Birds of a Feather: NMAI collaborates with Natural History to identify the feathers used in an Otoe headdress

Otoe headdress, date unknown. Collected in Oklahoma in 1910 by Mark R. Harrington. 3/2750 

At the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), we have thousands of objects from all over the Western Hemisphere made using feathers. Some of these objects include eagle feathers, which are highly protected under the U.S. Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Other feathers are protected by the international Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The museum is not able to send any of these objects on loan outside the United States unless we obtain Fish and Wildlife Department permits for transport of the specific kinds of protected bird feather used on the object. 

So, how do we identify mystery feathers that may be old, fragmentary, dyed, or otherwise modified on an American Indian object? We are fortunate to collaborate with one of Smithsonian’s top scientists, Dr. Carla Dove, feather identification specialist at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Dr. Dove is a world-renowned expert on identifying birds that have caused aircraft crashes. (And no, she did not change her name to match her profession!) 

Smithsonian ornithologist Carla Dove studying the headdress in the Feather Identification Lab at the National Museum of Natural History. 
 

Although always very busy with her work as a member of Natural History’s Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Dr. Dove has regularly taken time to examine mystery feathers in the NMAI collections. Most recently, Marian Kaminitz, head of Conservation at NMAI, and I transported an object to NMNH in order for Dr. Dove to analyze the feathers and make an accurate identification. The 19th-century Otoe headdress from Oklahoma included an unidentified bird head with a yellow beak and green coloration on the head feathers. It also incorporated two turkey feather “beards” and bundles of unidentified large feather quills that are dark orange.

Dr. Dove uses two visual methods of identification. One is direct comparison with feathers in the extensive collection of bird skins at NMNH. By looking at feathers side-by-side, comparing our object feathers to those on a preserved bird skin, Dr. Dove is able to confirm most feathers’ species. For the Otoe headdress, the small bird head with a curving yellow beak and soft striped brown feathers matched specimens of the Greater Prairie Chicken. In the 19th century, this bird was widely distributed across the prairies of the west where the Otoe lived. The green coloration on the head feathers is actually pigment applied to them by the maker of the headdress.

The large orange feather quills in the bundles on the sides of the headdress, however, were not immediately comparable to those of a specific bird. Dr. Dove guessed that they could be eagle feathers, due to their size, which had been dyed with orange pigment.

Under the microscope: Barbules on the shafts of one species of duck down. 50 microns (µ)—the scale at the bottom of the image—is described as the thickness of a sheet of paper or width of a human hair. 
 

This prompted Dr. Dove to advance to the second method of visual evaluation for unidentified feathers: microscopic examination of the down. The bird feather identification laboratory has a dual binocular microscope that allows scientists to view the tiny barbules on strands of bird down. Barbules—nodes on the shaft of the down invisible to the naked eye—bear signature shapes specific only to one bird, much like fingerprints. Some barbules look like rings on a curtain rod, others are heart-shaped or look like bamboo. Dr. Dove has an encyclopedic collection of glass slides of barbule samples from thousands of birds. Looking through the microscope at a reference slide of barbules from an eagle, side by side with a slide of a down shaft from the bundles on the Otoe headdress, we were able to make a conclusive identification of the orange shafts as eagle feather.

If we ever lend this Otoe headdress to an exhibition outside of the United States, we will have to go through a permit process with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to receive permission to transport the object abroad. The purpose of laws like these is to protect eagles, migratory birds, and endangered species from illicit trafficking by poachers and smugglers. The penalties for not obtaining a permit can include confiscation of the object and large fines for the Smithsonian. We have confidence that we will not run this risk for our loan objects, thanks to the expert eye (and microscope) of Dr. Carla Dove! We thank her and the Museum of Natural History for this cordial collaboration with NMAI Collections and Conservation.

—Gail Joice

Gail Joice is Collections manager for the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 

Native Sounds Downtown! Rob Lamothe & his band pay tribute to American Indian musicians, April 25 at the museum in New York

 

Rob Lamothe and the band, from left to right: Ryan Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Rob Lamothe, Rose Lamothe, and Zander Lamothe. Photo courtesy of the artists. Used with permission.

