The Lunar Series

In addition to solar calendrical information, lunar age details occupied a large portion of the space devoted to a Maya inscription (Figure 3). Goodman (1974 [Reference Goodman1897]:117–118) was the first researcher to focus on a particular group of glyphs that were regularly repeated, in the same order, and generally, but with some exceptions, located between the tzolk’in day and the haab month. He recognized only six glyphs as part of this group and was surprised that, although this group was repetitive and presented a very good opportunity for decipherment, he was unable to determine its purpose. Later, Bowditch (Reference Bowditch1903:2) began to use the term “Supplementary Series” to refer to this group of glyphs, on the basis that they were always close to the Initial Series, so they should be complementary to it. Morley (Reference Morley1915:152–153) described the same group of hieroglyphs, indicating that they appeared to be six or seven, and proposed the idea that they were a lunar count, based on the similarity of the last glyph of the series to the lunar sign, calling it a “month indicator,” because it was always followed by the month of the primary date (Morley Reference Morley1915:153, n1). The same researcher, in a later revision of the same group of glyphs, decided to assign a letter of the alphabet to each of them, but because of the primacy he placed on the Month Indicator sign, which is actually an allograph for the number 20 (see Figure 3, upper part of glyph A9, for an example of that glyph), he decided to assign the letters in the reverse order to their normal reading order (Morley Reference Morley and Hodge1916:366–367; Reference Morley1920:552). He named them G, F, E, D, C, X, B, and A, using X for the third glyph from the right, because of its internal variability. A few years later, Andrews (Reference Andrews1938) suggested adding two new letters to the group, since two additional glyphs were occasionally included as part of the Supplementary Series. Named Y and Z, they usually appear between Glyph F and Glyph E/D. There are very few examples of their presence in the inscriptions, appearing mainly at the Maya site of Yaxchilan. After these initial discoveries, more researchers devoted their efforts to explaining how this particular group of glyphs worked (see Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:37–66). From these investigations, we have a very clear idea of how the Lunar Series was used, except for some of its parts.

Figure 3.

Calendar Round and Lunar Series from Stela 89 of Calakmul, dated on September 2, a.d. 731 (9.15.0.0.14 5 Ix 7 Zak). Drawing by the author after his own photographs contrasted with photographs taken by the Carnegie expedition (Ruppert and Denison Reference Ruppert and Denison1943:Plate 53).

Figure 3 Long description

The illustration shows a series of Maya glyphs from Stela 89 of Calakmul. The glyphs are arranged in two columns labeled A and B. The sequence begins with the Introductory Series Initial Glyph (ISIG) at the top. Below it, the Long Count is marked as 9.15.0.0.14. The Tzolk'in is noted as 5 Ix, followed by Glyph C labeled as u-NAH-K'AL-JGU. Glyph A is marked as K'AL LAJUN, indicating a 30-day lunation. The Haab is noted as 7 Zak (7 Saksihom). Glyphs G/F, E/D, X8 and B are also labeled with their respective names and descriptions, such as TI-hu-HUN and u-ch'o-[ko]-K'ABA. Each glyph is intricately detailed, showcasing the complexity of Maya inscriptions.

I summarize the current knowledge about the Lunar Series here in order to explain how it was used. Usually, after the Long Count is specified (see Figure 3, A3–A5, dated on 9.15.0.0.14 5 Ix 7 Zac, September 2, a.d. 731, using the 584286 correlation with the Julian calendar [Martin and Skidmore Reference Martin and Skidmore2012]), Glyphs G and F are included, either as differentiated elements or combined into a single glyphic unit. These glyphs are usually written after the tzolk’in day (Figure 3, A6, 5 Ix), but in the example shown in Figure 3, they are included before and combined into a single glyph block (Figure 3, B5). In this particular example, Glyph F is combined with the variant of Glyph G called G5 (Gronemeyer Reference Gronemeyer2006:7–8; Thompson Reference Thompson1929:229). Strictly speaking, these two glyphs do not belong to the Lunar Series because they do not convey any useful information related to the Earth’s satellite, but they are grouped together with the lunar information provided by the rest of the glyphs. Glyph G represents a particular instance of a set of nine possible glyphs. Its behavior was first described by Thompson (Reference Thompson1929:224), who associated it with the nine Lords of the Night present in Central Mexican calendars, who ruled over the night preceding the day indicated by the date. Although the relationship to these Central Mexican gods does not seem to exist, he was correct in considering them as gods, as recent research has shown that one of the glyph’s variants—G1—explicitly indicates “nine times the gods were taken or invoked” (Gronemeyer Reference Gronemeyer2006:4–5; Stuart 2005:63), using the same group of verbs associated with the invocation rituals of K’awiil—the Maya god of thunder, abundance, and royalty (Valencia Reference Valencia Rivera2022:48–66; Valencia and García 2010). Glyph G probably represents the names of specific deities, whose exact nature is unknown, although according to Gronemeyer (Reference Gronemeyer2006), they are related to the growing cycle of maize. I will come back to this later. Gronemeyer also suggests that the name indicated by Glyph G, together with Glyph F, forms a stative sentence of the form: G# u ti’ huun, as these glyphs always go together and may even mix in the same glyph block (Gronemeyer Reference Gronemeyer2006:14). The exact nature of the sentence is still debated, as the expression u ti’ huun could have several possible meanings, such as “at the edge of the book,” (Johnson 2010), “at the edge of the headband,” or could indicate something related to Huun, the Maya royal headband deity (Gronemeyer Reference Gronemeyer2006:14–17; Stuart 2005:62, 2012a).

After Glyph G/F, the actual Lunar Series begins with Glyphs E and D (Figure 3, B6). Although Morley defined them as two different glyphs, they actually form a single expression, Glyph E/D, composed of a numerical value and the word huliiy, meaning “arrived/already arrived” (McLeod Reference McLeod and Kerr1990). This expression indicates the number of days that have elapsed since the new Moon at the date indicated by the Long Count date. The suffix -iy/-iiy, which is also occasionally postfixed to the numbers of Glyph E/D, has received multiple interpretations. It has been considered as a suffix for intransitives in the completive aspect (Houston et al. Reference Houston, Stuart, Robertson and Wichmann2004:98), as an adverbial enclitic (Wald Reference Wald and Wichmann2004:216–217), an adverbial deictic suffix marking a point in the past (Stuart 2020)—which is used inconsistently, indicating not only days after the reference date, but also days before—or as an emphatic demonstrative enclitic used to indicate recently performed actions, which could be translated as “already” or as “ya” in Spanish (Sanz Reference Sanz González2007:517–551). The fact is that this statement indicates the number of days that have already passed since the last new Moon.

