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Maya Codices - Animal Figure
Maya Codices - Animal Figures : Secular Occupation and Animal Glyphs
SECULAR OCCUPATIONS.
Animals appear frequently in scenes showing various
occupations. These, although appearing at first sight as secular, have
to do with the religion of the people and they show in every case acts
undertaken in behalf of the deities. It is almost exclusively in the
Tro-Cortesianus that these religious-secular occupations are shown.
Hunting scenes occur in one section of this codex (38-49). The whole aim
of the hunt in these pages is to obtain animals for sacrifice. In almost
every case the various animals are shown as being captured alive, either
in a pitfall or a trap of the "jerk-up" type. This was undoubtedly in
order that the animal might be killed the moment it was offered to the
gods by having its heart cut out. Deer are most commonly represented in
this hunting section although peccaries and armadillos also appear.
Fishing is shown in one place at least (Dresden 33a).
The practice of agriculture is shown in Tro-Cortesianus 24-28. The
sprouting grain is represented as being eaten by a vulture and a jaguar.
Certain gods in this section which relates to the planting of maize are
shown as being attacked by vultures and blow-flies. Another occupation
of the natives depicted in the Tro-Cortesianus (103-112) is apiculture.
This, again, has clearly some religious significance. Pottery-making is
shown in the same manuscript (95-101). It is, however, a purely
religious ceremony. The renewal of the incense-burners is shown.
Animals occur very infrequently in this section. The quetzal and two
vultures are noted seated on top of an oven-like covering under which is
the head of god C, probably representing the idol. There are several
other occupations shown in this codex such as weaving (79c) and the
gathering of the sap of the rubber tree (102b), but as animals do not
occur in any connection with these operations, it is not necessary to
dwell upon them.
ANIMAL GLYPHS. It remains finally to speak of the various animals which
are represented in glyph form as well as drawn in full in the pictures
proper. The creatures pictured in the codices are often accompanied by
their glyphs which appear in the lines of signs directly above. In many
cases, the animal pictured below is not represented by its glyph above
and, vice versa, the animal glyph may appear without its picture below.
The same is seen also in connection with the representation of the gods
and their glyphs. Both the picture and the glyph usually appear but
either may appear alone. Many times when the glyph, either of a god or
an animal, is shown with no accompanying picture, the reason seems to be
that there is no room for the latter on account of the numerical
calculations which take up all the space.
There are some animals in the codices which are represented by glyphs
very frequently. Among these are the screech owl (the Moan, the bird of
death), which has several different glyphs by which it is recognized,
the dog which, in addition to its own glyph, may be represented by the
day sign _Oc_, the king vulture, the turtle, the bee (if we consider the
day sign _Cauac_ stands for this insect), and the centipede. Among the
animals whose glyphs only seldom appear may be mentioned the macaw, the
peccary, the tree-toad (god P), the quetzal, and the jaguar. The glyph
for the black vulture (Tro-Cortesianus 26c), the ape (Tro-Cortesianus
88c), the deer (Peresianus 10), the eagle (Tro-Cortesianus 107c), and
the serpent (Tro-Cortesianus 106c) seem to appear but once. It might
also be well to mention in this place the glyphs for various molluscs
which are used not to represent the shell but to give the value of zero
to the numerical calculations.
In the inscriptions glyphs frequently occur which represent animals
either showing the whole body or simply the head. In the eastern façade
of the Monjas at Chichen Itza there are glyphs for both the king and the
black vulture and the peccary. The macaw and the turtle seem also to be
represented by glyphs in the inscriptions. The _Tun_ period glyph shows
vulture-like characteristics and the _Uinal_ period glyph certainly
resembles the lizard. The glyphs representing the various animal
offerings have already been discussed under a special heading (p. 289).