Last summer singer, songwriter, and producer Rob Lamothe helped kick off the opening of the exhibition Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. He and his band will return to perform at the museum Thursday, April 25, at 6 p.m. Supporting Rob are talented band members bassist Ryan Johnson, guitarist Ronnie Johnson, drummer Zander Lamothe, and vocalist and pianist Rose Lamothe. Together they will take the stage in the Up Where We Belong gallery and pay tribute to the artists featured in the exhibition with a set of iconic songs and some of their own personal favorites. The concert is free and open to the public; invite friends to attend via the museum's Rob Lamothe event page on Facebook. 

For the past 30 years, Rob has enjoyed an award-winning career with songs on the Billboard charts in the U.S. He has shared stages with everyone from Gun 'n' Roses to Ron Sexsmith. His songs are heard on hit TV shows like Melrose Place and the long-running Australian soap opera Paradise Beach. And Rolling Stone Europe has said he's got an "out-of-this-world soulful voice.” 

In the last several years, Rob has devoted much of his musical energy to working with some of North America's pre-eminent Native artists. Rob has recorded with award-winning artist David Maracle (Aboriginal Peoples Choice Awards, Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, etc). Rob teaches at Interprovincial Music Camp with Juno Award-winner Derek Miller from Six Nations Mohawk territory and internationally renowned guitarist, producer, and American Idol music director Stevie Salas (Apache). Rob's deep commitment to community is reflected in his work with young people from the Nimkee Nupigawagan Healing Centre in Muncey, Ontario, and in his job running the Emergency Housing Program for the province's Haldimand and Norfolk counties.

The band's up-and-coming young bassist Ryan Johnson has opened for musicians Derek Miller, Pappy Johns Band, and others on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Inspired by classic rock bands from the ’60s and ’70s, Johnson and his band earned a 2010 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards nomination.

Guitarist Ronnie Johnson (unrelated to Ryan Johnson) hails from the Six Nations of the Grand River territory, where he grew up hearing blues and rock. By creating music that makes people dance—playing bass, rhythm guitar, and lead guitar with The Blues Brigade and Midnight Lightning for the past five years—Ronnie has “followed in the storied tradition of legendary Six Nations blues musicians.”

Named “Drummer of the Year” at the 2012 Hamilton Music Awards, Zander Lamothe has rocked in numerous Canadian and European tour shows. With his drumming featured behind artists City and Colour, Melissa McClelland, and others, this zealous artist has drummed his way from California to New York.

Beginning her musical career, 16-year-old Rose Lamothe accompanies the band with her singing and piano skills. Rose has been honored to be mentored by musicians such as Bernard Fowler from the Rolling Stones and Donna Grantis from Prince.

The music will kick off at 6 p.m. on the Up Where We Belong gallery stage at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, located at One Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan. This show is guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser and a real treat for visitors who want to experience a concert inside of a gallery surrounded by the history of Native icons of music.   

—Aimee Beltramini

Aimee Beltramini is an intern in the Public Affairs and Visitor Services Departments at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. 

Native Sounds Downtown! with Rob Lamothe, Ryan Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Zander Lamothe, and Rose Lamothe
Thursday, April 25, at 6 p.m.
National Museum of the American Indian in New York

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"We Are Aware, Are You?" — Welcoming Students From the Suquamish Tribe

Vincent, a high school student from the Suquamish Tribe of Washington state, performs a traditional song in the Rasmuson Theater at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., March 14, 2013 (Photo by Leonda Levchuk, NMAI)

Long before the first European stepped ashore in 1792, the Suquamish had called the Puget Sound home for nearly 10,000 years. Thanks to the region’s abundance of salmon, cod, clams, geoducks, oysters and waterfowl, the tribe had cultivated a meaningful relationship with and reliance upon the region’s waterways. In fact, the word Squamish means “People of the Clear Salt Water” in the Southern Lushootseed language. (Incidentally, the region's largest city is named after Suquamish leader Chief Sealth, or Seattle, who tried to protect his people and their land through early alliances and treaties with European settlers.)

Though Port Madison Indian Reservation—where roughly half of the tribe’s 1,050 enrolled members live today—represents a fraction of the territory their ancestors once called home, the Suquamish have managed to retain the fishing traditions that once defined their forebears’ way of life. But a new threat to the tribe’s culture has emerged, according to We Are Aware/ Are You?, a short documentary that was screened yesterday at the D.C. museum.