Teeple was the first to describe the behavior of this glyph, indicating that its purpose was to specify the age of the Moon (Teeple Reference Teeple1925a, Reference Teeple1928:394–396, Reference Teeple1931:45–53). When the age is greater than twenty days, a specific logogram is included as part of the glyph (Figure 3, upper part of A9). The possible reading values of this glyph are: WINAL, winal, WINAK, winaak (Bricker Reference Bricker1986:101), K’AL, k’aal (Lounsbury Reference Lounsbury and Gillispie1978:762), and recently Grube (Reference Grube2025) has proposed another reading based on the fact that the logogram is sometimes suffixed by the syllable -wa, proposing the reading UW, uw, “Moon.” In this paper I will use K’AL for simplicity. In the inscription shown in Figure 3, B6, Glyph E/D indicates: 15 huliiy, meaning that 15 days have already elapsed since the arrival of the current Moon to the date of the inscription. In certain cases, when the coefficient of the day was five or seven, a special glyph was used to indicate this fact, which was called Glyph Z when used in conjunction with Glyph Y (Yasugi and Saito Reference Yasugi and Saito1991:2). Glyph Z is in fact a numerical classifier and is read as bix (Stuart 2012b; Thompson Reference Thompson1950:170–171), and appears in colonial dictionaries defined as “the 8th day” (Ciudad Real Reference Ciudad Real2001:85) or as “week” (Andrews Reference Andrews Heath de Zapata1978:81). This classifier usually also includes the -iiy suffix, and, when used with Glyph Y, defines a cycle of seven days (Yasugi and Saito Reference Yasugi and Saito1991:1–7). According to Bricker and Bricker (2020:76), this reference to a week of seven days implies an interest in dividing the lunar month into four parts or phases, a fact that is relevant to this study and that I will discuss in detail later. In one particular example from the Hieroglyphic Stairway 3 from Yaxchilan (Step III, Glyph B6), the glyph hew/heew—which is used as a substitute for k’in, “day,” in Distance Numbers (Lacadena and Wichmann Reference Lacadena, Wichmann, Water-Rist, Cluney, McNamee and Steinbrenner2005:33)—is included as part of Glyph E/D, implying that this glyph is also conceptually a Distance Number (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:76). When Teeple defined how this glyph worked, he used the GMT—Goodman, Martínez, Thompson—correlation to see where the dates of the Lunar Series fell in the lunar calendar, and they all clustered around the new Moon phase (Teeple Reference Teeple1931:51–52), confirming what Diego de Landa had already indicated in his historical text, that the Maya used the Moon’s first appearance as the starting point for their lunar calendar (Iwaniszewski Reference Iwaniszewski2012:38; Restall et al. Reference Restall, Solari, Chuchiak and Ardren2023:113; Tozzer Reference Tozzer1941:133). Numerically, Glyph E/D could range from one to 28 (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:76), using special expressions for the first day of the sequence (Figure 4).

Figure 4.

Special glyphs used to start the Glyph E/D count. (a) Palenque, Palace Tablet, B15, (b) Quirigua Stela D, C16, (c) Palenque Palace Tablet, Q10-R10, (d) Quirigua Stela F, F6. All drawings by the author.

Figure 4 Long description

The image shows four glyph illustrations labeled a, b, c and d. Illustration a features the text 'NAH' and 'K’UH' with intricate patterns. Illustration b includes 'TAHN' and 'CHAPAT' with detailed designs. Illustration c displays 'sa mi ya' and 'HUL ya' with unique symbols. Illustration d contains 'AK’ ya bi' and 'HUL' with complex motifs. Each glyph has distinct visual elements and text annotations.

Some of these expressions are better understood than others, and I will focus only on those that are. The first example appears in two inscriptions from Copan: Stela N, Glyph A10 and Stela 9, B6. It also appears in two other inscriptions from Palenque: Palace Tablet, glyph blocks at B15 (Figure 4a) and N16. It shows the logogram IL, “to see,” sometimes infixed into or followed by the logogram K’UH, “god,” usually preceded by the logogram NAH, nah, “in front, forward, first” (Kaufman with Justeson Reference Kaufman and Justeson2003:279). Although some readings have been proposed for this group of glyphs (Grube Reference Grube2025:7–8; Schele et al. Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:3; Sheseña Reference Sheseña Hernández, Schele and Mathews2010:10–14), the expression may simply state that the count begins with the first sacred sighting of the Moon, naah k’uh[ul] il. Another interesting expression appears on Quirigua Stela D, Glyph C16 (Figure 4b), where the phrase TAHN-na-CHAPAT, tahn chapaht, meaning “within the centipede,” can be read (Schele et al. Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:3; Sheseña Reference Sheseña Hernández, Schele and Mathews2010:16; Thompson Reference Thompson1950). This appears to be a reference to the position of the Moon, implying that it is located within a cosmological centipede, whose maws represent the entrance to the Underworld, the place of the dead (Schele and Miller Reference Schele and Miller1986:113; Taube Reference Taube, Ruiz, Sosa and de León2003:411). Two other unusual expressions used to specify the beginning of the Glyph E/D cycle have been recognized as temporal adverbs (Sanz Reference Sanz González2007:502–504; Stuart 2020). These expressions are used to specify the timing of the lunar arrival event within the temporal framework of the text in which they are found. They both replace the number in Glyph E/D and are followed by the verbal expression huliiy, “arrived.” The first is the term sa-mi-ya HUL-HUL-li-ya, sahmiiy huliiy, which is read as “it arrived earlier today” (Sanz Reference Sanz González2007:502–504; Sheseña Reference Sheseña Hernández, Schele and Mathews2010:19; Stuart 2020; Stuart et al. Reference Stuart, Houston and Robertson1999:II-35)—from sahm-i, “earlier today” (Kaufman and Norman Reference Kaufman, Norman, Justeson and Campbell1984:130)—found on Palenque Palace Tablet, Q10-R10 (Figure 4c), and on Palenque Temple XXI Bench. The second expression is AK’[bi]-ya hu-li-ya, ak’biiy huliiy, meaning “arrived yesterday, the night before,”—from ahk’ab, “night,” as ak’b-i, ahk’b-iy, “yesterday” (Kaufman with Justeson 2033:451)—that appears on Quirigua Stela F, F6 (Figure 4d), Zoomorph O’, J1-I2, and on Coba Panel D (Sanz Reference Sanz González2007:257; Stuart 2020). According to Stuart (2020), the use of these temporal adverbs in Glyph E/D strongly suggests that the age of the Moon was counted from the first sighting, because their use indicates that a particular event is being signaled. He also thinks that this idea is reinforced by the fact that the vast majority of the lunar age records use a specific form of the verb HUL (Figure 4c, Figure 6, Figure 8b), the one depicting a finger pointing at the Moon’s crescent. Prager (Reference Prager2020:2) recently found a new example of this logogram depicting the crescent moon sign rising over the sky logogram, which conveys the same idea. This may also support the reading of the first example presented for this group of expressions as naah k’uh[ul] il, as the first sacred sighting.

