Payment Made. Tojma'r (Ch'orti'), Toj (Quiche), Muluk (Yucatec), Atl (Aztec).
Tojmar may represent the very first day created in the Mayan 20-day week, a reminder every 20 days, counted out on the fingers and toes, to stop the daily grind and pay homage to the spirits. Most likely this started in about 8,650 BCE. Each family brought an animal that was caught during the previous 19 days hunting to be sacrificed, if still alive, and given back to the earth as thanks.
At the same time the Maya discoved tobacco at Tecapa, El Salvador, which they credited to the spirit Tojil and which became the first plant to be cultivated. The day Tojmar helped to regulate tobacco, so that the community members would refrain from smoking it on Tojmar day but then could smoke again on the next day, still unnamed, which was simply called 2 Pere ("to draw in" or "puff"), followed by 3 Pere, 4 Pere, 5 Pere, and so on. Later when the Portuguese heard this story they named their days of the week Tojminyar (Domingo), 2 Feira, 3 Feira, etc. Tojminyar is "first time to make payment". Tojma'r (tohm + ahr) has a similar meaning "occasion of making payment". Eventually the Maya named the other days of the week but it appears that Tojmar was first one named. The Mayan graphic for this day sign is a person smoking. The Aztec glyph for this day sign is a plant in water, referring to tobacco being the first plant to be cultivated.
One can see the similarity of Tohma'r to the concept of taxation. It was perhaps the first act of government of the Maya. And one can see that words like "dominion" have their root in Tojma'r or Tojminyar.
Tojma'r was the day to stop everything and pay the price, sacrifice. It was a day to rest. This is seen from Tohil - hil means "rest" so that Tohil essentially means "payment and rest." Later it seems that the payment and rest day was shifted from Tojmar to the first day of every 13 day week, perhaps because people wanted to rest more often. Of course later on when the health effects of tobacco were learned, there was extreme irony in the name of Tojmar - "payment made".
Toj also is the root word for Tokar which means cloud or vapor, referring to the tobacco smoke baths that were used for shamanistic purposes, helping the Maya to communicate with the center of the galaxy, represented by the sign Ikar. Later sap from the cochineal croton tree was used and later still, copal incense was used instead of or in addition to tobacco to communicate with the gods.
Tojma'r is an eclipse week during our lifetime, many or most of which are visible from the western Hemisphere. These same Tojma'r eclipses were visible 5,125 years ago at the beginning of the previous long count calendar cycle. For example, on Oct 14, 2023, some parts of the western Hemisphere will be able to see an annular solar eclipse on 1 Tojma'r, very similar to a solar eclipse in June 3003 BCE, each 11 years after the start of a new long count cycle.
Note: The names of the Ch'orti' day signs come from the Ch'orti' Linguistic Institute, based in Jocotan, Guatemala.
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