Tl. (p. 12a) God K holds a dish of cacao seeds identified 



as such by glyph one. 



Almanac 11 (p. 13a) Divinatory 



Tl. (p. 13a) The God Chac (God B of Zimmermann, 



1956) holds a bowl of Theobroma cacao and the seeds. 

 The head dress bears three flowers that 1 identify as 

 Nymphaea ampla emerging from two cup-like struc- 

 tures bearing cross hatching. The latter are common 

 representations of the leaves of Nymphaea. This flower 

 is particularly suited to Chac for reason of his identifi- 

 cation with all watery elements. 



T2. (p. 13a) Death god holds a bowl of cacao fruits with 



one seeds visible. The seeds of the plant Theobroma 

 Cacao were used sacrifically by sprinkling them with 

 blood. When Sahagun (1956) described the cacao plant 

 in the Florentine Codex he refered to the green fruit 

 stating: "When much is consumed, especially if it is 

 green ... it makes the heart of people evil (Book 11 , p. 

 1 19). We would have trouble ascribing this behavior to 

 the xanthine alkaloids in the seeds, but it is possible 

 that the fruit was fermented into an inebriating bever- 

 age that may have been further fortified. The frontal 

 head dress of this figure is a bilabiate flower suggesting 

 Salvia divinorum Epl. and Jat., a hallucinogenic mem- 

 ber of the mint family cultivated in riparian habitats 

 to-day by the Mazatecs and possibly corresponding to 

 pipihinzintli of the ancient Nahuas. One may argue 

 that this is not the present distribution of the plant, but 

 the same may be said of peyote, tobacco and a host of 

 other sacred plants. This suggestion is only tentative, 

 but the bilabiate flower in a conspicuous calyx on this 

 death figure argues strongly for such an interpretation. 

 Likewise, the water lily, Nymphaea ampla on the back 

 side of the head dress reinforces the contention that we 

 are dealing with a multiplicity of narcotic plant ele- 

 ments associated with a single figure in a divinatory 



almanac. 



93 