The next element included in the Lunar Series is Glyph C, an example of which can be appreciated in Figure 3, A7/A8. It was again Teeple (Reference Teeple1925a:108–109, Reference Teeple1931:53–61) who discovered what was its purpose: To indicate the position of a given Moon in a group of six Moons. Although Morley predicted that this glyph might indicate the position of the lunar month in some higher period, he was unable to specify how it worked (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:40; Morley Reference Morley and Hodge1916:378–379). This glyphic compound is formed by a number, ranging from one—usually replaced by the numeral NAH, “in front, forward, first” (Kaufman with Justeson Reference Kaufman and Justeson2003:279), as in the example in Figure 3, A7/A8, but never by the word yax, “first” (Lacadena et al. Reference Lacadena García-Gallo, Matteo, Rodríguez Manjavacas, García Capistrán, Valencia Rivera and Cases Marín2010:73) in this context—to six, followed by the logogram K’AL, represented by a human hand placed horizontally and with the fingers pointing more frequently to the right (Figure 3, A7–A8 and Figure 5b–e) and only occasionally to the left (Figure 5a), that is holding one of three possible deity heads. The logogram functions as the verb k’al, usually written as K’AL-ja, k’ahl-aj, which has been glossed as “to wrap, to bind, to tie, to enclose” (Boot Reference Boot2003a:8–9, Reference Boot2009:105–106; Kaufman with Justeson Reference Kaufman and Justeson2003:1000; Lacadena Reference Lacadena and Wichmann2004:174). This word appears to have a metaphorical meaning of “closing” or “concluding” a cycle or a period of time, particularly when applied to astronomical events. This glyph is sometimes prefixed by one of the possible variants for the vowel u-, as in the example presented in Figure 3, A7–A8 (also present in Figure 6), indicating that its coefficients are ordinal numbers (Bricker Reference Bricker1986:38; Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:79). The identity of the three deity heads has been debated in the past (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:66, n18, 85; Chinchilla Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos, Magaloni and O’Neil2022a:433; Grube Reference Grube2018:n1; Schele et al. Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:4; Thompson Reference Thompson1950:241), until Zender and Skidmore (Reference Zender and Skidmore2012:9) proposed that their identities were: The Death God (Figure 5a), the Jaguar God of the Underworld (Figure 5b)—often simplified to a representation of his eye adorned with a cruller (Figure 5c, Figure 5d, Figure 6)—and the Tonsured Maize God (Figure 5e). The name “Jaguar God of the Underworld” was assigned to God M by Thompson (Reference Thompson1950:134), but during the Classic period this deity seems to have been named as Ik’ Chuhwaaj, “the burnt one” (Helmke Reference Helmke, Kettunen, López, Kupprat, Lorenzo, Cosme and de León2018:438; Lopes 2003). Similarly, the Classic period name of the tonsured Maize God was Ixiim (Zender Reference Zender2014:2), and the name of the Death God was Chamiiy (Lacadena et al. Reference Lacadena García-Gallo, Matteo, Rodríguez Manjavacas, García Capistrán, Valencia Rivera and Cases Marín2010:17). There has also been some debate as to whether the Moon being recorded by Glyph C is the current Moon or the completed one (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:102–103; Bricker et al. Reference Bricker, Aveni and Bricker2014:156). I support the idea that Glyph C specifies the current Moon, since it is never suffixed with the -iiy ending to indicate that it has already passed, as is the case with the verb HUL, that indicates that the Moon has already arrived in Glyph E/D.

Figure 5.

Different variants of Glyph C. (a) Death God, Palenque, Olvidado Temple (after Schele and Mathews Reference Schele and Mathews1979:615), (b) Jaguar God of the Underworld, Quirigua, Stela A, A8, (c) Eye of the Jaguar God of the Underworld, Calakmul Stela 51, (d) Eye of the Jaguar God of the Underworld, Palenque, Palace Tablet, Q11, (e) Tonsured Maize God, Copan, Stela P, D5. All drawings by the author.

Figure 5 Long description

Five illustrations labeled a to e show different variants of Glyph C. Illustration a depicts the deity head labeled CHAMIY 'UH with the logogram K'AL. Illustration b shows the deity head labeled CHUWAJ 'UH with the logogram K'AL. Illustration c features the text CHUWAJ 'UH and the logogram K'AL, with an additional element labeled II. Illustration d presents the deity head labeled CHUWAJ 'UH with the logogram K'AL. Illustration e displays the deity head labeled IXIM 'UH with the logogram K'AL. Each illustration includes a human hand holding the deity head, symbolizing the verb k’al, meaning to wrap, bind, tie, or enclose.

Figure 6.

Lunar Series in the mural painting located in Tomb 1, Rio Azul, Guatemala. Drawing by the author after Adams (Reference Adams1999:plate 3).

Figure 6 Long description

The image shows a collection of Mayan glyphs with various inscriptions. On the left, the glyphs include the text '11 HUL ii ya ta K'AL 9'. On the right, the glyphs display 'u CHUWAJ 'UH 2 K'AL'. The glyphs are intricately designed with distinct shapes and patterns, characteristic of Mayan script.

The next glyphs in the series are Glyph X (Figure 3, B7) and Glyph B (Figure 3, B8). Glyph B is composed of one of the possible variants for the syllable u as a prefix—used as the third-person singular possessive pronoun—, and the logogram K’ABA’, meaning “name,” which includes one of two possible infixes: the first is the logogram K’UH, k’uh, k’uhul, meaning “god, sacred,” and the second is formed by the phonetic glyphs ch’o-ko, ch’ok, meaning “unripe, young child” (Kaufman and Norman Reference Kaufman, Norman, Justeson and Campbell1984:61). Glyph B then corresponds to the phrase u-ch’ok/k’uh[ul] k’aba’, which could be translated as “its sacred/childhood name” (Cases Reference Cases Martín2013; Grube Reference Grube2018:10–13; Schele et al. Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:6–7). Glyph X is a set of different glyphs that represent the possible names given to the subject of the phrase expressed by Glyph B. This glyph can appear in an inscription without Glyph B, but Glyph B cannot appear on its own (Grube Reference Grube2018:11; Schele et al. Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:6). Using the particular version of Glyphs X and B found in Figure 3, B7–B8, the phrase formed by both could be read as: ?-po-ya u-K’ABA’[ch’o-[ko]],…po’ya uch’ok k’aba’, “‘jewel’ Moon is its childhood name”—interestingly enough, po’ya means “Moon” in Mixe-Zoquean languages (Cases Reference Cases Martín2013; Wichmann Reference Wichmann1995:438), and Kaufman with Justeson (Reference Kaufman and Justeson2003:502) reconstruct this word as Mixe-Zoquean poy’a and note its presence as a loan in Poqom as poh, “month;” more recently, Kaufman (2020:143) notes that it was likely borrowed from Mixean, specifically, into Q’eqchi’, Poqomam, and Poqomchi’ as poh, “Moon, month.” I will discuss the relationship of Glyphs C, X, and B in detail in the next section of this paper.

