1 2 5 6 9 13 14 17 18 21 22
3 4 7 8 10 15 16 19 20 23 24.
11
12
This Tonalamatl, the fifth and last of this section, presents much that is
irregular and puzzling.
It can hardly be said that there are comprehensive hieroglyphs here,
forming the heading of the six groups. The sign for woman occurs only in 2,
8 and 24, and the cross _b_ only in 14 and 18, but it is sufficient to make
it clear that here, too, connection with a woman is the principal theme.
Let us pass, therefore, directly to the single groups.
The first group contains A and a woman. The god, however, is not facing the
woman but sits beside her. The Cimi sign in 1, the familiar _c_ in 3 and
the unknown sign in 4 (=6) hardly explain this particular proceeding.
The second group contains two persons who sit facing each other, but the
representation is so obscure and peculiar that it is difficult to determine
which is the male figure and which the female. The hair of the person
sitting on the right stands up in a manner not found elsewhere. It forms a
figure similar to that which is issuing from the mouth of the dog on pages
13c and 21b. The Cimi sign in 5 and the sign _c_ in 7 are familiar, but the
infrequent 6=4 remains a puzzle.
Uncertainty regarding the third group is increased by the fact that there
is no picture belonging to it. The well-known signs, 10 (Cimi) and 12 (_q_)
afford no explanation, nor does the head with the uplifted arm in 11, which
we find with the same hieroglyph on pages 8a and 36a. The most puzzling is
the 9th sign, which is composed of two crouching persons leaning back to
back, and who also appear in the astronomical sections of the Manuscript on
page 68a, not merely in the form of a hieroglyph, but also carried out in a
picture. In my article on the Maya chronology published in the Zeitschrift
für Ethnologie of the year 1891, I attempted to explain this Janus picture
as meaning the change of the year, but that interpretation would make no
sense here.
The fourth group contains the woman opposite D, who is clad in the gala
mantle and has on his head a bird and apparently the sign for a year, and
is designated by the Ahau in 16, while Imix-Kan in 13, _b_ in 14 and _a_ in
15 are rather meaningless.
The fifth group represents the woman united with A, who is designated by
the Cimi sign in 17. 18 with its _b_ and 19 with its _q_ display little
that is characteristic, _r_ in 20, which I think is the sign for the week
of 13 days, invites further study. The sixth picture, which is the last, is
very peculiar; it represents three women sitting side by side denoting
perhaps the virgins who still remain. Sign 21 as Imix-Kan, 23 as _a_ and 24
as sign of femininity supply nothing in the way of explanation. As 6, 9 and
20 are the characteristic signs in the preceding groups, so here the
characteristic sign is 22--an open hand holding the day Ben--which perhaps
designates these virgins by referring to the house in which they are held
fast by the hand. Cf. Tro. 23* d.
Now of the entire woman section closing with page 23 only the two
Tonalamatls on pages 22b-23b remain. These Tonalamatls again display very
many peculiarities and seem to be but loosely connected with the five
Tonalamatls last discussed.
Page 22b.
III 13 III 13 III 13 III 13 III
Akbal
Men
Manik
Cauac
Chuen.
This is a regular Tonalamatl, in which the 52 days are divided into four
equal parts.