1893.1 ^* ^ [Brinton. 



not materiall}^ differed down to the present day, is proved by a 

 native Quiche Calendar of 1854, which 1 have in my possession. 



The decisions of the native astrologers as to which days are 

 auspicious or the reverse did not seem to depend on any theories 

 transmitted from nation to nation ; although in the Calendars of 

 a given nation there was a prevailing consensus of opinion 

 among them. Thus, Sahagun remarks of the Mexican reperto- 

 ries, " In general, in all the signs, the tenth and thirteenth days 

 are good," while " the eighth and ninth days are usually bad."* 

 It is consistent with this that we find the 9th days of all the 

 signs chosen by malicious witches and sorcerers as those oai 

 which they would be most active in their evil designs. f The 

 same number, 9, appears to have had some special meaning for the 

 Quiche diviners, as in each of their months they had 9 good and 

 9 bad daj^s, the remaining 2 being indifferent, J The Aztecs had 

 6 good days, 7 indifferent and 7 bad. § 



The painted paper or skin on which the Calendar was repre- 

 sented by its symbols was taken as a ground on which lots were 

 cast, and as they fell on one or other of the signs, they beto- 

 kened a fortunate or unfavorable outcome of an undertaking. || 



But it was especially to foretell the fate of a new-born child 

 and to select his guardian spirit or nagual, that the Calendar 

 was chiefly called in by the priesthood.^ One name of a child 

 was that of the day of its birth, both the number and the day 

 name being expressed. This gives us those curious personal 

 appellations often recurring in the early Spanish historians, such 

 as Seven Winds, Five Serpents, and the like. Wherever the}^ 

 occur, we may be sure the nation made use of this Calendar. 



§ 8. Calendar Festivals of the Modern Quiches. 



The natives of Guatemala of aboriginal blood continue to 

 reckon by this ancient Calendar, and regulate by it certain recur- 

 rent festivals and rites which have little to do with the Christi- 



* Sahagun, Historia de Nueva Espafia, Lib. iv, Cap. ii, 16. 



t Orozco y Berra, HMoria Antigua de Mexico, Tom. ii, p. 24. 



X See Sclierzer, Die Indianer Santa Calalina Istlavacan, p. 15. 



g Diego Duruu, Historia delas Indias, Tom. ii, p. 259, who names them. 



II Duran, nbi supra, p. 2')9. 



H Father Juan de Cordova, who is our only authority lor the Zapotec Calendar, ex- 

 plains at length its employment in divination, Arte de la Lengua Zapoleca, p. 201, seq. I 

 do not extend my remarks on this subject, as I shall examine it fully in an article on 

 " Nagualism," as it prevailed before and after the Conquest among these peoples. 