The last glyph in the Lunar Series is Glyph A (Figure 3, A9). This was the glyph that actually indicated that this series of glyphs was related to the Moon, not because of the glyph’s similarity to the Moon glyph (Figure 13a–b), but because of the way it worked. Its character was first signaled by Morley (Reference Morley1920:554), who considered it as the most important of the series because it established the meaning of the series as a lunar count (Reference Morley1920:555). However, as Morley clearly indicates in his work, it was Robert Wilson who suggested in Reference Morley1915 that the numbers nine and ten, always present in Glyph A, be added to the lunar symbol, in order to obtain an alternation of 29 and 30, numbers which Wilson recognized as an average reference to the length of the synodic month when fractions are not present (Morley Reference Morley1915:152). Therefore, this glyph was used by the Maya to indicate the length of the Lunar month, and the alternation between its two possible values, from month to month, allowed the Maya to approximate the length of the month to the actual value of the synodic month. According to Teeple, two different formulas were used during the Classic period to calculate the length of the synodic month. He called the most commonly used as the “Palenque formula,” because it was derived from information from inscriptions at this Maya site, which equated 81 lunations to 2392 days, resulting in a synodic month of 29.53086 days (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:44; Teeple Reference Teeple1931:65). The second formula was calculated using calendrical information from the monuments at Copan, so he named it the “Copan formula,” and it equated 149 lunations to 4,400 days, resulting in a synodic month of 29.5302 days (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:44; Teeple Reference Teeple1931:66–67). The use of these formulas was not uniform across different sites and different time periods, suggesting that they were used as a base and then adapted to the particular idiosyncrasies of each Maya site.

Finally, the series is enclosed by the month in the haab calendar, which in Figure 3 is located in B9 to complete the Calendar Round date with 7 Zak. From a logical perspective, the Long Count is incorporated initially in an inscription because it functions as an anchor point for the remaining calendars included in the Supplementary Series. It is plausible that the Maya opted to encompass the entire system utilizing the haab month as a means to denote the termination of the calendrical data.

Glyphs C, B, and X of the Lunar Series

As I have already explained, Teeple discovered that Glyph C specified the order of a lunation in a six-lunation period (Reference Teeple1925a:108–109, 1931:53–61). He also noted that the different variants of Glyph X were associated with different instances of Glyph C, but he was unable to correlate them (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:45, 56; Linden Reference Linden1986:123–124; Teeple 1930:62). It was Linden who discovered how these six-month periods were correlated with Glyph X (Linden Reference Linden1986:124, Reference Linden, Robertson, Macri and McHargue1996:343). He proposed that there was an 18-month lunar calendar, composed of three distinct six-month Glyph C periods, with Glyph X variants designating positions in it, so that three repetitions of the Glyph C semester would create one cycle of the Glyph X calendar (Linden Reference Linden1986:124). In a later publication, Linden discovered that each of the three deity heads that are part of Glyph C, identified the three different six-lunation periods, which together formed the 18-lunation cycle (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:79; Linden Reference Linden1986, Reference Linden, Robertson, Macri and McHargue1996; Schele et al. Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992). Each semester was associated with one of the deities, as they ran in an endless sequence, one after the other.

Schele et al. (Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:4–5) arrived to the same conclusion, that there was an 18-month calendar and that it was formed by three successive semesters of Glyph C, each identified by one of the three different deities that form part of Glyph C (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:61; Schele et al. Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:5–6). Also, as part of their work, Schele et al. (Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:6–7) were able to provide a reading for Glyph B and establish its relationship to Glyph X as the two parts of a nominal expression. These same authors (Grube Reference Grube2018:13; Schele et al. Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:7) consider that what is being named by Glyph B and Glyph X is the Moon designated by Glyph A. However, there is an example of this glyph from the mural in Tomb 1 at Rio Azul that contradicts this idea, as it clearly shows that Glyph A is preceded by the glyph ta, which is translated as the preposition “in/at” (Figure 6). Prepositions and numerical classifiers are usually omitted in calendar inscriptions, but they were certainly included as part of the structure of the phrases used in this context. The presence of a preposition in this position prevents the name provided by Glyph X from being applied to the Moon indicated by Glyph A, so it must necessarily denote the Moon indicated by Glyph C, something that Bricker and Bricker (Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:85) had already suggested and that Teeple (Reference Teeple1931:62) had anticipated (see also Iwaniszewski Reference Iwaniszewski2012:40).

According to Linden (Reference Linden1986:133–134), the 18-month calendar represented by Glyph X was used to incorporate the extra days necessary to adjust the length of the month to approximate the actual length of the synodic month, something that he demonstrated using the Palenque formula, which seems to have been the most widely used. What Linden was able to find was that the length of the month could get the appropriate values for the formula by adding extra days to the Glyph X calendar. If the length of the month in the 18-month calendar alternates between 30 and 29 days, starting with 30 and ending with 29, the length of the month at the end of the 18 months would be 29.5 days, but if the last day of the eighteenth month is changed to 30, the average length of the month would be 29.5555 days. Applying this procedure to nine repetitions of the Glyph X calendar, five with an eighteenth month having a duration of 30 days and four with 29 days, the total number of days for 162 months would be 4,784, which is exactly the Palenque formula found by Teeple (2,392 days x 2 = 4,784 days [Linden Reference Linden1986:134; Teeple Reference Teeple1931:65]). Confirmation of this use of the Glyph C/X calendar and the validity of Linden’s procedure for adjusting the length of the month appeared archaeologically at the site of Xultun (Saturno et al. Reference Saturno, Stuart, Aveni and Rossi2012). In Structure 10K-2, a text with a series of 27 columns is painted on its east wall, each column with a glyph at the top and a series of bar-and-dot numbers at the bottom (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:65–66; Saturno et al. Reference Saturno, Stuart, Aveni and Rossi2012:714–715). The glyphs at the top correspond to the images of Glyph C deities, and the numbers below are cumulative quantities for 27 cycles of the Glyph C calendar, which correspond to nine cycles of the Glyph X calendar. To each column are added 177 or 178 days, depending on the algorithm followed by the Maya astronomer to include the necessary days to reach the final sum of 4,784 days, which is the number that appears as a result in the last column, corresponding to 162 lunar months. This is again the ratio required by the Palenque formula found by Teeple and exactly the same number of cycles proposed by Linden (Reference Linden1986:134). Proof that 178 days instead of 177 were added to certain columns can be found in the last two columns, which are very well preserved. The 27th column has a value of 4,784 days and the previous one has a value of 4,606 days, their difference is 178 days (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:65–66, Saturno et al. Reference Saturno, Stuart, Aveni and Rossi2012:715, Zender and Skidmore Reference Zender and Skidmore2012:6). Iwaniszewski offers an astronomical explanation for the selection of the columns where these extra days were included in the Xultun calendar, indicating that it was caused by the accumulation of one day of error in the previous semester (Iwaniszewski Reference Iwaniszewski2012:42).

Regarding the number of Glyph X variants, Andrews (Reference Andrews1934) identified six. Linden was unable to identify more than twelve, so he assumed that some variants were shared by different Glyph C semesters (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:56; Linden Reference Linden1986:123–124). Schele et al. also attempted to correlate the Glyph X variants corresponding to each one of the three Glyph C semesters, and found that there were only 13, or possibly 14 (Schele et al. Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:5–6). In a more recent study, Grube identifies only nine variants (Grube Reference Grube2018:2–3). Rohark (Reference Rohark1996) and Vepretskiy (Reference Vepretskiy2020) believe that the correct number of Glyph X variants is actually 18. Vepretskiy’s proposal is really interesting as he distinguishes some very similar variants by subtle internal differences, and correlates these newly identified variants with the frequency that they occur for the different Glyph C semesters, obtaining a correlation well above the average.