As the film explains, industrial pollution from nearby Seattle—home to corporate giants like Starbucks, Amazon and, until recently, Boeing—has led to ocean acidification, which occurs when carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is absorbed into the ocean, raising pH levels and damaging young marine life.

The film’s message was underscored by the presence and passion of its creators: Vincent Chargualaf, Tyleeander Purser, Shaylene Sky Jefferson and Crystal Boure, four high school students from the Suquamish tribe who had traveled from Washington state to Washington, D.C. to raise awareness about ocean acidification and its devastating impact on the fishing culture and economy that has sustained their families for hundreds of generations.

 

“My father taught me how to fish, his father taught him. It’s a rite of passage. And it makes me sad to think that my children or my children’s children may not get to experience that," said Tyleeander, whose European and Native American roots includes fishermen on both sides of his family. “With lack of salmon comes unhappy Northwest Indians,” he joked.

But the students were quick to point out that ocean acidification isn't confined to the Northwest. “It doesn’t affect only our tribe,” Shaylene said to the audience. “It affects the global economy.”

  From left: Shaylene, Crystal, Vincent, Tyleeander, a group of four high school students from the Suquamish Tribe of Washington state, ponder questions about their community at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., March 14, 2013 (Photo by Leonda Levchuk, NMAI)

Before screening their film at the museum, the tribe’s young delegates presented their documentary at the 4th National Student Summit on the Ocean and Coasts, a conference sponsored by the Coastal America Partnership that brings together dozens of students and educators from across the U.S., Canada and Mexico to promote stewardship of the world’s water resources.

Following a performance of traditional Suquamish song and a screening of their film in the museum's Rasmuson Theater, the students took questions from the public. When asked what prompted their interest in environmental advocacy, Vincent piped up on behalf of his classmates: “I got this one,” he said with a smile, before explaining that a group of older students at their high school had paved the way, having attended the summit several years ago. And though he and his fellow classmates were “volun-told” to attend this year’s conference, they’ve since become passionate about the cause.

“About four or five months ago, we didn’t have any idea about ocean acidification," Vincent admitted. "But the more I learn, the more scared I get. I think I speak for all of us when I say this issue has invigorated my spirit.” Crystal agreed. “The more I learn, the more interested I become.”

“There are no words to explain how frightening it is to hear that we might lose a huge part of our culture within our own generation,” Vincent said.

“It’s almost like losing our treaty rights,” Shaylene added. “What our ancestors fought so hard for.”

“I think we will have sea life to harvest in the next generation,” said Paul Williams, the tribe’s shellfish biologist, who had traveled across the country with his community’s young ambassadors. “The question is what will it be, and will we like to eat it. Will we have to figure out a way to eat jellyfish?”

Hemispheric Journal: Boriken Trails

Prize-winning potter Alice Chéverez creates ceramics inspired by much older Taíno vessels. Her mother reconstructed Taíno pottery-making techniques in consultation with archaeologists working in the caves near her family's house. Morovis, Puerto Rico, 2013. Photo by Roger Hernandez.  

“The clay calls me,” said Alice Chéverez, a Boriken Indian woman of the Barahona Valley, in the mountains of Morovis, Puerto Rico. “El barro me llama.” 

Alice was just finishing a clay pot she had fashioned during forty minutes of conversation. We were taping with Alice on the Taíno pot-making techniques her mother, along with a Puerto Rican artist, reconstructed in the early 1970s. Alice allowed that it was not easy to get good at the craft. As a young girl, she watched her mother’s pottery-making, learned the full craft, and has never left it. Alice—of classic Taíno physique and facial features—smiles sweetly. “I have walked away from it twice,” she elaborated as a rooster pecked at the ground underfoot. “But always after a few days, I want to feel the clay between my fingers.”

