Offerings for the Rain God (Dresden Codex, Pages 33 and 35)Dresden Codex, pages 33 and 35: almanacs of the god B, with offerings, fishing and the serpent in the water (Yucatán, before the Spanish conquest)Hearth Interactive Hearth Library The manuscript: Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden (SLUB), Mscr.Dresd.R.310, pages 33 and 35, digital copy (Public Domain Mark 1.0). Readings: Ernst Förstemann, Commentary on the Maya Manuscript in the Royal Public Library of Dresden, trans. Selma Wesselhoeft and A. M. Parker, Papers of the Peabody Museum 4, no. 2 (Cambridge, MA, 1906), Internet Archive commentary-of-dresden-codex. Förstemann's identifications only; his discussion is paraphrased, not copied.forstemann-dresden-commentary-1906 Maya (hieroglyphic script) God B (the rain god)The god whom Paul Schellhas and Ernst Förstemann called B, the commonest figure in the Dresden Codex, shown with an axe, torches and serpents. SLUB's catalogue calls him the rain god. maize (corn) The grain of the Americas, eaten as bread, porridge and drink and planted in hills or holes made with a stick. English writers called it Indian corn.the four directions East, north, west and south, each with its own sign in Maya writing. Förstemann found them throughout the Dresden almanacs, taken in turn as a count moves on.the 260-day count The Maya and Mexican cycle that joined thirteen numbers to twenty named days, so each pairing came round every 260 days. Most almanacs in the Dresden Codex are built on it.
B · west–Imix? · Kin–Akbal · cross-hatched sign with Kan Akbal… · [?] · 9 cross b · 9 Imix · [?] · [?] · Yax… · [?] south · Xul · head with Akbal eye · B–east · [?] · A? X Akbal 9 · VI Eb 9 · II Imix 9 · XI Oc 2 · XIII Eb 4 · IV Cib 9 · XIII Chicchan 4 · IV Muluc 19 Manik · B · Cauac · 9 spiral · head without lower jaw · Caban–Muluc? year-sign with cross · 9 Imix · cross · D–Akbal · … · 9 cross · Kin–Akbal · 1 Moan–1 Caban · B · [?] · west–Imix · [?] Manik · B · Cauac · 9 spiral · head without lower jaw · Caban–Muluc? I · Caban · Muluc · Imix · Ben · Chicchan · 11 · XII Caban–Muluc? · [?] · H · Kin–Akbal
God B · the day Imix, perhaps marked with the west · day and night · a cross-hatched sign with maize A sign with darkness in it · [unread] · nine, with the cross sign · nine Imix · [unread] · [unread] · a sign beginning with Yax · [unread] The south · the end · the beginning · god B, joined to the east · [unread] · perhaps the death god Ten Akbal, then nine days · six Eb, nine days · two Imix, nine days · eleven Oc, two days · thirteen Eb, four days · four Cib, nine days · thirteen Chicchan, four days · four Muluc, nineteen days The day Manik · god B · Cauac, the sign of rain and water · nine, with a spiral for the serpent · a head with no lower jaw · Caban with a sign like Muluc A year sign · nine Imix · the cross · god D, with darkness · [three signs lost] · nine, with the cross · day and night · one Moan and one Caban · god B · [unread] · Imix, with the west · [worn away] The day Manik · god B · Cauac, rain and water · nine, with a spiral for the serpent · a head with no lower jaw · Caban with a sign like Muluc One, under the days Caban, Muluc, Imix, Ben and Chicchan · eleven days · twelve Caban with a sign like Muluc · [unread] · the serpent god H · day and night