The Egyptian
X visualizes in the sky the
idea which made Plato
remark that the letter X
looks like the place where
the two bands of the world
cross each other. In Ca5-14
we can imagine a place where
two lines of sight are
crossing each other:
|
Ca5-14 |
kua haga te
mea ke |
... Perhaps it is the
ancient importance of
this Dog on the Nile
that has given the
popular name, the Egyptian X, to the
figure formed by the
stars Procyon and
Betelgeuze, Naos and
Phaet, with Sirius at
the vertices of the two
triangles and the centre
of the letter
...
Procyon |
α Canis Minoris |
0.34 |
05° 21′ N |
07h 37m |
115.9 |
Betelgeuze |
α Orionis |
0.58 |
07° 24′ N |
05h 52m |
89.3 |
Naos |
ζ Puppis |
2.21 |
39° 52′ S |
08h 02m |
122.3 |
Phakt |
α Columbae |
2.65 |
34º 06' S |
05h 38m |
85.7 |
In Ca4-2 we can perceive time is moving upwards because of the growth, and possibly the design was motivated by a wish to see a progression in time also in Ca4-1:
Pleione 7 (21) |
8 |
9 |
June 6 (157) |
7 |
8 |
|
|
|
Ca4-1 (77) |
Ca4-2 |
Ca4-3 |
kua tupu te rakau |
kua tupu - te kihikihi |
te hau tea |
λ Eridani (76.7) |
Rigel (78.1), Capella (78.4) |
η Scorpii (259.9) |
There is no such evidence close to Ca5-14. No movement is suggested. And we can imagine a time zero described by the 12 glyphs ending with Bright Fire (24 days after Sirius):
Heka 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 (57) |
July 9 |
10 |
11 |
12 (193) |
|
|
|
|
Ca5-5 |
Ca5-6 (111) |
Ca5-7 |
Ca5-8 |
kua iri i te rakau |
ihe tamaiti |
erua mago |
Wasat (109.8) |
Aludra (111.1) |
Gomeisa (111.6), ρ Gemini (112.1) |
Castor (113.4) |
Heka 5 |
6 |
7 (60) |
8 |
9 |
July 13 |
14 |
15 (196) |
16 |
17 |
|
|
|
|
|
Ca5-9 |
Ca5-10 |
Ca5-11 (116) |
Ca5-12 |
Ca5-13 |
te hokohuki erua |
te marama |
te maitaki |
te henua |
no star listed |
Markab (114.7), Procyon (114.9) |
σ Gemini (115.7), Pollux (116.2) |
Azmidiske (117.4) |
no star listed |
Heka 10 |
11 (64) |
12 |
July 18 |
19 (200) |
July 20 (201) |
|
|
|
Ca5-14 |
Ca5-15 (120) |
Ca5-16 |
kua haga te mea ke |
manu puoko i tona ahi |
kua heu te huki |
no star listed |
Drus (119.9) |
Naos (121.3) |
Heka 13 |
Alhena 1 |
2 (68) |
3 |
8h (121.7) |
July 22 |
23 (204) |
24 |
|
|
|
|
Ca5-17 (122) |
Ca5-18 |
Ca5-19 |
Ca5-20 (125) |
hakahagana te honu |
tagata moe hakarava hia |
ka moe |
hakapekaga mai |
Heap of Fuel (122.1) |
Tegmine (123.3), Regor (123.7) |
Al Tarf (124.3) |
Bright Fire (125.4) |
It is even possible to perceive a structure similar to the Mayan illustration of the beginning of Sun time, with marama in Ca5-11 corresponding to the crescent adjacent to the cross and with maitaki in Ca5-12 corresponding to the triplet of vertical 'balls':
There is no movement indicated in Ca5-14, but the crossing lines between the 4 stars ('stones', tau) suggest a pairwise connection. It could be a representation of great changes about to occur:
... 1820 = 20 * 91, i.e. the bacabs circulated 5 times in the 1820-day period, 5 * 364 = 1820, and 7 * 260 also happens to be 1820.
They were ruling the 4 quarters of a 364-day long year, and in the center of this year there were 260 days, the sacred tonalamatl (tzolkin) calendar, which began at spring equinox:
52 |
260 = 5 * 52 |
52 |
364 = 4 * 91 = 7 * 52 |
.. On February 9 the Chorti Ah K'in, 'diviners', begin the agricultural year. Both the 260-day cycle and the solar year are used in setting dates for religious and agricultural ceremonies, especially when those rituals fall at the same time in both calendars.
