer.
4- Sib'ixik
- Reference in yucateco: Zotz '.
- Meaning: bat, fish, beginning of winter.
5- Uchum
- Reference in yucateco: Sek.
- Meaning: heaven, earth, death.
6- Nab'ey Mam
- Reference in yucateco: Xul.
- Meaning: dog with solar tail, days of the birds.
7- Rukab 'Mam
- Reference in yucateco: Yaxk'in.
- Meaning: new sun, red clouds, sun god.
8- Liq'in Qa
- Reference in yucateco: Mol.
- Meaning: water, cloud gathering.
9- Nab'ey Toq'ik
- Reference in yucateco: Ch'en.
- Meaning: black storm, moon, west.
10- Rukab 'Toq'ik
- Reference in yucateco: Yax.
- Meaning: green storm, Venus, south.
11- Nab'ey Patch
- Reference in yucateco: Sak.
- Meaning: white storm, frog, north.
12- Rukab 'Patch
- Reference in yucateco: Kej.
- Meaning: red storm, trees, east.
13- Tz'ikin Q'ij
- Reference in yucateco: Mak.
- Meaning: cover closed, God of number 3.
14- K'aqan
- Reference in yucateco: K'ank'in.
- Meaning: Earth, underworld, yellow sun.
15- Ib'ota o o B'otan
- Reference in yucateco: Muwan.
- Meaning: Owl, God of rain and clouds.
16- K'atik
- Reference in yucateco: Pax.
- Meaning: puma, arrow, moment to plant
17- Itzkal
- Reference in yucateco: K'ayab.
- Meaning: turtle, Goddess of the moon.
18- Pariy 'Che'
- Reference in yucateco: Kumk'u.
- Meaning: grain or barn, crocodile, corn, dark gods.
19- Tz'Apiq'Ij
- Reference in yucateco: Wayeb
- Meaning: 5 days of bad luck, God of the earth.
How does this calendar work?
Mayan numbering for the days within each month.
This calendar has 18 months of 20 days each adding a total of 360 days. To this is added a last month of 5 days completing the cycle of 365 days that coincides with the rotation of the earth around the sun.
Each 20-day period is accompanied by a glyph that comes to represent the entry for that particular month that was usually considered as day 0 in the numbering, and this was written before the name of the month. The rest of the days continued until reaching 19 adding 20.
Thus, each month began with day 0 followed by the name: 0 Takaxepwal, which meant on every first day as the seat of the month Takaxepwal. Then it would continue 1 Takaxepwal, 2 Takaxepwal, 3 Takaxepwal successively until arriving at 19 Takaxepwal.
Then the next period would be 0 Nab'ey Tumusus, 1 Nab'ey Tumusus, 2 Nab'ey Tumusus up to 19 Nab'ey Tumusus and then with the month Rukab 'Tummusus until the last day of the penultimate period that is 19 Pariy' Che ' .
The year ends with the 5 days of the last month that is Tz'apiq'ij. The nomenclature of days remains the first the Tz'apiq'ij until the 4 Tz'apiq'ij.
In relation to the Gregorian calendar, the New Year coincides with the ninth month of the Nab'ey Toq'ik cachiquel from 2 to 21 January. On the other hand the new year cachiquel that initiates with Takaxepwal, coincides with the last days of July.
Wayeb, the year end of the changes
The last month of the year is very important for the cachiquel people as it is for the Maya, better known as the Wayeb. Unlike the rest of the 18 months with 20 days, it only had 5.
They were thought to be days of natural imbalance, where ghosts roamed the earth frightening people. Consequently, the totality of the days of this month was strictly reserved for the transition from the cosmogonic authority of the coming year to the coming year.
The Maya believed that this aspect was going to influence life throughout the following period. These days it was preferable to stay at home and not allowed to work.
The tools were kept to give them rest as a thanks to the service provided in the different tasks of society. In this way, we proceeded without interruption in the rituals of renewal and change.
This month was the time for self-discovery, strengthening of identity and family communion in the cachiquel community. This is where the goals for the following year were set and the way to meet them was planned, waiting for the best of provisions.
Everything that happened during the 360 days of the year, good or bad, outside the personal or community scale, was evaluated and reflected in depth. Offerings were presented in gratitude in the hope of cleaning up all the negative that dragged on until the end of the year and hope that the new cycle would bring more provisions.
References
- The Mayan calendar portal (2016). The Haab '. Lucita Inc. Retrieved from: maya-portal.net.
- Rozenn Milin (2015). Maya New Year with the Kaqchikel in Guatemala. Sosoro, only the languages of the world may live on! Recovered from sorosoro.org.
- Peter Rohloff, Emily Tummons. Kaqchikel. Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies. KU. The University of Kansas. Retrieved from latamst.ku.edu.
- Lolmay Pedro García (2012). The true meaning of 13 B'aqtun and the Mayan Calendars. Kaqchiquel Linguistic Community. Retrieved via Issuu: issuu.com.
- Kajkan. The thirteen bakun. Recovered via Simplebooklet. Recovered from: simplebooklet.com.
- Wishingmoon (2015). Mayan Zodiac Signs. Which one are you? Clasic Light Ltd. Retrieved from wishingmoon.com.
- Energy Healing Info. Mayan Zodiac Symbols: Haab Calendar. Retrieved from energy-healing-info.com.
- Mistico Maya. Chargers of the year and the Wayeb. Retrieved from mysticomaya.com.