We had driven more than three hours out of Mayagüez to visit her family. Puerto Rico around San Juan is heavily urbanized, but go east or west out of the capital, up the mountains to the central and even some coastal regions, and you can still meet families of distinguishable indigenous legacy and lineage. The Chéverez are a large, extended Indo-Boriken family still living in these precious mountains. Their place has the feel of the old campesino (jibaro) homestead—hanging hammock, animals walking loose, barefoot children playing. Alice’s parents and earlier generations held rich—not ancient, but natural growth—forest. A portion that the family guards to the present day has been designated as the Cabachuelas Natural Reserve.

Alice let us know that her mother, before she passed away, was the heart and center of a very large group of people. “Around here, she was mother chicken. When she worked her pottery, everyone worked on something around her. If she got up to go into the field, everybody followed—the little kids, even the men. Everybody wanted to be with her.”

Alice’s mother, Doña Varin, was the matriarch of the large extended family for several decades. Of the Chéverez, Alice said: “We are not that many, but we are not a few either.”

The family is reminiscent of large multifamily, Indo-Cuban homestead caserios found in the Cuban mountains. More than a single nuclear family at the end of a long and winding road of verdant hills, the Chéverez are a multifamily lineage. Mapping with Alice her family’s extensions, we could count ten families with several children each just among her siblings, while the extended genealogies of a large chain of uncles and aunts and their children’s families through three living generations took our quick kinship count to some two hundred people. “And there are others,” Alice shook her fingers. I encouraged Alice and the family to develop a count of their relations. 

That day, our last full one on the island, we would walk a long way up the hills behind their homestead, to enter huge caves that featured pictographs and petroglyphs drawn and sculpted by Taíno ancestors. 

 

 

 

Top: Juan Manuel Delgado, guide Felix Chéverez, and Jose Barreiro at the Cabachuelas Natural Reserve. In the mountains near Morovis, Puerto Rico, 2013. Photo by Ranald Woodaman.
Above left: Entrance to one of several large caves at Cabachuelas. Right: Faces in the stone—Taíno cave pictography. Photos by Roger Hernandez.

I was in Puerto Rico with Ranald Woodaman, director of exhibitions and public programs of the Smithsonian Latino Center. Our visit to the Chéverez family and their mountaintop grounds came at the end of a week of much motoring to public encounters and think-tank discussions at universities; visits with the Taíno movement community folks; and visits to numerous scholars, museum exhibitions and collections, and ceremonial plazas. 

Boriken is often used, particularly among Boricuas, as the more autochthonous name for Puerto Rico—the name of local origin. Boriken is the Taíno term heard by Spaniards at conquest. It describes this island’s branch of what is known in archaeology and in the contemporary legacy movement as the Taíno people of the Antilles.

This Day in the Maya Calendar

Cholq'ij, the Maya sacred ceremonial calendar of 260 days—a cycle of 20 Day deities and 13 numbers—is the basis of the Maya spirituality that survives to this time, practiced daily among millions of Maya people, in thousands of communities. The interpretation of the days can vary from one Maya people to another. The interpretations given here are based on sustained conversations and participation over three decades with Maya Q'eqchi calendar priest Roderico Teni and daykeeping families in the area of Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, by Jose Barreiro (Taíno), head of NMAI’s Office of Latin America, and his wife, Katsi Cook (Mohawk). Glyphs representing the Day lords appear throughout Maya Country; these were painted by Esteban Pop Caal (Q'eqchi Maya) of Cobán.

For more background to this series, please see Jose's introduction, "Living in the Practice." For further insight into the role of the Day lords in everyday life, please see the Maya Journal. For the complete year so far, please see the Maya calendar archive.

Illustrations: Esteban Pop Caal (Q'eqchi Maya), calendar glyphs. Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala; 2003. Paint on wood. Purchased from the artist. 26/2685. Photos by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. 

9 Anil  |  Saturday, May 18, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 9 Anil. Anil is the fertility in the seed, Anil is Rabbit; 9 is a triple rotor. Anil is red, white, yellow, black—the four colors of corn, the seed of life that is the unity of the world. Anil is renewal after death, regeneration of the earth. Anil people are four-directions people and can be good travelers. This is a day of coming back, a day to generate and appreciate abundance, a day of declaring love to create a new relationship, a day to announce the wish to do business, a day of finding lost things, a day to ask for help in overcoming shyness. —Jose Barriero  

8 Kiej  |  Friday, May 17, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 8 Kiej. Kiej is the Deer; 8 is a double balance. Kiej is the four directions, four hoofs striking the earth at once, the quaternity of the cosmos linked to prayer, highest aviso to el Mundo—the living world. Kiej is the staff of authority, keen energy of a chief to detect danger, perception of the leader buck, his horns. Kiej is a good day to pray for mental and physical agility, a day of agile travelers and good communicators. It is a day also to ask for clarity before gossip and ill intentions. A major gift of nature, Kiej holds indefatigable energy. He is one of the four main carriers of time. —J. B. 

