THE PLEIADES AMONG THE MAYAS« 



By E. Forstemann 



In volume 6J:, number 22, of this journal, the editor published an 

 article, Die Plejaden im Mythus und in ihrer Beziehung zum Jah- 

 resbeginn und Landbau, in which he sets forth the importance of 

 this constellation in the life of widely different peoples. This article 

 inspired me to write down some thoughts which have long been in my 

 mind concerning the Maya tribes of Central America ; that is, con- 

 cerning the acme of all American civilization. 



Peter Martj^r, in his book entitled "• De nuper sub D. Carolo repertis 

 insulis ", Basilea?, 1521, page 3-1, says of the tribes living in and about 

 Mexico: Annum ab occasu eliaco vergiliarum incipiunt et mensibus 

 daudunt lunaribus. This refers to a new^ year's day which comes in 

 May, as is recorded of the Chiapanecs in Chiapas, differing widely 

 from the Maya year as we know^ it, which begins on the IGth of July. 

 It refers also to the fact that the year is not divided into the well- 

 known 20-day periods, but into 18 actual lunar months. 28 days 

 long [?], as I have already assumed in volume ()5, number 1, of this 

 journal. At present I shall express no opinion regarding the relative 

 antiquity of the two calendars or regarding the spread of each among 

 the different tribes or the probability that they may have existed side 

 by side. 



Now. the period of about 40 days during which the Pleiades dis- 

 appear must coincide for the greater part with tlie fifteenth of the 18 

 20-day periods of the Maya, the so-called Moan month, from the 22d 

 of April to the 12th of May. This month is designated hieroglyph- 

 ically by the head of an unkno^^n, probably mythical, bird {b, figure 

 112). The signs o and d also occur, apparently having the same 

 meaning, and of these the second may indicate a bird's wing, raised 

 up, wdiile the first perhaps shows the intersecting paths of two 

 heavenly bodies. 



The editor has shown in the essay referred to above that with dif- 

 ferent peoples the Pleiades are designated by a bird or even a flock of 



» Die Plejaden bei den Mayas, (ilobus, 1894, v. 65, p. 246. 



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