Gaspar Pedro GonzÁlez
The Calendar (Tzolkin)
The Calendar ( English )
The worlds of Xibalba open
and the old gods parade
through the labyrinths of the karuns.
They built their dwellings
behind curtains of mysteries,
masks
feathers
scales
and cloaks with which the Lords
covered themselves.
Imox, mother earth reclining
on the four points of the cosmos,
holding in her arms men of corn.
Iq', deity wrapped in a veil of wind,
bedecked in whirlwinds and hurricanes
that blow upon the face of the earth.
Watan, guardian of thresholds,
obsidian color of night,
master of the dark suns.
K'ana', gatherer of the divine harvests,
bearer of the nets, the cords
for measuring the heavens and the constellations.
Ab'ak, mythological serpent
who dwells among the bowels and the hollows of the earth
where dreams are woven.
Tox, who guards the borders between
existence here and that existence beyond
the life of mortals.
Chej, charger of the gods, the deer's gait,
the deer's gallop, the heard of deer
winding among paths of heroes and gods.
Lamb'at, color of the yellow seasons,
place of abundant times,
distiller of the spirits of men.
Elab', guardian hound of the great
portals of the temples, of the borders
and the four corners of yib'an q'inal.
B'atz', the monkeys of the constellations
encrusted in the firmament,
rocking the swings of the destinies.
Eyub', divine tooth that gnaws away time
like teeth chew the kernels of corn
ground to beget spirit.
B'en, symbolic rod with head
and body of god, traveling over earth
to carve out life.
Ix, ancient mother of the divine estate,
forger of life on the grinding stone,
within the sacred gourds of corn.
Tz'ikin, who pastures the flocks in the sky,
the flocks on the earth, master and lord
of schools the breath under the water.
Txab'in, the opposite, the counterpart of good,
dragger of men towards the cliffs,
the banks and the dark roads of decline.
Kixkab, bearer of volcanoes and mountains,
moving force of the earth's root,
destabilizer of the terrestrial plains.
Chinax, in his old smoking incense burners,
who spreads the aroma of pine pitch,
divine nectar in the hands of other gods.
Kaq, purple color of father sun's dwelling,
who dyes with his dawn the liquid
that runs through men's veins.
Ajaw, omnipresent patriarch,
from whose fingers bloom swarms of life over the earth,
like a sprinkler of stars spread through the sky,
great hunter and blow-gunner,
herder of flocks of tuns
in the roads of eternity.
-English translation by R. McKenna Brown
and Gaspar Pedro González
Ka chi jaqchaj snahil b'ay xehejal,
ek' stx'oxonsb'a jan heb' cham icham yajawil
haxkawal sb'eyek' heb' xol yib'an q'inal.
Hata tu max yaq' kajay heb' sb'a
yintaqtatoq jan b'ay manchaq nachajelapnoq,
haxka k'oj,
haxka tz'up,
haxka joyalej
max yak squtoq xotan ok yin.
Imox, ko txutx tx'otx' lehantoq
b'ay skaneb'al xikin yib'an q'inal
schelon ok yuninal jatneb'il yetoq ixim.
Iq', yorhail kaq'e, chi ek' lahahoq,
xolaq kaqxuchum ma kaq'e nab' yib'an
sat tx'otx' tx'otx' ti yetoq smimanil.
Watan, staynemal stinahil b'ay
chi q'eqb'el yet chi okkan aq'b'al,
staynemal b'ay k'amxa chi apni yaqan k'u.
K'ana', yiqomal txan txim, tx'an echeb'al,
b'ay chi swaj heb' cham ora junan sjatx'oj
ma yechchaj satkan xolaq ch'en waykan.
Ab'ak, jun no yesal miman lab'aj
b'ak'antoq yulaq sk'ul tx'otx' tx'otx'
bay ipan schemchaj junan wayichej.
Tox, yajawil kamich chi staynen b'ay
smojonal xol skawil anima kayti'
yetoq bay junxa kamb'al chi apni okoq.
Chej, yiqomal heb' cham ora, sb'ey k'ultaqil chej,
stoj txaktxon k'ultaqil chej,
yek' xuyuyoq no yulaq sb' ehal witz, b'ay kajan heb'.
Lamb'at, sq'anb'inaqil el yib'an q'inl,
yet chi k'exb'oj junan tuqan yul ab'il
b'ay chi q'anb'i el masanil anima yalji.
Mulu', ajtxaj, ajti' yin junan txajul q'anej
chi allay yetoq heb' icham winaq yin
txaj ch'ajapnoq satkan yetoq smub'al jaq'b'al.
Elab', tx'i kupan stilaq mimeq na staynemal
yet heb' ichmamej, staynemal skaneb'al xikin,
yib'an q'inal yet heb' cham yajawil.
B'atz', heb' wojb'atz chi ek'jab ek'
satkan xolaq najat waykan, yek' t'unlab'oq,
staynen skawil heb' konob' kayti'.
Iyub', ehej chi k'uxontoq yek' yib' an q'inal,
hexkawal sjutx'chajtoq ixim ixim yuj ch'en
txajul ka' b'ay chi kawxi heb' anima yuj tioxh.
B'en, yajawil te aj yulaq yib'an q'inal
sjolom, smimanil tioxh, icham winaq ipan
yel skwenta tzetaq hoq uj sat tx'otx'.
Ix, txutx ixnamil titnaqta ok yet max
elkan xe mundo, ha max jutx'on skawejal heb'
b'ab'el mamej, b'ab'el txutxej yul tzima.
Tz'ikin, yilomal mimantaq alomno sat kan,
chi stayne no chi ek' b'ululoq sat tx'otx',
yet k'apax no chi chiib' yulaq mimeq hej.
Txab'in, yoralil junan taet eln' eluk yil'nu
konob' ta k'am chi ajaprioq spaqon sb'a
sataq heb' cham, ay smay yelol syob'al yuj.
Kixkab', spixan yiqomal'aj junan memeq witz
chi aq'on b'il yich xe tx'otx' tx'otx',
yuchomal'aj junan tzet kawxeb'il yuj konob'.
Chinax, haxka ton yajawil ajtxaj yetoq
schitb'al ipan stoj smub'al stxaj sat kan
yetoq jaq'b'al, kantela, b'ay lob'al yet heb'.
Kaq, haton yili b'ay chi ajol Komam K'u yet
chi q'inib'i, kaxka k'apaxtu yili chik' chi
ek' yulaq stx'anil heb' yuninal jatnenb'ilkanoq.
Ajaw, yiehamil winaq chi ek'jab ek'
b'ay masanil, yulaq sq'ab chi elteq junan tzet ay
yib'an sat tx'otx tx'otx, haxkawal yelteq nililoq
ch'en waykan tixhantoq sat kan.
Miman uqtem no', aj julom no yetoq te uyb'al,
yilomal jun b'ulan ab'il chi ek'jab'
yulaq sb'ehal masanil q'inal yechej tax payxa.