7 Kame  |  Thursday, May 16, 2013 

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 7 Kame. Kame is the Owl and the recognition of death; 7 is a pivotal number. A day that recalls the night, tranquility, and silence, Kame is a good day to ask for the ancient and recent ancestors who have gone on, to thank them, and to remember them with purpose. This is an appropriate day to extend reconciliation, to feel and give forgiveness, to develop patience, to invoke against mortal illnesses, to access superior knowledge. Without fear, it is a good day to approach the spiritual dimension, "the enchantment." —J. B.     

6 Kan  |  Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 6 Kan. Kan is the Snake; 6 is a middle, even number. Kan is the ancient origin—Gucumatz, the Plumed Serpent. This is a day of strict and impartial justice, a day of definition and maturity, and a good day to offer respect and to thank the corn. On Kan, matters of justice, judges, and courts can be cleared up. This is a good day to pray that truth and justice manifest in the Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth; a good day to put aside jealousies and request equilibrium in life and in the family. It is a day to ask for physical strength and patience, to contemplate our spiritual evolution, and to rekindle the internal fire. —J. B.  

5 Kat  | Tuesday,  May 14, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 5 Kat. Kat is Spider, also Web and Fire; 5 is one hand. On Kat the unity of the people is paramount, and knowledge is deepened. Kat is the network of the sacred heart, the family hearth. Today is a good day to pray for your family fireplace, the spirit of the fire that belongs in the home, the one that calls other spirits to ceremony and speaks for them. Kat is the net that hauls in the fish and the net that holds the ears of corn, a day that can bring the fruition of things and the untangling of complications. This is a good day to help free prisoners from captivity, to request vigor and power for the weak. —J. B.  

4 Aqbal  |  Monday, May 13, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 4 Aqbal. Aqbal is the Dawn, also Bat; 4 is a balance. Aqbal is clarity, the separation of darkness and light as the Sun disperses the fog and obscurity of night. This is a good day to ask for a peaceful and happy daybreak, a day to find hidden and lost things, a day to wash away tears of sadness. On Aqbal, the sacred fire is recognized and appreciated. Aqbal is a good day to clean the ashes (renew the heart) of a fireplace and to present a new baby to el Mundo. A potential bride or groom can be revealed on this day. Harvesting of corn can begin on this day. People born on Aqbal relate in the present and are a special link between past and future. They are early risers, good workers, tranquil and kind, strong before an enemy, good researchers and finders of hidden things, often called "the candle of the home." —J. B.  

3 Iq  |  Sunday, May 12, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 3 Iq. Iq is Wind, also Moon; 3 is a rotor. Wind is powerful, violent, driven of itself, identity. A day of strong emotion, Iq is also a healing day. Good wind is nutritional for human minds; it is the mystic breath and vital inspiration of nature. On Iq, a breeze or wind that splits against your face is a blessing and a cleansing to purge your head and body of illness. Respiratory ills are prayed over on this day. This is a good day to appreciate all of Creation. The Day lord Iq is one of the four Yearbearers, or mams, a creator who helped finish the world and put breath (essence) in human beings. People born on Iq are inclined toward spiritual ways and can impulsively tap into cosmic sources. —Jose Barreiro  

2 Imox  |  Saturday, May 11, 2013 

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 2 Imox. Imox is Lizard; 2 is duality. Imox is the very force of gravity and a good day to pray for creativity and for rain. Imox can open el Mundo to receive cosmic messages. Known as a "crazy" day, Imox requires much concentration and control. A day of high male intelligence, also impatience and agitation, Imox can be difficult. Grounded on its left side, left arm, this day is easily unbalanced and in need of clasping left and right hands. Imox can be good if held in the balance of the Heart of Sky and Heart of Earth; unattended, Imox can manifest imbalance, mental nervousness, and even death. People born on Imox are open and sincere, but indecisive—in need of ceremony to set the positive to override the negative. —J. B.   

