Meaning
Four is the first of the numbers we place in our middle band, 4 to 9. The band is our grouping of the principle, reported from the highland ethnography, that the low numbers are gentle and the high ones strong; it is not a published scheme.
Our sentence for four is that it is the number of the directions and the corners of the field, steady and dependable; with the keyword "foundation, the four directions" it is EsoTerrier's own aid, not the tradition's teaching.
Days and ceremonies
The Long Count begins on 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk'u, 11 August 3114 BCE in the proleptic Gregorian calendar, and its thirteenth b'ak'tun closed on another 4 Ajaw, 4 Ajaw 3 K'ank'in, 21 December 2012, when the fourteenth began. Nothing ended: the count went on, as the daykeepers' did.
4 Kej bore the highland year of 1990, and 4 Iq' bears the one that opens in February 2029, by the rule that the bearer's number rises by one each year.
The numeral
Four dots. Thompson identified the Classic head for 4 as the aged sun god, the god of the day Ajaw: a fitting pair for the day 4 Ajaw, though the head belongs to Classic writing, not to the living count.
In the count
The number 4 falls on twenty days of the 260: days 4, 17, 30, 43, 56, 69, 82, 95, 108, 121, 134, 147, 160, 173, 186, 199, 212, 225, 238 and 251, with the signs K'at, No'j, Tz'i', Aq'ab'al, Ajmaq, Toj, Iq', Tz'ikin, Q'anil, Imox, I'x, Kej, Ajpu, Aj, Kame, Kawoq, E, Kan, Tijax and B'atz' in that order. A sign comes back every twenty days and a number every thirteen, so the same pairing, such as 4 K'at, returns only after 260 days. Each year the highland year bearer's number rises by one, because 365 days are 28 runs of thirteen and one day more.
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.
- Strength, in the highland reports
- The number gives the day its force: low numbers gentle, high numbers strong (Tedlock at Momostenango and Bunzel at Chichicastenango, as reported) sourced
- Our band
- middle; the bands and their edges are EsoTerrier's grouping, not a published scheme our construction
- Our keyword and sentence
- "foundation, the four directions"; Four is the number of the directions and the corners of the field: steady, grounded, dependable. our construction
- Head variant of the numeral, after Thompson
- the aged sun god, the god he gave to the day Ajaw sourced
- A fixed character for the number
- None established; which numbers are good differs from town to town disputed
How the schools read it
- Highland ethnography, as reported
- The number is the strength of the day, gentle in the low numbers and strong in the high.
- Thompson's survey of highland towns
- Which numbers count as good or bad differs from town to town.
- Classic scribes
- Wrote 4 as four dots, or as a god's head: the aged sun god, in Thompson's identification.
- Dreamspell (1990)
- Gives each number a name of its own in a different modern count; not used here.
- EsoTerrier
- Middle in our bands; keyword "foundation, the four directions". Our words, a reading aid.
Claims about it
-
The number 4 has a fixed traditional character.
unverifiedWhat the record shows: The highland reports give the numbers strength, low gentle and high strong; fixed characters per number are modern, and our own keyword is labelled as ours.
-
Four is one of thirteen cosmic "tones" with a Maya name.
falseWhat the record shows: The tone names are Dreamspell's, from 1990. The Maya count has numbers 1 to 13.
-
The Maya calendar ended on 21 December 2012.
falseWhat the record shows: On 4 Ajaw 3 K'ank'in the Long Count completed its thirteenth b'ak'tun and the fourteenth began.
