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236 the open jaws enclose the head of a god, usually God B, the rain-god, but sometimes the sun-or skygod. Where the body assumes the beam form, it is divided into panels, enclosing glyphs which are almost certainly symbols of certain planets, the sun, moon, day and night. Now practically throughout America the snake is the emblem of clouds, rain and lightning, and I would suggest that this symbol represents the sky. From this point of view the association of the planet symbols, and the gods of the sun and rain, is explained, and one immediately recalls the myth according to which the creator placed the four Bacabs at the cardinal points to support the heavens. It may be that the figure which holds the "bar" may represent one of these deities; and this suggestion is to some extent supported by the following facts. Many, though not all, of the stele bear dates recording even katun quarters (a katun = 47200 days, see p. 251), and it is possible that these stele were erected to mark the lapse of regular periods of time. The historical Maya were in the habit, so Landa states, of setting up a "stone" to commemorate the passing of a katun, and also of holding certain ceremonies at one of the sacred piles of stones outside the village in honour of the commencement of each solar year. These ceremonies were in honour of the Bacab, who was supposed to preside over the year in question (see p. 263). Now a large proportion of the figures portrayed upon stele at various sites carry, instead of the "bar," an object hitherto called the "mannikin sceptre." This is a short staff, presumably of wood, carved to represent God B (or God K, both rain-and wind-gods), and terminating below the hand in a curved projection representing the head of a snake (Fig. 52). Now the real nature of this object has hitherto, most unaccountably, been misunderstood. It is nothing more or less than a ceremonial axe, the stone blade of which, bearing the marks which