1 Ajpu  |  Friday, May 10, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 1 Ajpu. Ajpu is Caracol, Spiral Shell; 1 is the beginning. Ajpu is the Sun, captain of Time, a day of personal strength and for good to triumph over evil. Ajpu, who cares for boys and guides men, begins the men's cycle. This is a day to connect with the ancestors, who can reward and punish. Death is reachable and amenable; spirits can ask permission to enter el Mundo, the living world. Day of the warrior and blowgun hunter (cerbatanero), Ajpu is the strong blow of the dart that hits its target, a good day to pray for stealth or for a break in enemy lines. Ajpu is also a good day to start building on a house, a good day to make prayers for women and for success in lactation. —J. B.   

13 Kawoq  |  Thursday, May 9, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 13 Kawoq. Kawoq is Turtle, also Sky Serpent; 13 is the highest imbalance. Kawoq is a high woman day—a day of duality in all of nature and a guardian of contentment. It is the day of woman and man, lightning and thunder, fecundity and imagination; a day of midwives; a day of prayer for unity within the home, strength within the family, renewed strength for convalescents, and the smoothing of all irritation. This is a good day to turn bad medicine back on itself. Kawoq attends to young women in pregnancy, labor, and delivery, and to full realization for all women; it is a day of their sash. Kawoq is also a good day to commemorate the Staff of Authority, a good day for the men of a family and community to pray for the coffers (good fortune) of the women and for the protection of the home. Good midwives, writers, and architects are born on this day. —J. B. 

12 Tijax  |  Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 12 Tijax. Tijax is Fish, also Obsidian; 12 is the highest balance. Tijax is a day of doctors, good to pray for surgeons and all medical practitioners; a day of sacrifice and liberation from suffering; a day of sharp, cutting objects, of knives and scalpels and scissors. Tijax is a safeguard for domestic animals against predators, a good day to pray for all animals that are sacrificed, both in ceremony and in everyday life. Tijax is a good day to use metal (a machete, scissors) to "open the sky"—to solicit rain, solicit life, split black clouds. Gossip, calumny, and sorcery, on money and sexual matters, can be overcome on this day; on a high-number day, disputes can turn public and become debilitating. Tijax is a good day for seasoned masters to fortify daykeeping trainees against ridicule by envious countrymen or evangelicos. It is not a good day to plant. —J. B. 

11 Noj  |  Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 11 Noj. Noj is Woodpecker; 11 is high turbulence. Noj is a woman's highest intelligence. Maya knowledge and wisdom live in this day—good science to support positive deeds, good projects, good business, a good home. On Noj good ideas are available through the intelligence connected to the movement of the earth. Boys born on this day have important female qualities and can be attentive to the knowledge of nature, which rules all. Girls born on this day can be clear leaders. This is a good day to hear advice and make decisions, a good day to feed the mind, recognize curiosity, and strengthen memory. Noj is one of the four Yearbearers. —J. B. 

10 Ajmac  |  Monday, May 6, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 10 Ajmac. Ajmac is Bee, also Vulture; 10 is a high balance. On Ajmac ancestor spirits can detect and smooth the thread of time in our lives. Prudence, intelligence, ancient wisdom are in this day. This is a day to plead forgiveness for serious faults and to be judged. It is a day that demands moral rectitude, respect, and sincere analysis. On this day our faults (stains) must be faced and paid for; humble request for pity is encouraged. Ajmac is a propitious day for the women of a household to make peace with one another after conflict, to apologize for sharp words; it is a good day to pray for smooth relationships and the renewal of agreements among women. Hard luck can face those born on Ajmac. —J. B. 

9 Tz'ikin  |  Sunday, May 5, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 9 Tz'ikin. Tz'ikin is Bird, best represented by the Hummingbird, also the Quetzal and Eagle; 9 is a triple rotor. Tz'ikin carries messages between the Heart of Earth and Heart of Sky. Cold, heat, light, air, cloud are its elements. Love, intuition, precognition are strong in those born on this day. Tz'ikin is a good day for humans to follow birds to the corn—to find good material luck. This is a good day to ask for revelation and intelligence, for vision, and for abundance; a good day to ask for collaboration in projects or for personal freedom. On this day, women have the privilege to ask for their husbands and sons to triple the family money. —J. B.  