Regarding the reason for grouping lunations into groups of six, and occasionally five moons, Justeson (Reference Justeson and Aveni1989:86) suggests that the Lunar Series was at least loosely based on eclipse seasons (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:52), although it should be noted that lunar semesters do not always coincide with eclipse seasons. The same author notes that early records at Tikal seem to point in this direction (Justeson Reference Justeson and Aveni1989:86). An important finding by Teeple seems to lend further support to this idea; he noted that the day-keepers at Copan began the incorporation of five-month semesters to adjust the Glyph C calendar for eclipse prediction in Stela M, and more importantly, this stela uses the same base date employed for the Eclipse table in the Dresden Codex, establishing a direct relationship between eclipse recording in this Codex and the Lunar series of the Classic period (Bricker and Bricker Reference Bricker and Bricker2020:45–47; Teeple Reference Teeple1931:59).

Considering all the information about the Lunar Series analyzed so far, this paper proposes that the three deities that are part of the Glyph C calendar are the mythological identities of three of the phases of the Moon, as perceived by the Maya. The lunar phases chosen to name the Glyph C deities were those associated with the new Moon and full Moon phases, as eclipses can only occur during these phases. This emphasizes the Glyph C calendar’s relationship with eclipses. Each deity is associated with an important astronomical event related to the lunar synodic cycle: the first crescent, the full moon, and the last crescent. To validate this proposal, I will present information from Maya dictionaries and ethnological research related to lunar phases, as well as evidence from Maya inscriptions and iconography.

Lunar phases in Maya culture

Glyph C deities as the lunar phases

After reviewing the available evidence from ethnographic sources and from dictionary definitions of the lunar cycle terminology, two distinct mythological narratives associated with the phases of the Moon have been identified. The first narrative associates the waxing and waning of the Moon with a rebirth cycle, while the second establishes a relationship between the full Moon and the nocturnal Sun. The Moon is born after new Moon, starts to grow and ripen, until it becomes full. At this stage, the Moon mutates into an Underworld Sun that behaves exactly like the daylight Sun, but at night. At the same time, during this transformation, the Moon acquires the characteristics of a feline. After its maximum growth, the Moon begins to age and decay, a process that finally ends with the Moon’s death, which takes place during the last crescent, going into a cave, a well, or the maws of a centipede, as indicated in Quirigua, Stela D (Figure 4b).

The three deities that are part of Glyph C perfectly represent the two mythological narratives associated with the lunar cycle discussed above. The lunar rebirth cycle is represented by the Maize God as its beginning, and the Death God as its end. Every month the Moon is born with the image of the Maize God, who is the Maya paradigm for rebirth. There is abundant iconographic evidence of the Maize God being reborn after his sojourn in the Underworld. Maya vases depict the different variations and stages of this myth, including: dancing, seduction by beautiful women, his ultimate death, his journey through the Underworld on a canoe in the company of the Paddler Gods along with other characters, and his final rebirth through a cleft in the back of a turtle shell or from a water lily pad located on top of a skull (Chinchilla Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2017:199–201, 207–223; Quenon and Le Fort Reference Quenon, Le Fort, Kerr and Kerr1997; Salazar Reference Salazar Lama, Mazariegos, Doyle and Pillsbury2022:138). Rebirth necessarily involves a crucial step: death, which is aptly represented by the Maya Death God, who in this case acts as the dying Moon. The particular manifestation of the Maize God involved in this mythological narrative, named as the Lunar Maize God by Chinchilla (Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2017:203), has been very well documented by this author (Chinchilla Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2017:202–207, Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos, Moyes, Christenson and Sachse2021:258–261, Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos, Magaloni and O’Neil2022a:434–437, Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos, Mazariegos, Doyle and Pillsbury2022b:78–83). This deity is characterized by his elongated, tonsured head, and his rich attire, consisting of a beaded net skirt, and bracelets, earspools and neckless made out of jade (Figure 7). When the upper part of his body is represented in the iconography, he usually wears a lunar sign emerging from under his armpit (Figure 7a, Figure 11) or close to his body (Figure 7b–d) or he is shown seated inside the Moon sign (Figure 7e). He is sometimes depicted holding the rabbit of the Moon Goddess (Figure 7c–e, Figure 17), and in some of his portraits, he is shown wearing a water lily serpent mask, a trait also associated with the Moon Goddess (Figure 7b–d [Chinchilla Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2017:202–207, 2022:434, 2022:78]). Note that in Figure 7a, flowers are sprouting from the hands and the head of the Lunar Maize God, a clear sign of growth and ripening, a concept also associated with the K’awiil headdress worn by the deity on Figure 7e, as this deity is usually depicted in the Maize God rebirth scenes (Valencia Reference Valencia Rivera2022:73–78). The Lunar Death God is usually represented as a clean skeleton with a very simple attire (Figure 11), that consists of a loincloth, with his black hair tied back, tightly to his skull, with death eyes used as hairpins. His prototypical image appears on p. 53 of the Dresden Codex, in the Eclipse table pages (Figure 8a). Another possible representation of this deity appears as part of Glyph E/D on Quirigua Zoomorph G (Figure 8b), associated with a Moon age of 23 days, where a skull is represented inside the Moon sign, indicating that the Moon is dead.

Figure 7.

Representations of the Lunar Maize God. (a) Dumbarton Oaks photographic collection Plate PC.M.LC.p2.38.1 (Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC), (b) Perlman Conch Shell (Chrysler Museum of Art), (c) Detail from bench in Structure 8B-11 at Copan, (d) Detail from stone box found in Hun Nal Ye cave, Verapaz, Guatemala (after Woodfill et al. Reference Woodfill, Guenter and Monterroso2012:98–107), (e) Tenam Rosario Stone Throne, Comitán de Domínguez, Chiapas, Mexico. All drawings by the author.

Figure 7 Long description

In illustration a, the deity is shown with flowers sprouting from his hands and head, symbolizing growth. Illustration b features the deity seated, wearing a beaded net skirt and jade accessories. Illustration c shows the deity holding a rabbit, associated with the Moon Goddess. Illustration d depicts the deity with a water lily serpent mask. Illustration e presents the deity seated inside a Moon sign, surrounded by floral elements, indicating rebirth. Each illustration highlights distinct attributes and symbols related to the deity's mythological narrative.

Figure 8.

Representations of the Lunar Death God. (a) Dresden Codex p. 53 (Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, Codex Dresdensis – Mscr.Dresd.R.310), (b) Glyph E/D on Quirigua Zoomorph G. All drawings by the author.

Figure 8 Long description

The image contains two illustrations. The first illustration (a) depicts a seated figure with an elaborate headdress, adorned with intricate patterns and designs. The figure is positioned on a decorated platform, with one hand raised and the other resting on the knee. The second illustration (b) shows a series of glyphs labeled K'AL and HUL. These glyphs are surrounded by additional symbols and text, including 'ji ya ya'. The glyphs and symbols are arranged in a structured format, with distinct shapes and patterns.

