Warriors of the Night Sky

Tomorrow, of course, came just as expected. The bright yellow sun returned as if it was prepared to enjoy the Vasquez family’s last day in the Riviera Maya. Sr. Vasquez was finished with his work in Tres Rios and the children were ready for one last side trip.
Unfortunately, they did not get to see the Domingo family again. Fortunately, they did get a chance to visit one of the places they had all wanted to see.
They eagerly packed their bags and checked out of the hotel. Next, they headed out to the highway, in search of the Temple of the Winged Serpent.
That temple, of course, was better known as ‘El Castillo’. It was the most famous structure in all of Mexico, part of Chichen Itza. In fact, most people identify El Castillo as Chichen Itza itself.
When the Vasquez family arrived at the site, everyone was surprised to see tour busses and cars filling the gigantic parking lot. After they passed through the visitor’s gate, they walked the long path to the open field.
The stepped pyramid stood in the distance. It was just like the pictures of Tenochtitlan that the city planner had in his office in downtown Mexico City.
But it was different.
“Look how huge!” exclaimed Miguel.
It was as tall as many buildings in crowded, modern, metropolitan Mexico City. As they neared it, Miguel was eager to climb. He raced up the steps as Junie followed along.
“I bet I beat you to the top!”
“There’s no rush, Meego!”
It wasn’t very long at all until Miguel was out of breath. He slowed his pace to a steady climb, followed by a long rest about halfway up. That is where the rest of the family joined him a few minutes later.
“I thought you were going to beat me to the top.”
“It’s a very long way.”
“I agree,” said mother, “I am going back down.”
“Me, too,” agreed father, “maybe some other day.”
“You can’t stop now.”
“Alright, but this isn’t a race.”
Hand-in-hand-in-hand-in-hand, up they went. Together, they made it to the top. Even mother was glad she finished her climb. A small temple stood at the top of the pyramid. The Vasquez family stood on the rectangular platform surrounding the temple.
They looked outward, over the entire village. Stone temples, buildings, and columns dotted the open fields. Thick groves of trees crowded around every open, green pasture.
Miguel held his hands over his head, reaching toward the sky.
“Meego, what are you doing?”
“Imagining what it would like to be a Mayan high priest.”
“Imagine a crowd bigger than any crowd at a stadium gathered in the field,” said father.
“That would be something.”
“It was one of the world’s greatest civilizations.”
They circled through the barren square structure of the temple before heading back down the steps. A group of tourists stood in the middle of the field, clapping in rhythm. Miguel joined them.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re finding the quetzal.”
As they clapped, the sound bounced off the solid walls of the temple. It echoed in a high-pitched click, like the call of the Quetzal, Mexico’s most famous bird.
“Ancient Mayans believed in many gods,” said the tour guide, “chief among them was Quetzalcoatl. He was part man, part serpent, part quetzal bird. The name Quetzalcoatl means winged serpent.”
The tour guide led the group away from the middle of the parade grounds, leading towards another temple. This one was built differtly than all the rest. It was round, like a cylinder, with a dome on top.
“This is the Ossario,” said the guide, “many historians believe it was an ancient observatory. The Mayan were known to be great astronomers and time keepers.”
“Aren’t they the ones who predicted the end of the world?”
“Not really,” chucked the tour guide, “what they predicted was the end of a cycle. There is a Maya creation fable that the current earth is the ‘Fourth World’. Previous to that, the Third World lasted 13 cycles. On the According to this myth, the current world is entering its 14th cycle. There is no evidence to say that this world will end. In fact, there is no evidence of a so-called third world ending, let alone existing. When the next cycle ends in December 2012, it is like any other calendar. If you look at your desk calendar, what is the last day?”
Miguel rose his hand.
“December 31st.”
“Exactly. On the next day, it starts over again, just like the Mayan Long Count.”
The tour guide led the group to a lobby. It was empty except for two things. First, a small platform, approximately three meters across, stood in the center of the room. Additionally, there were four cylindrical gears of varying sizes, nestled inside each other.
The tour guide placed a small gear inside the smallest cylinder.
“This gear represents one single day. This is the first, and most important measurement in the Mayan Long Count Calendar. The Mayan month is 20 days long. The Mayans based this on the lunar month.”
“Does the moon appear every 20 days?”
“No,” replied the guide, “Mayans used a base twenty number system, which means they counted to 20 before repeating. Nowadays, everyone in the world uses base ten. You count to ten and then the numbers repeat. They divided their solar year into 18 months. They did that, because 18x20 equals 360 days, the approximate amount of time”
“I thought the year was 365 days.”
“Almost,” said the guide, “the solar year is actually 365 and one-fourth days. That’s why we have leap-years. Once every four years, the calendar falls out of line. That’s why we have leap years.”
“How did the Mayans fix leap years?”
“The Ha’ab calendar was actually 365 days, too. At the end of each year, there were five leap days. The Ancient Maya feared cataclysms and disasters on these five days, and often stayed inside to avoid being hurt.”
Sr. Vasquez, who was leaning against the wall in the back of the lobby, raised his hand.
“Yes, sir?”
“I thought the Mayan calendar was only 260 days long.”
“Ah, good point,” said the guide, “You’re talking about the Tzolk’in. It is thought to have existed long before the Mayan Long Count. It was not based on the sun or the moon or any of the stars, but the number of fingers and toes multiplied by the number 13.”
“Why the number 13?”
“There are several theories, but nobody really knows. The Maya used both these calendars after the Long Count was created. The Maya also had a calendar based on the planetary phases of Venus.”
“Why so many calendars?” asked Miguel.
“The Mayans were not only time keepers, but astronomers, too. They used the phases for astrology, farming, and meteorology, too. They needed to study everything about their world to survive. That included studying the stars above. Like all mankind, Mayans wanted to know where they came from and where they’re going next.”
The tour guide led them through the remainder of the temples, including the Temple of the Jaguar, the Temple of the Iguana, and the Temple of 1000 Warriors.
They did not have as much of an impact on Miguel as the old Ossario. This was even though the other temples were tall and majestic, or carved with ancient glyphs or designs of Jaguars, Iguanas, Serpents, and Quetzals. There were columns (also known as Stelae) adorned with fancy designs and intricate glyphs. It was all almost-too-much for the Vasquez family to absorb.
Still, they had a plane to catch.
Sr. Vasquez returned the car to the airport. Then, they returned to the Mexicana Airlines counter where they had just arrived 3 days earlier.
They boarded the plane and headed home.
As the plane lifted off into the darkness, Miguel stared down at Mexico’s southeastern coast below him. A constellation of street lights glowed beneath him. He looked up. There, in the sky, was a blanket of midnight blue, polka-dotted with bright white and yellow dots – stars in the sky. Each one keeping time for some astronomer down below.
Miguel wondered if he would be an astronomer one day. Maybe he would be an archeologist. Maybe he would become a high priest. Maybe he would be an architect, just like his father.
He leaned his head against his father’s shoulder and thought about his trip to Chichen Itza. His daydreams would have to wait while his eyelids grew heavy and he fell into a deep sleep.