8 I'x  |  Saturday, May 4, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 8 I'x. I'x is Jaguar; 8 is a double balance. I'x is woman's energy day. This is a day to connect with your own land and to pray for its original owners; to pray for and appreciate your house; to pray for the finances to buy and sustain land; to ask for fertility in humans and animals; to request vigor and strength for reproductive organs, particularly female. I'x is a good day to pray to the mountains in favor of the land. It is a good day for a woman to request strength in her husband's commitment to matrimonial stability. People born on I'x have a close relationship to el Mundo and receive good access to precious metals. I'x is a good day for solitude and meditation. —J. B.  

7 Aj  |  Friday, May 3, 2013 

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 7 Aj. Aj is Cane Reed; 7 is a pivotal number. Aj begins the women's cycle, sentiments of family and home, the spinal cord. Aj is life and receives life. This is a day of resurgence and renewal, as in the reed and the corn; a day for the triumph of good over evil, life over death; a day of happiness, renewal of food, money, the heart of life. People born on this day renew their communities; they are sickly as children and sturdy as adults; they are especially lucky; they are good awakeners of their families and communities; they make good midwives. Aj is a good day to ask for clarity of destiny, a good day to pray for the protection of your life and of the newborn, a good day to pray for twins, a good day to pray for humanity. —J. B. 

6 Eh  |  Thursday, May 2, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 6 Eh. Eh is Bobcat, also the Path and the Tooth; 6 is a middle, even number. Eh can orient individuals, groups, or communities to their destiny. Eh is the day to ask for protection from dangers and obstructions during travels—specifically, that on your road the attention of thieves or highway police or border inspectors will be deviated from your trajectory. Solitude is in Eh, light rain, kindness, alignment. People born on this day can be good counselors, spiritual guides with the gift of prayer to Ajaw (Creator) on the destiny of things. Also, good dentists are born on this day. Eh is one of the four pillars of the 20 days, a Yearbearer—a strong, especially sacred day. A prayer started in Batz can be carried by Eh through the full cycle of 20 days. —J. B.  

5 Batz  |  Wednesday,  May 1, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 5 Batz. Batz is Monkey; 5 is one hand. Monkey braid, monkey fingers, monkey tail, Batz is the grasp of the monkey's hand so tight and braided the fist will not let go, even in death. Batz is a good day for beginnings, and for some Maya daykeepers, Batz begins the 20-day calendar. Batz is unity, a good day to tie things together, a good day for a marriage or to start a construction, a good day for initiation into the ways. Batz is the thread of Time that rolls out from under the earth, weaving life until cut, weaving Time into History. People born on Batz are calm and self-confident; they make good spiritual guides and leaders, and good-hearted architects. —J. B. 

4 Tzi  | Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 4 Tzi. Tzi is the Canine, the guardian; 4 is a balance. Dog, Wolf, Coyote, Tzi can be snarly, terrifying the unprepared with his bark and his bite. Tzi people are zealous to guard the sacredness of ceremony, to identify and punish "intruders," those not disciplined to participate. Benevolent to friends and fierce to enemies, Tzi is steady to reward or punish. Tzi will punish those who disrespect the Days and the spirit of the family. This is a good day to ask for mystic insight for leaders so that they can seek and discover hidden things, so that they can be just. Tzi has strong sexual energy, hard to restrain. When this energy is defined, people born on Tzi make loyal friends, husbands, and wives. —J. B. 

3 Toj  |  Tuesday, April 29, 2013

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 3 Toj. Toj is the mystic Fish—the tear of jade and drops of rain, water falling; 3 is a rotor. Toj is a day of making even, a good day to pay spiritual and financial debts and to collect what you are owed. This is a day of evenness for a family, a good day for parents to pay the family's debt to el Mundo, good for the oldest son to appreciate the father and the father to appreciate the mountain. Illness can be deviated from the family by making a ceremonial offering on this day. —J. B.