Meaning
The Classic glyph shows a dog, and its reading is probably ook. Thompson gave the day to the dog of the underworld and recorded the Yucatec meaning as entering the underworld.
The K'iche' name Tz'i' is the dog, and the highland reading moves from the animal to the law. The Komon Tohil daykeepers call it the nawal of material and spiritual justice and the day of the five senses; the Maya' Wuj manual makes it justice, order and exactness.
Our reading: loyalty, guidance and a sharp sense of right and wrong that can tip into suspicion. People born on Tz'i' are described as loyal and principled. The words are ours.
In the highlands today
In Zunil the day is used to ask that want, misfortune and bad habits stay away and to be free of criticism and rumour; Maya' Wuj makes it the day for settling matters of justice.
Andrés Xiloj spoke of 7 Tz'i', the day before 8 B'atz', as a day on which one must not shame oneself in word or deed, and on which the Momostenango daykeepers already offer incense and flowers.
The glyph and the old readings
Thompson's tables record the dog as the day's association in Yucatan and the highlands, with an old augury of the adulterer in both; such gradings differ between communities and we read none of them as a fortune. Tz'i' is never a year bearer.
The Central Mexican day of the same position is Itzcuintli, the dog. Western pages that make Tz'i' the guide of the sun through the underworld are glossing it, not citing a source.
In the count
Tz'i' comes round every twentieth day, thirteen times in the 260: on days 10, 30, 50, 70, 90, 110, 130, 150, 170, 190, 210, 230 and 250, with the numbers 10, 4, 11, 5, 12, 6, 13, 7, 1, 8, 2, 9 and 3 in that order, so 10 Tz'i' is its first day in the count and 3 Tz'i' its last. In the nawal cross of a person born on Tz'i', the day eight before (conception) falls on Iq', the day eight after (destiny) on Tijax, six before (the right hand) on K'at and six after (the left hand) on Ajmaq, 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)
- dog sourced
- Presiding god of the day, after Thompson
- the dog of the underworld sourced
- Old augury, Yucatan and the highlands, after Thompson
- dog, adulterer (Yucatan and highlands); gradings differ between communities disputed
- The name, as the Zunil daykeepers explain it
- dog; the five senses; the nawal of material and spiritual justice sourced
- Direction and colour
- north, white (sak): read off the four-direction cycle; not attested for this day itself, and not shown on our chart unverified
- Our reading
- Loyalty, guidance and justice: principled, with a sharp sense of right and wrong that can tip into suspicion. our construction
How the schools read it
- Classic inscriptions (epigraphers)
- Reading of the glyph: Ook?
- J. Eric S. Thompson, 1950
- The glyph as dog; the day's god the dog of the underworld.
- Komon Tohil daykeepers, Zunil
- Dog; the five senses; the nawal of material and spiritual justice.
- The Maya' Wuj manual
- Justice; the reading of the known and the unknown; protector of material and spiritual law, order and exactness; a day for matters of justice.
- Momostenango (Andrés Xiloj, 2005)
- A day on which one must not shame oneself in word or deed.
- The Central Mexican count (tonalpohualli)
- Itzcuintli, dog: the day of the same position in a related but different count.
- Dreamspell (1990)
- "White Dog" for the same position in its own count; not our name for the sign.
- EsoTerrier
- Loyalty, guidance and justice: principled, with a sharp sense of right and wrong that can tip into suspicion. Our words.
Claims about it
-
Tz'i' is the "White Dog".
falseWhat the record shows: That is a Dreamspell name from a modern count of 1990, which gives most dates a different sign.
-
Tz'i' has its own colour, guardian animal and list of suitable jobs.
unverifiedWhat the record shows: No Maya source gives these; they come from Western sites and apps.
-
Tz'i' means the same everywhere.
disputedWhat the record shows: The Classic dog of the underworld and the highland nawal of justice are readings of different places and periods.