The ceremony begins when the diviners go to a sacred spring where they choose five stones with the proper shape and color. These stones will mark the five positions of the sacred cosmogram created by the ritual. When the stones are brought back to the ceremonial house, two diviners start the ritual by placing the stones on a table in a careful pattern that reproduces the schematic of the universe. At the same time, helpers under the table replace last year's diagram with the new one. They believe that by placing the cosmic diagram under the base of God at the center of the world they demonstrate that God dominates the universe.
The priests place the stones in a very particular order. First the stone that corresponds to the sun in the eastern, sunrise position of summer solstice is set down; then the stone corresponding to the western, sunset position of the same solstice. This is followed by stones representing the western, sunset position of the winter solstice, then its eastern, sunrise position. Together these four stones form a square. They sit at the four corners of the square just as we saw in the Creation story from the Classic period and in the Popol Vuh. Finally, the center stone is placed to form the ancient five-point sign modern researchers called the quincunx ...
Later on in this series of rituals, the Chorti go through a ceremony they call raising the sky. This ritual takes place at midnight on the twenty-fifth of April and continues each night until the rains arrive. In this ceremony two diviners and their wives sit on benches so that they occupy the corner positions of the cosmic square. They take their seats in the same order as the stones were placed, with the men on the eastern side and the women on the west. The ritual actions of sitting down and lifting upward are done with great precision and care, because they are directly related to the actions done by the gods at Creation. The people represent the gods of the four corners and the clouds that cover the earth. As they rise from their seats, they metaphorically lift the sky. If their lifting motion is uneven, the rains will be irregular and harmful ... |
The 'sacred spring' could be the Milky Way, of course, which the Gemini twins have not quite left behind. 3 feet are in (or close to) the 'stream', only the 4th - the right foot of Pollux (Alzirr, the Button) - is on 'dry land', which maybe could begin with Ca5-1:
Al Tuwaibe' 6 |
7 |
8 (413) |
9 (49) |
July 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 (185) |
(178) |
(179) |
(180) |
(181) |
|
|
|
|
Ca4-26 (102) |
Ca4-27 |
Ca4-28 |
Ca4-29 |
erua tamaiti |
kua vaha te mago erua |
ψ6 Aurigae (101.7), τ Puppis (102.2), ψ7 Aurigae (102.4) |
ψ8 Aurigae (103.2) |
Alhena (103.8), ψ9 Aurigae (103.9) |
Adara (104.8), ω Gemini (105.4) |
Al Tuwaibe' 10 (50) |
11 |
12 |
13 |
July 5 (186) |
6 |
7 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
Ca5-1 |
Ca5-2 (107) |
Ca5-3 |
Ca5-4 |
E hua ki te henua - ka huki |
te hau tea - te henua |
kua hua |
te henua |
Muliphein (105.8) |
Wezen (107.1) |
no stars listed |
Gemini is a constellation announcing great changes ahead, and once the Twins were located near the 'sacred spring' at equinox, but nowadays they are rising heliacally in July.
Another interpretation, which the creator of the C text may have preferred, is to see Eridanus as the sacred spring, because the 4 star 'stones' in Ca4-1 coincide with the last star of Eridanus (significantly labelled as λ).
Anciently the dark winter season was over when Gemini rose heliacally and 'land' in the sky would once again return. At this time of the year 'the jaws' were opened to let in light. I suggest the maitaki variant with only 2 'balls' and a vacant place in between could represent the time before 'land' emerged:
Pleione 2 |
3 |
4 (383) |
5 |
6 (20) |
June 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 (156) |
|
|
|
|
|
Ca3-21 (72) |
Ca3-22 |
Ca3-23 |
Ca3-24 |
Ca3-25 |
tagata tuu rima ki ruga |
te maitaki |
te henua |
Rei hata ia |
tagata rogo |
|
Wei (254.3) |
Denebakrab (254.7), Grafias (255.4) |
|
|
The top ball could represent the domain of the sky and the bottom ball the domain of water. The land of the living (henua ora), in between, would rise later. The straight line of measurement connecting the balls could allude to the world tree, the pole through all the 3 domains, i.e. the 'housepole made of stones describing figures':
... He turned round and round to the right as he fell from the sky back to the water. Still in his cradle, he floated on the sea. Then he bumped against something solid. 'Your illustrious grandfather asks you in', said a voice. The Raven saw nothing. He heard the same voice again, and then again, but still he saw nothing but water. Then he peered through the hole in his marten-skin blanket. Beside him was a grebe. 'Your illustrious grandfather asks you in', said the grebe and dived. Level with the waves beside him, the Raven discovered the top of a housepole made of stone. He untied himself from his cradle and climbed down the pole to the lowermost figure ...
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