[Aztlan] Classic Maya Unit of Length

[David Hixson]

Here's brief quote by Redfield and Villa Rojas from
their study of Chan Kom, Yucatan, relating the
measuring of land for milpa (be sure to read all the
way down to the last footnote):

"When the site has been selected, the land to be
cleared is measured(1) in mecates (kaan), each a
square, 20 meters to a side.(2)  The mecates are
measured with a stick, or with a piece of string.(3) 
The milpero takes a meter as the distance from the tip
of his middle finger to the outer margin of his
breastbone.(4)  Around the contemplated field a narrow
little path is cut and a stone or a little heap of
stones is placed to mark each mecate corner (xuuk). 
The milpero sights down these markers to make sure
that they are aligned."

Footnotes:
(1) One does not measure more land than one is sure
one is going to clear, so as not to offend the dieties
that protect the trees.
(2) Sometimes mecates are measured 21 meters to a side
"because of what the birds take"
(3) "Kaan. Medida de un codel con que los indios miden
sus milpas, llamado mecate entre espanoles." Motul
Dictionary.
(4) This distance from the fingertip to the middle of
the breastbone is a vara.  In somewhat more
sophisticated villages meter-rods are used.  In
measuring (cloth, for example) four other measures are
used:
-The span (cuarta; naab);
-The distance from the end of the thumb to the end of
the index finger (jeme; chinaab);
-The width of the closed fist with the thumb extended
(coto; kok);
-The cubit (codo; cuc).  The cubit is regarded as half
a vara.

[In that last footnote, the first word in parentheses
is always spanish, the second is Maya]

-Dave

__________________________________________________
David R. Hixson
Aztlan Moderator &
Doctoral Candidate
Tulane University
Dept. of Anthropology
__________________________________________________
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