The main character of the other mythological narrative, in which the Moon adopts the characteristics of an Underworld Sun, is the Jaguar God of the Underworld, the third deity associated with Glyph C. This deity is considered by some scholars to be the Classic Maya Fire Deity (Houston Reference Houston, Mazariegos, Doyle and Pillsbury2022:99; Stuart Reference Stuart and Houston1998:408–409; Tokovinine Reference Tokovinine, Pilsbury, Doutriaux, Ishihara-Brito and Tokovinine2012:340), particularly the fire used at night when it substitutes the light of the Sun (Sheseña et al. Reference Hernández, Alejandro, Domínguez and Lozada Toledo2025). He is also considered to be a night aspect of the Sun as it floats in the waters of the Underworld (Houston Reference Houston, Mazariegos, Doyle and Pillsbury2022:99; Stuart Reference Stuart and Houston1998:408–409; Taube Reference Taube and Houston1998:441; Tokovinine Reference Tokovinine, Pilsbury, Doutriaux, Ishihara-Brito and Tokovinine2012:340). This god has facial features similar to those of the Sun God, but his eyes have spiral pupils, which Houston et al. (Reference Houston, Stuart and Karl Taube2006:170) associate with the deities of the watery Underworld. His eyes are always surrounded by a mask that ends in a cruller above his nose, between his eyebrows. He also wears jaguar ears, a loop of hair over his forehead, and a long-pointed beard that resembles a stingray’s spine (Figure 9). This god is a nocturnal aspect of the Sun God, closely associated with darkness and the Underworld (Stuart Reference Stuart and Houston1998:408; Taube Reference Taube, Finamore and Houston2010:281; Taube and Houston Reference Taube, Houston, Houston, Newman, Roman and Garrison2015:213). He is frequently depicted in association with star signs, which symbolize darkness, the night sky, and the realm of the setting Sun. This is exemplified by the image shown in Figure 9, where the deity is shown emerging from a star sign and seated on a crocodile (Taube Reference Taube, Finamore and Houston2010:281). This representation is similar to that depicted in Figure 7d, where the Lunar Maize God is also seated beside a crocodile, which probably represents the Earth’s surface. He also appears associated with stars on Yaxchilan Stela 4, where he emerges from a star sign hanging from a sky band or in the central portion of the Jaguar Stairway on the west side of the East Court at Copan, where a massive head of the deity is flanked by star signs. For all these reasons, the Jaguar God of the Underworld was chosen by the Maya to represent the full Moon syzygy. The lunar version of the deity also appears inside the lunar sign, holding a rabbit (Figure 10) or with the lunar sign emerging from his armpit (Figure 11, Figure 16). In the Bonampak monument, the deity is shown wearing a headdress that seems to represent a solar bird deity, as its squinted eyes suggest, denoting his solar nature.

Figure 9.

The Jaguar God of the Underworld seating on the back of a crocodile with a star sign on top of his head. Photograph courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

Figure 9 Long description

The sculpture depicts the Jaguar God of the Underworld seated on the back of a crocodile. The figure is holding an object in one hand, which appears to be a stylized representation. The deity is adorned with a headdress that includes multiple elements, adding to the intricate design. The crocodile is detailed with patterns and features that enhance the overall composition of the sculpture. The figure's posture and the arrangement of the headdress suggest a ceremonial or symbolic significance.

Figure 10.

Representation of the Lunar Jaguar God of the Underworld. Bonampak Sculpted Stone 2. Drawing by the author.

Figure 10 Long description

The illustration depicts a deity adorned with an elaborate headdress featuring various ornamental elements. The figure is wearing detailed jewelry, including a necklace and arm bands. The deity is holding an animal, possibly a rabbit, in its arms. The figure is seated cross-legged within a large, curved frame that surrounds the entire composition. The style is intricate, with emphasis on the decorative aspects of the headdress and attire.

Figure 11.

Vase K5166. Photograph by Justin Kerr (Justin Kerr photograph collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC).

Figure 11 Long description

The image shows a Mayan artwork featuring several deities and figures engaged in a ceremonial scene. The figures are adorned with elaborate headdresses and garments, each holding various objects. The scene is framed by intricate patterns and symbols, typical of Mayan iconography. The background includes geometric designs and motifs, enhancing the ceremonial atmosphere. The figures are positioned in a sequence, suggesting a narrative or ritualistic event. The artwork is rich in detail, reflecting the cultural and religious significance of the depicted scene.

The evidence presented thus far suggests that the three Glyph C deities correspond to three different phases of the Moon: The Maize God would represent the waxing Moon, which is born during the liminal period between the invisibility and the first crescent of the Moon. The Jaguar God of the Underworld would represent the full Moon, and probably a period of some days prior and after this astronomical event. The Death God would represent the waning phase, when the Moon decays and dies during the last crescent of the Moon, and remains dead during the Moon’s invisibility period is over. Each of these three deities is associated with a specific astronomical event linked to the Moon. The Maize God is linked to the first crescent of the Moon, the Jaguar God of the Underworld corresponds to the full Moon, and the Death God is linked to the last crescent of the Moon.

However, according to Bricker and Bricker (2020:76), there should be four lunar phases, and there are only three deities associated with Glyph C. This raises the question if there was another deity that could be associated with the phases of the Moon. To date, there is a single documented instance where four lunar deities are depicted together, in the iconography of Vase K5166 (Figure 11, Chinchilla Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos, Magaloni and O’Neil2022a:431). In this scene, the deity known as God L is shown kneeling, without both his hat and dark robe, before the Lunar Goddess, who is holding her rabbit in her arms. The Lunar Goddess is identified by the presence of a lunar crescent emerging from her armpit, a distinctive feature in her iconography. The rabbit, in turn, holds the regalia of God L, who, according to another mythological narrative, was cheated by the rabbit and lost all of his possessions (Beliaev and Davletshin Reference Beliaev, Davletshin, Valencia and Fort2006; Boot Reference Boot2003b; Carrasco and Wald Reference Carrasco, Wald, Huntington, Arnold and Minich2018:189–196; Chinchilla Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos, Mazariegos, Doyle and Pillsbury2022b:82–83). Behind God L are other four lunar deities, three of which are associated with Glyph C of the Lunar Series. First appears the Lunar Maize God, and behind him is another deity, who has been identified by Chinchilla (Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2017:206, Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos, Magaloni and O’Neil2022a:434, Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos, Mazariegos, Doyle and Pillsbury2022b:78–79) as the human-bodied Water Lily Serpent—named Wits’ by the Maya (Stuart 2007). Then appears the Lunar Jaguar God of the Underworld and, finally, the Lunar Death God, all wearing the same lunar sign worn by the Lunar Goddess emerging from their armpits. However, there is an absence of epigraphic evidence substantiating the existence of this deity. Its presence is exclusively documented on the vase previously referenced, and no inferences regarding its existence can be derived from either mythological or ethnographic sources. It is important to note that both, the Lunar Maize God, and the Lunar Goddess, are occasionally depicted adorned with the Wits’ mask. It is conceivable that the Lunar Maize God may represent a synthesis of both, with the artist opting to portray them as discrete entities in Vase K5166. The Water Lily Serpent is associated with bodies of water and as already mentioned, for some of the Maya, the Moon is filled with this essential liquid. Certainly, a combination of both gods would enrich the capacities of the Maize God alone as a source of vegetal growth (see Martin Reference Martin, Golden, Houston and Skidmore2015). It is also possible that in a very distant past, there existed four deities associated with the Moon. However, with the utilization of three of these deities in conjunction with Glyph C, the remaining deity became superfluous, and the vestiges of its existence persist only as a component of the seven-day cycle in the Lunar Series. Future research may provide an answer to this riddle.

