THE OBSERVATIONS OF THE MOON AT NARANJO – NEW FACTS AND INTERPRETATIONS

Abstract

According to the Maya records, in 682 CE the Dos Pilas ruler Bahlaj Chan K'awiil, sent his daughter, "Lady

Six Sky", to Naranjo (today's Guatemala) to re-establish the local dynasty. Some years later, her arrival to the

city was described by a glyph that was widely associated with the age of the moon in the Maya Lunar Series,

while she was portrayed in the guise of the Moon Goddess. At Naranjo, the Lunar Series attached to the date

of "Lady Six Sky” arrival is associated with the start of Teeple's (1931) "Period of Uniformity". However, for

some time on, another system of counting the moon run in parallel.

The name of the ruler’s consort, “Lady Six Sky” appears on other sites where the title of a “weaver” is added

reinforcing associations with the Moon Goddess, commonly regarded as a weaver. The number six in the

name usually identifies various Maize Gods, so when used to denote the Moon Goddess emphasizes the

links between the moon and planting of maize.

The paper aims to examine the Lunar Series at Naranjo and to compare them with those from La Corona,

Yaxchilan and Oxpemul.