Clusters, knots, binding, netting. Kach, Ch'orti'; K'at, Quiche; Kan, Yucatec; Cuetzpallin, Aztec-Nahuatl. The Yucatec name for this day means netting, like the Ch'orti'. Netting first reached a sacred level for the Maya when they wove a tight netting to act as a cage for the first animals that they domesticated: the macaw parrot, the jaguar, and the mountain lion. This netting was created on Isla Tigre, Honduras, in about 8340 BCE in the case of the jaguar and slightly before that for the parrot.
The next time that the Maya used netting for a sacred purpose is when they were inventing gunpowder in about 7700 BCE. The motivation for inventing gundpowder was to remove the lava, rocks and dirt that blocked the Lago Guija egress after a landslide precipitated by a rain storm and volcanic eruption. The Maya discovered that guano - bird waste - produced an important ingredient - potassium nitrate - for gunpowder.
Based on a story in the Popol Vuh we know that one of the first places that the Maya obtained guano from was the Chantekwan cliff near Jayaque, El Salvador. They laid netting anchored to the top and crab-walked down the netting to find and harvest the guano. The cliff netting was the key invention that allowed them to produce large amounts of gunpowder.
A possible secondary meaning for this day sign is crystals, building off the meaning "clusters" and referring to the potassium nitrate crystals, a key ingredient in gunpowder which was produced by soaking guano for two days until the crystals formed. With the use of the crystals and the cliff netting, the Maya utilized gunpowder for thousands of years on civil engineering projects of many kinds. One of those projects, undoubtedly, was the quarrying of large stones to build monuments and temples and to prepare stela. Gunpowder is also the likely material used to sand the stones smooth, creating very tight fits in their monuments.
Another secondary meaning of this day might be physical healing. One meaning of Kach is binding and one way that the Maya bound was to bind or set bones.
This day celebrates chemists, alchemists, cliff climbers, healers, and all those creating new substances to aid humanity and the earth.
Kach 13-day Week:
1 Kach, Sunday, May 19
2 Chichan, Monday, May 20
3 Ch'i', Tuesday, May 21
4 K'anir, Wednesday, May 22
5 Tojmar, Thursday, May 23
6 Tz'i', Friday May 24
7 B'atz, Saturday, May 25
8 B'i'r, Sunday, May 26
9 B'ahk', Monday, May 27
10 B'ahram, Tuesday, May 28
11 Tz'ikin, Wednesday, May 29
12 Ahmok, Thursday, May 30
13 Noh, Friday, May 31
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