[Aztlan] Cipactli and Venus

[Karen Bassie]

I just wanted to make a comment regarding Lloyd's posting. I wouldn't 
characterize the 1 Ajaw start date of the Dresden Venus table as the 
"ideal" day for the first appearance of Venus as morning star, but 
rather it is the mythological start date.
The adjustments to the Dresden Venus tables retain the 1 Ajaw date as 
the start date so it is apparent that it was important to the Maya that 
the sequence for the greater Venus period of 104 years always start on 1 
Ajaw. When I was tracking the protagonists in Allen Christenson's 
wonderful translation of the Popol Vuh (by the way, Kathryn Josserand 
and Nick Hopkins taught me how important it was to track protagonists in 
a story), I noted that the hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque adorned 
their father One Hunahpu and promised him that humans would always honor 
him first. Then later in the story when humans were waiting for the 
first rising of Hunahpu as the sun, they saw the first morning star, 
brought out their copal and made an offering. Given that the morning 
star triggered the first offering, it only makes sense that One Hunahpu 
was the morning star, and the adornment of One Hunahpu had transformed 
him into this celestial being.
As I am sure everyone knows, Hunahpu is equivalent to Ajaw in the 
lowland calendar. The Classic Period parallels for One Hunahpu and 
Hunahpu are One Ixim and One Ajaw, respectively. So both the father One 
Ixim-One Hunahpu and the son One Ajaw-Hunahpu were named after the 1 
Hunahpu-1 Ajaw calendar date. Given that people and deities are named 
for the day they are born, it is logical to conclude that these two 
primary gods were so named because that was the day they first rose as 
morning star and sun, respectively.
One Ixim-One Hunahpu and One Ajaw-Hunahpu were role models for rulers. 
It has been long recognized that the Palenque Temple of the Inscriptions 
sarcophagus lid illustrates the apotheosis of the deceased ruler K'inich 
Janaab Pakal as the deity One Ixim. Although most researchers have 
equate One Ixim with the sun and have even suggested this scene is 
related to the winter solstice, the core mythology in the Popol Vuh 
indicates that One Ixim-One Hunahpu was identified with the first 
morning star.
In the Popol Vuh, One Hunahpu (aka One Ixim) rose as the first morning 
star and he was followed into the sky by his son Hunahpu (aka One Ajaw) 
who became the sun. If we compare this chain of events to the death of 
Pakal and the subsequent accession of his son K'an Bahlam, then the 
deceased Pakal rose like the morning star and then his son K'an Bahlam 
became king and became identified with the sun. In fact, the headdress 
that the ruler acquires when he becomes king is the white headband of 
One Ajaw. The identification of K'an Bahlam with the sun on the day that 
he became king is reflected in the k'inich sun god title that K'an 
Bahlam also acquired on the day of his accession.
The mythology rising of One Hunahpu and his two son Hunahpu and 
Xbalanque (who became the full moon) occurred on the April zenith 
passage of the sun and began the corn cycle (the zenith passage is one 
of the signs used by the Maya to burn their fields and plant their corn, 
and the Maya plant at full moon).
So the 1 Ajaw start date of the Venus tables reflects a core myth.