Meaning
The Yucatec and Classic word is earth: kab'an, with the Classic reading chab or kab. Thompson read the glyph as a lock of the earth goddess's hair and gave the day to the youthful earth and moon goddess, matching the head that writes the number 1.
The highland name No'j means thought and wisdom, and the daykeepers read it so: the Komon Tohil daykeepers make it the day to join ideas, give advice and cultivate knowledge, and the Maya' Wuj manual the day of decisions and of council.
Our reading: thought, knowledge and good counsel. People born on No'j are described as thoughtful and wise in advice. The words are ours.
In the highlands today
In Momostenango the day is simply wisdom, the one who knows. Maya' Wuj adds that it was the day the grandmothers and grandfathers gave thanks for their wisdom.
No'j is one of the four highland year bearers. 8 No'j entered on 20 February 2020; the 2022 account in Prensa Comunitaria places No'j in the east, red, where the sun is born.
The glyph and the old readings
Kab'an was also one of the Classic year bearers. Thompson's Yucatec augury for the day is the woodpecker, his highland one the earth.
The Central Mexican day of the same position is Olin, movement or earthquake, which is why Western pages call this day the earthquake: that is the Central Mexican image, not the K'iche' one.
In the count
No'j comes round every twentieth day, thirteen times in the 260: on days 17, 37, 57, 77, 97, 117, 137, 157, 177, 197, 217, 237 and 257, with the numbers 4, 11, 5, 12, 6, 13, 7, 1, 8, 2, 9, 3 and 10 in that order, so 4 No'j is its first day in the count and 10 No'j its last. In the nawal cross of a person born on No'j, the day eight before (conception) falls on Toj, the day eight after (destiny) on Kan, six before (the right hand) on B'atz' and six after (the left hand) on Aq'ab'al, each with its own number.
Correspondences
Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.
- Thompson's reading of the glyph (1950)
- lock of the earth goddess's hair sourced
- Presiding god of the day, after Thompson
- the youthful earth and moon goddess sourced
- Old augury, Yucatan and the highlands, after Thompson
- woodpecker (Yucatan); earth (highlands); gradings differ between communities disputed
- The name, as the Zunil daykeepers explain it
- wisdom, criterion, reason, thought sourced
- Direction and colour
- east, red (chak): given to this bearer in the 2022 highland account sourced
- Our reading
- Thought, knowledge and good counsel: thoughtful, and wise in advice. our construction
How the schools read it
- Classic inscriptions (epigraphers)
- Reading of the glyph: Chab? or Kab?
- J. Eric S. Thompson, 1950
- The glyph as lock of the earth goddess's hair; the day's god the youthful earth and moon goddess.
- Komon Tohil daykeepers, Zunil
- Wisdom, criterion, reason, thought.
- The Maya' Wuj manual
- Knowledge and wisdom; the day the grandmothers and grandfathers gave thanks for their wisdom; a day for decisions and for holding council.
- Momostenango (Andrés Xiloj, 2005)
- Wisdom; the wise person, the one who knows.
- The Central Mexican count (tonalpohualli)
- Olin, movement, earthquake: the day of the same position in a related but different count.
- Dreamspell (1990)
- "Red Earth" for the same position in its own count; not our name for the sign.
- EsoTerrier
- Thought, knowledge and good counsel: thoughtful, and wise in advice. Our words.
Claims about it
-
No'j is the earthquake.
falseWhat the record shows: Olin, movement or earthquake, is the Central Mexican day. The K'iche' name means thought, and the Yucatec the earth.
-
No'j bears the same years in every calendar.
disputedWhat the record shows: It bears years in the highland and Classic sets, the Classic number one higher; Landa's Yucatan used other bearers.
-
No'j is the "Red Earth".
falseWhat the record shows: That is a Dreamspell name from a modern count of 1990.
