hanged

The Hanging Lady

The following was discovered by one scholar during her search for the Paddler God connections in myth and traditional lore. It may be a key to the understanding of the lady hung by the neck from a sky band on page 53 (or page 32) in the Dresden Codex. The sky band she is attached to indicates that, indeed, it is a sky event, not a human committing suicide. Other codices also have similar "roped-around-the-neck-or-shoulders" individuals, whether they are human-type entities. Birds, or animals seem to be tied at a hoof, talon or a neck due to lack of proper shoulders. All appear to be asssociated with some sky event, sometimes within a constellation, and other times, without any indication of a constellation or specific star event.

The notion that the looped cord over G-III's nose was used to drill fire, and that it was also a reference to the sparks created by a meteor may explain a Tzíutujil belief about babies that are born with their umbilical cords looped around their shoulder or neck. This is viewed as a sign that the child's spirit is a meteor (Paul and Paul 1975:709).¹

In the above statement, we have information about use of a "fire drill' and a secondary implication that the "sign" for the child's wai or "spirit" is a meteor that sparkles. Since the loop over the nose of the front paddler, G-III, and it is mostly symbolic, it might refer to a "fire drill." one can assume that there is a constellation involved since the canoe is thought to be celestial in origin.

Sahagún described the "fire drill" with the word Mamahuaztl, again, a symbol for a "fire drill."but Sahagún calls it a constellation similar to the "sticks that create fire."² The title of the chapter that gives this information is Los Mastelejos. This word does not seem to exist; however, if the "m" is removed, Los Asteleros become a possibility. I had taken down the following reference a long time ago. It is translated as Gemini in the Nahuatl dictionary of de Molina.

Mamahuaztli = astelejos, a constellation

The pequeño Laroussse, español-inglés - english-spanish Dictionary gives the word Astelejos Gemini as its translation. Even so, a manual "typo" or "slip-of-the-pen" could explain that the word does exists as Masteleros translated as "main mast of a ship."³ This is a very accurate description of only one constellation in the sky that is at the northern end of the Milky Way" where G-III points his canoe. Cygnus, is that constellation and is also known as the Northern Cross.⁴ Again, very similar to "fire sticks."

The Northern Cross, a cross form, if it is important to the Maya manuscripts, probably is the source of the many symbolic crosses found in their ancient religious practices. Nevertheless, the main goal here is to identify, not a constellation, but a meteor, that apparently came from that area.

The elements of that meteor are found in the canoe.

⁵

God C, the howler monkey of the Northwest, who created the noise of the arrival of the meteor within our atmosphere. ⁶

The young maize god, who appeared on earth, not as maize, since it was used for centuries previous to Tikal, but as popcorn kernels when the heat of the meteor became more intense as it neared our earth;⁷

Seven Macaw, the "false sun" whose "nest was of iron" ⁸and whose blue teeth were removed and replaced with white maize kernels by the Twins, that may have indicated the dying meteor; ⁹ and

Xolotl, the twin of Quetzalcoatl, who sacrificed himself to save the "true" sun by diving into Xibalba, the underworld of the Ocean/Sea.¹⁰

With all of these glyphic symbols, it was necessary to show the meteor in its true form: that of the Lady of a Constellation, hanging in the sky so long and so near the Earth that mankind, not only the Maya, or the Americas, became anxious about the world they lived in.¹¹

My book will show what some of the Mesoamericans and South Americans did to protect themselves from the angry gods that assaulted their world.¹² All the elements have been recorded in song, in dance, and in the painted codices. Up to now few have acknowledged the catastrophe that engendered this spurt of literary achievement among even the Aborigines around the world. No spacemen came from outer space. It was just a normal event of the sky that probably occurred too close to our Earth.

The excessive heat can be confirmed by the end of the year sun ritual in San Juan de Chamula. The natives seal their homes and make ceremonial chicha indoors. When all is ready, the Monkey-men run through a grid of burning paja (straw, reeds, or palm leaves) and up the side of the mountain.¹² The fire grid appears to be laid out to portray the various homes where a roof burned without cause, and the monkey-men flee just as the natives would have fled from their homes when the original event occurred.

In spite of such an exhibit of heat and fire, and the fact that the natives portray it so accurately, the researchers have concluded that it is just a game played out to make the sun ceremony more interesting.

The ceremony also has a bull (fake or real) with firecrackers being lit, running in a counterclockwise direction around the plaza. Although it is said to be a sign that the Sun must return the way it came, why the noise of the firecrackers? and why a run from the west instead of the east? Is it because the Popol Vuh tells of a time that the sun rose in the west, not in the east: an event that has been "corrected" by our superior knowledge of the path of the sun?

These are the questions that must be answered.

References

¹ Paul, Lois & Benjamin Paul (1962) Ethnographic materials on San Pedro la Laguna, Solola, Guatemala. Microfilm Collection of Manuscripts on Middle American Cultural Anthropology, no. 54. Chicago: University of Chicago Library

² Sahagun, Bernardino de (1956) Historia General de Las Cosas de Nueva España, México, DF, México: Editorial Porrua, S.A.
Norman, Garth (1976) Izapa Sculpture: Text Papers No. #30, Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, p. 187. Itzam- na was most important deity; Itzamma means "The Dew of Heaven" or Ehécatl
Sodi, T, M. D. (1981) The Mayas México City, DF, México: Panorama Editorial, S. A. Quiché Mayan, p. 163, Kinich ahau - Lord of Eye of Sun Itzamna

³ Ibid.

⁴ Allen, Richard H. (1963) Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, New York:: Dover Publications, Cygnus

⁵ Contreras, G. G. (1975) Los Codices Mayas Mexico City, DF, Mexico: SecretarÌa de Educación Publica, Dirección General de Div™lgación (?) p. 54, Hunab Ku - Creator of World; Itzamná - God of Sky and four compass points;

⁶ My Note; Schele, Linda taught about the Monkey God C of the North in her first (1978) class at the University of Texas at Austin, since that time, the God C glyph has become confined to a translation that means "holy."

⁷ Franz, M. P. (1976) The People's Guide to Mexico, John Muir Publications p. 184, popcorn - maiz palomero, also called palomitas (little doves).
Horcasitas, G. and Heyden, D. (1971) Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar, Norman, Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, p. 86,","Diadem" - the Sisters of Huitzilopochtli were crowned with popcorn.
Sahagun, Bernardino de (1932) History of Ancient Mexico, Trans. F. Bandelier, Fisk University Press, p. 87: fifth month, feast called Huitzochotl.
Calkins, Carroll (1975) The Story of the Americas, Pleasantville, NY, Reader's Digest Association, Inc. p. 125, Popcorn: settlers were amazed when heating one variety of corn on stones exploded kernels to many times their size. Indians of many tribes used popcorn for adornment as well as food.

⁸ Tedlock, Dennis (1985/1996) Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings, Austin, Texas, University of Texas Press. New York: Simon and Schuster.

⁹ Zeilik (1971) Astronomy: The Evolving Universe, New york: Harper & Row, Publishers
Robbins, R. Robert, Jefferys, William H. and Shawl, Stephen J. (1995) Discovering Astronomy, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
¹⁰ Aztec story of Quetzalccoatl and Xolotl.

¹¹ Nuttal, Zelia The Nuttall Codex, New York, Dover, Publications.

¹² Anderson, Thor (1988) Sacred games [videorecording] and Ritual warfare in a Maya village, Berkeley, CA: Zeno Production Company. University of California, Extension Media Center.