Assuming the validity of the hypothesis described so far, the lunar phases, as understood by the Maya, would have been conceived as they appear in Figure 12. The crucial astronomical event marking the beginning of the lunar cycle is the appearance of the first crescent of the Moon, as it indicates the exact moment of the birth of the Lunar Maize God. The Lunar Maize God ripens during the waxing period, until at some point he begins to acquire the characteristics of the Lunar Jaguar God of the Underworld. The transformation of the Moon into this deity is completed during the full Moon, when the Moon becomes a nocturnal Sun. The Moon continues to be the Jaguar God of the Underworld for a few days after full Moon until it begins to die, during the waning period. As indicated above, for the Tzotzil of San Pedro Chenalhó, the full Moon lasts for three nights but this period includes some days prior and after the lunar event (Guiteras Holmes Reference Guiteras Holmes1965:38). The Moon then begins a process of decay until it dies. The dead Moon then goes into a well or a cave, and stays dead until it is reborn again during the first crescent, to start the cycle again.

Figure 12.

Diagram showing the phases of the Moon and their corresponding deities. All drawings by the author.

Figure 12 Long description

A circular diagram illustrating the phases of the Moon and their corresponding deities. The Full Moon is associated with the Lunar Jaguar God of the Underworld. The First Crescent, marked as the 2nd day, is linked to the Lunar Maize God. The New Moon is depicted with the Lunar Death God. The Last Crescent, marked as the 23rd day, completes the cycle. Each phase is represented with an image of the Moon and an associated deity illustration.

Regarding the precise starting point for the first lunar phase, the one governed by the Lunar Maize God, some additional information can be obtained from his hieroglyphic name. To better understand the names of the Lunar deities, the different glyphs used to name the Moon in the Maya hieroglyphic writing system are presented first in Figure 13. The first example (Figure 13a) shows the Moon sign on the upper left corner of a sky-band from the site of Moral-Reforma, Tabasco, Mexico. The second example (Figure 13b) is included as part of one of the possible variants of the logogram TZ’AK (Stuart 2003), which means “whole, complete.” The Moon glyph is shown alongside glyph EK’, “star,” as an allograph for TZ’AK, which is included in the clause: u-TZ’AK₂-AJ, utz’akaj, “to put in order” (Kettunen and Helmke Reference Kettunen and Helmke2010:157), included in the Panel of the 96 Glyphs from Palenque. The glyph that appears in these two examples would be the first allograph for the logogram to designate the Moon, whose reading is ‘UH, ‘uh, “Moon,” which is polyvalent, as it represents also de syllable -ja, as could be appreciated in the next two examples. The first of these examples (Figure 13c) is part of the expression CHUM-la-ja, chumlaj, “was seated,” and the second one (Figure 13d) is included in the expression ya-AJAW-ja-wa, yajaw, “his/her lord.” The distinction between the two uses of the same sign is significant because in the case of Glyph C, both uses of the sign may be involved in its reading. In the -ja example from the 96 Glyphs Panel, even the rabbit that is usually associated with the sign when it functions as ‘UH is included as part of the glyph. This illustrates the dual usage of the sign and the denotative proximity of both values (see Grube Reference Grube2025). Figures 13e–f show two different examples of another Moon logogram glyph, its second allograph, ‘UH₂, which is primarily observed in the Maya codices.

Figure 13.

Allographs for the logogram used to name the Moon and the syllable -ja in the Maya hieroglyphic writing system. (a) Moon sign on a sky band from Moral-Reforma, Tabasco, Mexico, signaled by the arrow. Drawing by Daniel Salazar, (b) Moon sign in Palenque Panel of the 96 Glyphs. Drawing by the author, (c) Syllable -ja sign in Palenque Panel of the 96 Glyphs. Drawing by the author, (d) Syllable -ja sign in Element 40 from Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico (drawing by the author), (e) Moon logogram from p. 55 of the Dresden Codex (Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, Codex Dresdensis – Mscr.Dresd–R.310). Drawing by the author, f) Moon logogram from p. 32 of the Dresden Codex (Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, Codex Dresdensis – Mscr.Dresd.R.310). Drawing by the author.

Figure 13 Long description

The image contains six distinct illustrations of Maya hieroglyphs. Illustration a shows a detailed drawing with the label 'UH' indicating a specific part. Illustration b features glyphs labeled EK', UH, TZ'AK and AJ, with intricate designs. Illustration c displays glyphs labeled CHUM and ja, with circular and oval shapes. Illustration d includes glyphs labeled ya, AJAW, ja and wa, with complex patterns. Illustration e shows a glyph labeled 'UH subscript 2' with a stylized face. Illustration f also depicts a glyph labeled 'UH subscript 2' with a similar design to illustration e. Each illustration presents unique elements of Maya hieroglyphic writing, showcasing different glyphs and logograms related to the Moon and syllables.

To facilitate the interpretation of the hieroglyphic names of the lunar deities, the name of the Moon Goddess (Figure 14a–b) is analyzed first in detail. In the first example (Figure 14a), the name of the goddess is written as IXIK-’UH-AJAW, ixik ‘uh ajaw, meaning “Lady Moon Ruler.” This version of the name uses the first Moon glyph allograph. The second example of the hieroglyphic name of this deity (Figure 14b) is written as IXIK-ki-‘UH₂, ixik ‘uh, “Lady Moon.” The Moon logogram should be read at the end and not at the beginning, because the IXIK logogram is superimposed on top of the Moon logogram. The same process occurs to the word AJAW in the first example. The hieroglyphic names of the deities associated with the lunar phases are not frequently found outside of Glyph C in the Lunar Series, however, some rare examples do exist. The hieroglyphic name of the Lunar Maize God, using the first allograph for the Moon logogram, ‘UH, appears on the inscription of the stone box found at the Hun Nal Ye cave (Figure 14c; Woodfill et al. Reference Woodfill, Guenter and Monterroso2012), as well as on Palenque Temple XIV Tablet (Figure 14d), where this deity presides over a mythical ceremony (Chinchilla Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2017:203). As already indicated, the version of the name of the Lunar Maize God that appears as part of the name of the lunar deity is read as Ixim (Zender Reference Zender2014). Therefore, the name inscribed on the Hun Nal Ye stone box would be Ixim ‘uh-10-20, which can be translated as “Thirty [days] Moon of the Maize God.” The addition of a numeral to the name could indicate a specific day within the lunar cycle used to identify this deity—similar to the Yucatec name oxlahun caan u—being 30 the last day of the lunation, suggesting that the Maize God is born during the liminary threshold when the period of invisibility ends and the first crescent appears in the sky. This hypothesis is further substantiated by the presence of a number two on top of the lunar sign of the altar from Tenam Rosario (Figure 7e), which may indicate a very young Maize God, just recently born and being two days old (see Figure 12). The invisibility period of the Moon lasts between two and three days on average, so the number used to designate the Lunar Maize God may indicate that the Moon is born between the last and the first two days of the lunation, to manifest as the Lunar Maize God at first visibility. It is currently impossible to know how long the lunar phases were, or on which day the phases belonging to the Death God or the Jaguar God of the Underworld started, based on the information available from written sources. However, we know that the Lunar Maize God is presiding the waxing phase from first crescent at least to the second day of the phase, and that the Moon was already dead by the 23rd day of the lunation, based on the information in Figure 8b (see Figure 12).

