5 Imix, 5th day in the 13-day Noh (Thread) Week
5 Imix (Chorti'): Breaking open (sprouting) earth, which gave its name to corn, but then later associated with diseased corn due to pellegra.
5 Imox (Quiche) / 5 Imix (Yucatec Maya): Breaking open earth
5 Cipactli (Aztec): Alligator
Direction: East
Note: Note: In exactly four tzolkin cycles, 1040 days, this day will fall on the day-after winter solstice, Dec. 22, 2012, which will be the first day of the next Mayan long count cycle.
Ix is Mother earth; imix is the sprouting open of the earth - agriculture. Later, between 2300 BC and 1500 BC, the crisis of pellegra hit the Mayans in El Salvador, first among the Quiches, which caused them to lose their leadership of the nation. Pellegra causes lesions, like a jaguar's spots, which eventually could break open, spilling one's blood. The Mayan's cosmology was adapted to account for this crisis.
The Quiche were banished and the nation was split in two. In their new home, the Quiches changed the name of the daysign to Imox or Imok', since ok' means 'a break' or 'a dividing in two'. Later the discovery of the nixtamal process solved the pellegra crisis and quickly led to the dawning of the next phase of civilization.
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'.
Imix in Nok Week: The proto-Mesoamerican peoples discovered that the earth can produce food as well as clothing. But their civilizations later came to an end, in part due to over-production, so sustainability is the key word as we enter the next long-count cycle in four tzolkin years.
Acajutla High Tides: 4:05 AM and 4:30 PM
Semi-diurnal Tide range (Difference in High/Low Tides): 1.73 meters average and at its highest. It will be at its highest again in 13 days.
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