MAYA "1 

 THOMAS J 



THE INTERCALARY DAYS. 



21 



Cib the third, aud so on to Akbal; then followed Kan, just as we would 

 name the seven days of our week, commencing, for instance, with 

 Wednesday, then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, etc. 

 As each month contained twenty days, each having a name, it follows 

 that each month of a given year would begin with the first day of that 

 year. If the year began with Kan, the last day of the eighteenth 

 month — Cumhu — would, as a matter of course, be Akbal, the last of 

 the twenty. 



The five added days were named in regular order, following the close 

 of the month Cumhu, and in the year beginning with Kan would be 

 Kan, Chicchan, Cinii, Manik, and Lam at. The next day — Muluc — 

 would begin the following year, and hence all the months of that year 



Table 8. 

 Days and Months of the four Series of Years. 



would begin with Muluc. Muluc being the first day, Lamat would 

 necessarily be the last, and the five added days at the end of the year 

 would be Muluc, Oc, Chuen, Eb, and Ben, making Ix the first of the fol- 

 io v/ing year. Then, Ix being the first, Ben would be the last day; and 

 the five added days being Ix, Men, Cib, Caban, and Ezanab, the fol- 

 lowing year would begin Avith Cauac. Cauac in turn being the first 

 day, Ezanab would be the last, and the five added days would then 

 be Cauac, Ahau, Ymix, Ik, and Akbal, making Kan the first of the next 

 year, thus completing the series in four years, and beginning anew 

 with the fifth.* The numbering of the days, however, was peculiar, 



* It must be borne in mind that tbis description applies to the usual Maya calen- 

 dar; and that to adapt it to what, as stated above, appears to be the rule in the 

 Dresden codex, wherever Kau, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac are spoken of as dominical 

 days, or first days of the month, Akbal, Lamat, Ben, and Ezanab must be substi- 

 tuted. Therefore the month i?iven would begin with 1 Akbal and end with 7 Ik. 



