22 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



the lack of intercalations. Es de notar (" It is to be noted"), says 

 Sahagun at the close of his seventh book, quo discrcpan miicho en 

 di versos lugares del principio del ano; en unas partes me dijeron que 

 comenzaba a tantos de Enero; en otras que a primero de Febrero; en 

 otras que a principios de Marzo. En el Tlaltelolco junte muchos viejos, 

 los mas diestros que yo pude aver, y juntamente con los mas habiles 

 de los colegiales se alterco esta materia por muchos dias, y todos ellos 

 concluyeron, diciendo, que comenzaba el ano el segundo dia de Febrero 

 (""that the beginning of the year ditiers greatly in different places; in 

 some parts they told me that it began on such a day in January; in 

 others on the 1st of February; in others at the beginning of March. 

 In Tlaltelolco 1 assembled many old men, the most skillful possil)le, and 

 together with the most learned scholars they disputed as to this matter 

 for many days, and they all concluded by saying that the year began 

 on the second day of February ''). 



The festivals connected with the course of the seasons, with their 

 elaborate ceremonies, had undoubtedly been observed from the earliest 

 ages and were similarl}^ celebrated over large portions of the country. 

 The fixing of the beginning of the year was closely connected with 

 these festivals, and was also, as ma}^ positively be asserted, originally 

 the same over large portions of the country. The earlier, however, 

 that a tribe gave up vaguely determining these festivals according to 

 the course of the sun and the condition of the crops and the priests 

 began to keep account of them by means of the continuous tonalamatl 

 computation, the more must the beginning of the year and the festi- 

 vals, or the relation of the latter to the beginning of the 3'ear, have 

 been displaced for that tribe. 



There is reason to believe that what the Indian conference called 

 together at Tlaltelolco" by Sahagun finally determined, namely, that 

 the year began with the Quauitleua, the feast of the rain god (Tlaloque), 

 and on the 2d of February, according to Christian computation, 

 vei'y nearly corresponded to the original custom; for in far distant 

 Yucatan, inhal)ited by a different civilized nation, we ffnd an approach 

 to this idea in Landa's statement that the Mayas celebrated in honor 

 of the rain gods (Chac), the feast Ocna (''Entrance into the house"), 

 or, as Landa translates it, "Renewal of the temple", in one of the 

 so-called months (really units of 20 da^^s) Chen and Yax; that is, about 

 the month of January, on a day which the priests expressly deter- 

 mined, doubtless according to the chronology kept by them. Mira- 

 ban los pronosticos de los Bacabes ("They beheld the prophecies of 

 the Bacabs"); that is, they decided according to the deity who ruled 

 over the year whether the j^ear would be good or bad. Y demas 

 desto renovavan los idolos de barro y sus braseros, y si era menester, 

 liacian de nuevo la casa 6 renovabanla, y ponian en la pared la memoria 

 destas cosas con sus caracteres ("And besides this they renewed their 



