10 Cimin in the Mayan-Mesoamerican Calendar

10 Cimin, 10th day in the 13-day Nok (Thread) Week
10 Cimin or Tzimin (Chorti): Tapir. Glyph of sleeping head or skull
10 Kame (Quiche) / 10 Kimi (Yucateca): Death
10 Miquiztli (Aztec): Death
Direction: North

Note: In the Popul Vuh, the lords of Xibalba who brutally controlled the cave, were represented by the tapir. The word for tapir, cimin, might originate in Asia from before crossing the Bering Strait and likely meant bear. In ancient mythology bears ruled the caves and hibernated through the winter, hence the sleeping head. As the closest animal to a bear in Mesoamerica, tapirs ruled caves there.

Also in the Popol Vuh, the Hawk mixes corn with the blood of a sea serpent and the tapir to make people. The previous day-sign was serpent and it is matched with tapir in the tzolkin. The blood of both the sea-faring pre-Mayan people (sea serpent) and the cave dwelling Xibalbans (tapir) was shed in order for the powerful, knowledgeable Mayan people to merge. The tapir also represented human sacrifice in Mayan cosmology, hence the easy transition to 'death' in other Mayan languages and among the Aztecs.

Nok Week: Nok describes the fine cotton (tinam) thread used in weaving and this week celebrates the ability of humans to utilize plants for clothing and other articles of higher civilization. This week might have been called ihben earlier, meaning earth spirit. It would have been easy to associate the rocking motion of the weaving loom with the rocking motion of the earth during an earthquake. This 13 day week will never have an eclipse, but follows an eclipse period every other tzolkin year. Mars will usually be retrograde every third tzolkin in Nok week. (Mars has a 780 day cycle or three tzolkin cycle.) Mars is retrograde now throughout this week. On the next Nok week (260 days), Mars will be an evening 'star' almost to disappear from the sky. On the Nok week following that, Mars will be a morning 'star'.

Acajutla High Tides: 7:05 AM and 7:32 PM
Semi-diurnal Tide range (Difference in High/Low Tides): 1.45 meters average and decreasing.