Early Corn Planters 21 



the year. By the shadows on the paved square the priests told 

 the times for planting and for harvest, and for the religious 

 ceremonies which attended these. The calendar of the Maya, 

 which antedated that of the Aztecs by at least five centuries, 

 was evolved by the corn planters to serve them in the maize 

 fields. 



Through the first five centuries of the Christian era the 

 Maya flourished in Guatemala and Honduras. Their cities, 

 Palenque, Copan, Quirigua and others were thriving centers. 

 The denseness of the population is evidenced by the fact that 

 Copan and Quirigua are only twenty-five miles apart. To the 

 cities to market and to attend religious ceremonies in the 

 temples came the country folk. They came afoot, and in 

 sacks on their backs and in baskets balanced on their heads 

 they brought maize, which was the food of rich and poor alike, 

 and the chief article of trade. 



They stopped and stared at the carvings on the temple of 

 Copan where the maize-god climbed over writhing serpents 

 symbols, as everyone knew, of rain. They halted before the 

 figure of Ghanan, in his leafy headdress, holding in his hand 

 the day-sign (s?) Ik, which meant Life. Bowing reverently, 

 they scattered a few grains of maize before him, and mur- 

 mured thanks for a plentiful harvest. 



What, they asked themselves in their well-fed security, was 

 there to fear so long as the rains came regularly and the corn- 

 fields continued to yield? What could possibly happen to a 

 people who had plenty to eat? 