Figure 14.

Examples of the glyphic names of the Lunar deities. (a) Name of the Moon Goddess from p. 24 of the Dresden Codex (Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, Codex Dresdensis – Mscr.Dresd.R.310), (b) Name of the Moon Goddess from p. 18 of the Dresden Codex (Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, Codex Dresdensis – Mscr.Dresd.R.310), (c) Detail from the inscription on the stone box located at the Hun Nal Ye cave, Verapaz, Guatemala, (d) Detail of Palenque Temple XIV Tablet, (e) Detail from a pyrite mirror found at the site of Topoxte, after Stefani Teufel (Fialko Reference Fialko and Wurster2000:147), (f) Text caption from vase K9261. All drawings by the author.

Figure 14 Long description

The image shows illustrations of glyphic names of lunar deities, labeled from a to g. Illustration a depicts the name AJAW IXIK ‘UH, with hieroglyphs arranged in a complex pattern. Illustration b shows IXIK ki ‘UH2, featuring distinct glyphs. Illustration c presents IXIM ‘UH 10 20, with elongated glyphs. Illustration d displays IXIM ‘UH, with a detailed face and glyphs. Illustration e shows CHUWAJ ji ‘UH2, with intricate glyphs. Illustration f features ni we TE’ ni e bi, with circular and linear glyphs. Illustration g depicts CHUWAJ ‘UH, with rounded glyphs. Each illustration represents different hieroglyphic names associated with lunar deities.

Considering that these three deities are associated with specific Moon astronomical events besides governing their respective lunar phases, and that these events—the first visible crescent, the full Moon, and the last visible crescent—are associated with the two lunar syzygies, which in turn are essential for the occurrence of eclipses, it may explain why these same deities were also used by the Maya to govern over the semesters of the Glyph C calendar, as the ultimate goal of this calendar was the prediction of eclipses, at least when the calendar was used in Tikal earliest records (Justeson Reference Justeson and Aveni1989:86–87). The direct relationship of the deities governing the phases of the Moon with the full Moon and the new Moon, which are the two only possible moments during the synodic period when an eclipse can occur, would have been fundamental in the decision to also use them as patrons of the Glyph C semesters. The Maya prioritized the relationship of the lunar deities with the syzygies over using them to actually denote the current phase of the Moon in the Lunar Series, because their association with the eclipse calendar was more important to them.

To finish the analysis of the Glyph C calendar, I will now proceed to describe the names of the rest of the lunar deities. The hieroglyphic name of the Lunar Jaguar God of the Underworld appears on the inscription of a pyrite mirror found at the site of Topoxte (Fialko Reference Fialko and Wurster2000), using the second Moon allograph, ‘UH₂ (Figure 14e). Helmke (Reference Helmke, Kettunen, López, Kupprat, Lorenzo, Cosme and de León2018:444–445) has proposed that this glyph is in fact one of the examples of the logogram CHUWAJ with the suffix ni-bi, -nib, which transforms it into the locative chuhwaajnib, “where Chuhwaaj is found.” But I propose that, in this case, the sign in front of the skull is in fact a speech scroll and differs from other -ni examples present in the same inscription, all included in Figure 14f. This glyph, in my opinion, represents ‘UH₂ instead. In any case, the same hieroglyphic name is also present on Vase K9661 (Figure 16), using the allograph ‘UH, included in the text caption adjacent to the head to the deity (Figure 14g). Both names should be read as Chuhwaaj’uh, “Moon of Chuhwaaj” There are no examples of the name of the Lunar Death God outside Glyph C. The similarity of the names of the Lunar Goddess, the Lunar Maize God and the Lunar Jaguar God of the Underworld would imply that the names of the lunar deities, when included in Glyph C, would have the same reading, which would be: “Deity Name” + ‘UH, “Moon of the deity.” This also implies that the lunar symbol included in Glyph C would have to be read as ‘UH and not as -ja (see also Stuart 2024:77). Using this logic, the name of the Lunar Death God in Glyph C would be Chamiiy ‘uh, “Moon of the God Chamiiy.” It is important to note that these names refer to the Moon, with each one being governed by one of the three different lunar deities that are part of Glyph C, not to the lunar deity itself.

Using this information, as well as the evidence included previously, I will attempt to establish a reading for Glyph C. This reading would have to consider the fact that this glyph has to be a noun, because a name is assigned to it using Glyph X and Glyph B. The verb K’AL exhibits an interesting behavior because it can form complex nouns by incorporating its object. For instance, when the verb k’al, “to wrap, to bind, to tie, to enclose (see above),” is applied to the noun hu’n, “royal headband,” produces the expression k’alhu’n, which is equivalent to “headband-tying,” an act that represents the accession to power (Stuart 2012a). I suggest the same principle governs this verb when used in Glyph C, so that k’al-name of the lunar deity-’uh, could be translated as “Moon that belongs to that particular deity tied to a certain location or period,” or simply a Moon that is located at a certain place or time, possibly inside the six-month Glyph C calendar. In some cases, this glyph is postfixed with the syllable -li, as in Copan Stela I and J, Tikal Stela 12 and 23, Piedras Negras Stela 14, Stela 36 and Lintel 2, Yaxchilan Lintel 56, and Quirigua Stela E and J, Calakmul Stela 51 (Figure 5e), to name a few (Schele et al. Reference Schele, Grube and Fahsen1992:11–26). This suffix would transform the expression into: k’al-name of the lunar deity-’uhil, where -il would function as an abstractive suffix (Kettunen and Helmke Reference Kettunen and Helmke2010:52). This would transform the noun “Moon” into its abstraction, which would be “lunation.” If this interpretation is correct, the complete reading of the Glyph C included as an example in Figure 3, A7–A8, would be: u-NAH-K’AL-CHUWAJ-‘UH-[li], u naah k’al Chuhwaaj ‘uh[il], “The first lunation of the Jaguar God of the Underworld.”

Having reviewed the different parts that form the Lunar Series, the complete reading for the example presented in Figure 3 could be assembled as follows: 9.15.0.0.14 G5-TI’-hu-HUN 5 Ix 15 hu-li-ya u-NAH-K’AL-CHUWAJ-‘UH ?-po-ya u-ch’o[ko]-K’ABA K’AL LAJUN 7 Zak, 9.15.0.0.14 G5 [u]ti’ huun 5 Ix 15 huliiy unaah k’al Chuhwaaj ‘uh[il] ?poya uch’ok k’aba k’al lajuun 7 Zak, which could be translated as: “On 9.15.0.0.14 5 Ix, 7 Zak, the god G5 was at the edge of Huun, 15 days have already passed since the new Moon was first seen. This is the first lunation of the Jaguar God of the Underworld; the name of this lunation is Jewel? Moon, and this is a 30-day Moon.”