. Mexican and Central American antiquities, calendar systems, and history;. ause this rope of grass recurs inMexican picture writings, to wit, as a symbol for fasting in thehieroglyphs of the kings Nezahualcoyotl, the fasting prairie wolf ,and Nezahualpilli, the fasting prince , of Tetzcoco, as they aredepicted in the Codex Telleriano-Kemensis, d and e. ZAPOTEC PRIESTHOOD AND CEREMONIAES 283 Although it is therefore plain that the symbol of the grass ropewas not unknown to the Mexicans, still it is frequent only in thepicture writings of the Borgian codex group, and in this group isrepresented
. Mexican and Central American antiquities, calendar systems, and history;. ause this rope of grass recurs inMexican picture writings, to wit, as a symbol for fasting in thehieroglyphs of the kings Nezahualcoyotl, the fasting prairie wolf ,and Nezahualpilli, the fasting prince , of Tetzcoco, as they aredepicted in the Codex Telleriano-Kemensis, d and e. ZAPOTEC PRIESTHOOD AND CEREMONIAES 283 Although it is therefore plain that the symbol of the grass ropewas not unknown to the Mexicans, still it is frequent only in thepicture writings of the Borgian codex group, and in this group isrepresented only particularly in connection with expiation of occurrence, like that of the representation of the four rain gods(figure 58) and the deer figures hearing the day signs (figure 59),seem therefore to point to the conclusion that the picture writings ofthe Borgian codex group are either actually Zapotec or belong to aterritory whose people resembled the latter in their religious andcalendric notions. This is a fact which Ave have every reason to keepwell in b d e Fig. 61. Self-pnnishment and symbols of two kings from Mexican codices. The special signification attached to the twisted grass rope, tola,among the Zapotecs also explains the singularly baneful part whichthe grass malinalli, the twist, plays as a day sign. For thereis probably no doubt that this Mexican malinalli and the Zapotectola are the same thing, although tola was not used in the Zapoteccalendar for malinalli, but pija, chija, corresponding to the literalsense of malinalli. This fact seems in its turn to indicate that in theland of the Zapotecs we are not very far from the spot where the daysigns originated and where the whole remarkable system of theCentral American calendar was elaborated. DEITIES AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS OF THE ZAPOTECS The Zapotec dictionary, by Father Juan de Cordova, already fre-quently mentioned, forms a chief source of information concerningthe immediate religious concept
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectcalendar, bookyear190
