46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 57 



believed that in them occurred sudden deaths and pestilences, and 

 that they were diseased by poisonous animals, or devoured by wild 

 beasts, fearing that if they went out to the field to their labors, some 

 tree would pierce them or some other kind of misfortune happen to 

 them." The Aztec held the five closing days of the year in the same 

 superstitious dread. Persons born in this unlucky period were held to 

 be destined by this fact to wretchedness and poverty for life. These 

 days were, moreover, prophetic m character; what occurred during 

 them continued to happen ever afterward. Hence, quarreling was 

 avoided durmg this period lest it should never cease. 



Having learned the number, length, and names of the several 

 periods into which the Maya divided their year, and the sequence in 

 which these followed one another, the next subject which claims 

 attention is the positions of the several days in these periods. In 

 order properly to present this important subject, it is first necessary 

 to consider briefly how we .count and number our own imits of time, 

 since through an understanding of these practices we shall better 

 comprehend those of the ancient Maya. 



It is well known that our methods of counting time are inconsistent 

 with each other. For example, in describing the time of day, that is, 

 in counting hours, minutes, and seconds, we speak in terms of elapsed 

 time. When we say it is 1 o'clock, in reahty the first hour after 

 noon, that is, the hour between 12 noon and 1 p. m., has passed and 

 the second hour after noon is about to commence. When we say it 

 is 2 o'clock, in reahty the second hour after noon is finished and the 

 tliird hour about to commence. In other words, we count the time 

 of day by referring to passed periods and not current periods. This 

 is the method used in reckoning astronomical time. During the 

 passage of the first hour after midnight the hours are said to be zero, 

 the time being counted by the number of minutes and seconds 

 elapsed. Thus, half past 12 is written: O"^- SO'^^'^- 0^«^-, and quarter of 

 1, 0^- 45™°- 0^®"^-. Indeed one hour can not be written until the first 

 hour after midnight is completed, or until it is 1 o'clock, namely, 



^hr. Qmin. Qsec. 



We use an entirely different method, however, in counting our 

 days, years, and centuries, which are referred to as current periods 

 of time. It is the 1st day of January immediately after midnight 

 December 31. It was the first year of the Eleventh Century imme- 

 diately after midnight December 31, 1000 A. D. And fuially, it was 

 the Twentieth Century immediately after midnight December 31, 

 1900 A. D. In this category should be included also the days of 

 the week and the months, since the names of these periods also refer 

 to present time. In other words when we speak of our days, months, 

 years, and centuries, we do not have in mind, and do not refer to 

 completed periods of time, but on the contrary to current periods. 



