6. We must avoid being caught up in the enormous amount of details calling for attention in this Mayan version of the World Tree. My intention was here only to show the existence of these 'rakau' signs outside of Easter Island. Obviously they are meant to be counted and, we should remember, 'tree' signs are necessary when counting: ... one sign, very common in the codices where it appears affixed to main signs, can be read as 'te' or 'che', 'tree' or 'wood', and as a numerical classifier in counts of periods of time, such as years, months, or days. In Yucatec, you cannot for instance say 'ox haab' for 'three years', but must say 'ox-te haab', 'three-te years'. In modern dictionaries 'te' also means 'tree', and this other meaning for the sign was confirmed when Thompson found it in compounds accompanying pictures of trees in the Dresden Codex ... The World Tree can take on many different shapes, but presumably it is astronomical in character, for instance serving as an image of the Milky Way, with the small circles ('bulbs') representing prominent stars important for the calendar makers. It is interesting to note the similarity with how the Chinese anciently represented the stars on their charts, viz. as small circles (picture from Hamlet's Mill):
The pu (hole) signs come in different forms, and we should remember the pair of holes which according to an Egyptian picture allowed Sun to enter and leave: ' Maybe vai and pu represent the morning respectively the evening holes:
In my example of the pu glyph type there are 2 holes and they could be there in order to underline that the nightside, into which a pu hole leads, is characterized by 2 (as in the number of faces of Moon). Or they could be there in order to show both the hole of entrance ('birth') and the hole of leaving, with the path of Sun in between. It should here be mentioned that in Saturday, according to the calendar of the week, a pu glyph (Hb9-55) is included:
Saturn is in charge of the time when a new 'Sun baby' must be 'born'. In Wednesday, at the irregularly drawn 'midnight' henua in Hb9-57, we can count 95 * 7 = 665, which number is related to the synodic period of Jupiter, 'father light, because 6.65 = 399 / 60. Presumably it is his 'living spirit' (manu rere) which is leaving in Thursday (Hb9-58). |