The tides are slackening again along the Central American Pacific Coast and the Mayans of 3000 years ago would have known, in similar conditions, that a lunar eclipse would occur on the next 10 day, 10 Ocelot (December 31), and that the normally high tides on a 10-day would be extremely slack. They would have known that the next two 10-days, 10 Deer (Jan. 13) and 10 Flower (Jan. 26), normally high tide days, would also have slack tides. In fact, they would have known, through hundreds of years of observing the ocean, that the next good day for ocean fishing, crabbing, and other shoreline harvesting, would not happen until 10 Reed (February 8, 2010), 51 days from now.
As the early Mayan civilization began to specialize 3000 years ago, people learned to take advantage of the slack tide eclipse periods by concentrating on agriculture, hunting, and long-distance trade. This is the dry season when agriculture slows down in Mesoamerica, which means that the coastal Mayans would have used this eclipse period for long-distance trade trips to Copán, Honduras; Tikal, Guatemala; Yucatan; Monte Alban in the Oaxaca valley; the Olmec coast of Mexico; and Teotihuacán in central Mexico.
It is time to pack up and prepare for a trip - by canoe and later balsa raft along the coast or overland on foot into the highlands of Guatemala and Honduras! The Chorti Mayas would have been trading cacao, salt from the Usulután coast, quetzal feathers from the Ahuachapán forests, obsidian from nearby Ixtepeque and Quelepa, and dried ocean fish.
We might think of the Mayan calendar as a New Age phenomena, but for the early Mayans it had not only spiritual meaning but also was a guide to know the ocean, moon, and stars, so that ocean fishing and salt production could be maximized - a guide to civilization itself.
Today is 11 Wind, 11th Day in the Week 1-Tooth / 1 Grass (this 13 day week never has an eclipse but every other year precedes an eclipse)
11 Ik (Maya) - Wind, breath, or life. Glyph might be the tree of life
11 Ehecatl (Nahuat) - Wind god
Direction: North
Acajutla High Tides: 4:14 AM and 4:47 PM
Semi-diurnal
Tide range: 1.60 meters average and decreasing. (Difference in High/Low Tides)
Keywords: Pack up and take a long trip. Remember to take something to trade.
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