[Aztlan] Importance of the Pleiades

[eschele at mail.utexas.edu]

In response to Edward's question and his statement that these stars are "hardly
visible", it should be remembered that observation of the stars was much easier
before "electric light pollution".  I also offer the following information:

De Landa (Tozzer 1941) related that in order for the Yucatec Maya to track the
hours of the night they used the location of the Morning Star, the Pleiades and
Gemini. Tozzer (1941:133) then explains in footnote #622 that the open star
cluster known as the Pleiades “has the same name as that of the rattle of the
rattlesnake (tzab).” He goes on to write “In the Chumayel (134) we read,
‘Itzamna, Itzam-tzab, is his face during its reign.’ Roys (1933, 134) suggests
that, as Itzamna is the god of the heavens, Itzam-tzab may be another name for
the tzab, the Pleiades.  Thompson (1970:214) also cites The Chilam Balam of
Chumayel as verification that “Itzam Na” is a celestial reptile and that “tzab
is the rattles of the rattlesnake and also the Pleiades.”

Aveni (1981:167) writes that it was well known, due to written accounts at the
time of the conquest, that the Aztecs were observers of zenith and of the
Pleiades. In Sahagun’s Florentine Codex (1950-1982:143-144) the indigenous
informant writes about the Aztec New Fire Ceremony, one that ends and begins
the 52-year calendar cycle.  Regarding the night sky and its center, he writes,
“These are representations of the Pleiades which mark the 5th cardinal point. At
the beginning of a period of 52 years, fire was newly kindled when the Pleiades
were in the zenith at midnight.”

Elaine