On the left-hand side of each page two days are repeated 13 times. They are
as follows:--On page 25 Eb and Ben, on page 26 Caban and Ezanab, on page 27
Ik and Akbal, and on page 28 Manik and Lamat. Cyrus Thomas first made the
important discovery that these pages represent the transition from one year
into the next, but held the erroneous opinion that the last two days of
each of the four kinds of years were treated of on each page. While Seler,
on the other hand, found that we have here to do with the last day of one
year and the first of the following year, and that, therefore, Ben, Ezanab,
Akbal and Lamat are the beginnings of the years and thus of the 20-day
periods. The years, however, were always named after their second day
(_i.e._, Kan, Muluc, Ix and Cauac years), since the New Year's Day was
considered unlucky and it was the practice of the Mayas to conceal the real
starting-point.
These four pages, therefore, extend over 13 × 52 years, that is, over a
period of 18,980 days, after which period all the calendar dates are
repeated. A list of all these dates is given in "The Maya and Tzental
Calendars" by William E. Gates (Cleveland, 1900).
The transition from the Muluc to the Ix years is represented on page 25;
from the Ix to the Cauac years on page 26; from the Cauac to the Kan years
on page 27, and from the Kan to the Muluc years on page 28. The Ix years
are represented first, because the beginning of the historical chronology
lies in an Ix year (IV Ahau; 8 Cumhu). This section treats of ceremonies,
especially of the setting up of the idols at the changing of the year,
which I can pass over here since they have already been described by Diego
de Landa and in our own day by Cyrus Thomas in his "Study of the Manuscript
Troano," and elsewhere.