Ca1-20 has at right a vertical 'string' with 4 'twigs' at left and 3 at right. In Ca2-2--3 the fingers are 4+3, while Ca2-6 has 3 fingers. Before new year (Ca2-4) the pattern 4+3 = 7 is repeated twice. Beyond new year the fingers are arranged as 3 (Ca2-5) + 3 (Ca2-6) = twice 3 equalling 6 (a sign of the sun). While 6 refers to sun, 7 refers to moon. 6 * 30 = 180, divisible in two halves with 90 days in each. 7 * 26 = 182, and possibly - therefore - the 'winter year' was divided in two halves with 91 days in each. This would leave us with 365 - 180 - 182 = 3 dark nights as extracalendrical, maybe represented by Ca1-25--Ca2-1. Another way of reading Ca1-20 is to identify the 'string' with moon and midwinter (while the 'stem' in Ca1-19 may represent the summer sun - leaning slightly backwards as if to suggest what has been). The sun 'year' appears to have 4 'berries' = 'quarters', while moon has another pattern, the basic structure of which is illustrated as 4 + 3. In Ca2-2--3 and Ca2-6 there are 3 'feathers' on their heads. These three 'grown up people' may represent the 3 quarters counted from summer solstice - which leaves us with the 'baby sun' as the 1st quarter:
We can imagine why there is a 'snaky' leg in Ca2-6 and why the figure is running (viz. Rigi, the 'worm' lifting up the spring sky) . In Ca2-2 the little henua below the upheld arm presumably indicates the completed sun season. The arrangement is symmetrical around Ca2-4 (new year). From Ca1-20 up to Ca2-4 there are 10 glyphs. Together with the 18 for the 'summer year' we have 28 glyphs. Adding Ca1-19 (where, presumably, the 'black cloth' covers the sun), we reach 29 (when the 'black cloth' covers the moon). If we allow sun to have 360 days, there will be an additional 4 days before we reach the sunlit moon measure of 13 * 28 = 364 nights. 1 of these possibly is located at vero, while the other 3 may be located at winter solstice. In Ca1-25 the limit of the sun is marked by the vertical straight line at right, which enables us to perceive - in the remaining two (curved) lines - the same kind of 'stem' as in Ca1-19. The stem is 'open' and ends at the big oval (a separate unit) which represents the 'nut' of the 'dead' sun (the old year). |
