Fw: [Aztlan] Importance of the Pleiades

[Antonio Aimi]

Hi Elaine,
please can tell me from which book and from which chapter is the quotation 
of
 Sahagun ?
Sorry, but I have only the Spanish text.
Thanks
Antonio

>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <eschele at mail.utexas.edu>
> To: <aztlan at lists.famsi.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 12:46 AM
> Subject: [Aztlan] Importance of the Pleiades
>
>
>> 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
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