Though the sacred day 8 B’atz’ (8 Chuen in Yucatec) is the occasion for a vigorous community celebration in many Guatemalan towns, the beginning of the Mayan New Year or “arrival of the Mam” is a much quieter affair, often a simple family event.

As astonishing as it might sound, there are over a thousand Daykeepers (K’iche’: aj q’ijab) in Momostenango – in a town of 40,000 souls, that’s one out of every 40 citizens. Under the circumstances, then, it ought not to be all that surprising that Anita and I found ourselves being greeted with great enthusiasm by an aj q’ij as we were walking down the street doing a great deal of nothing.

Many recent writers have tried to impose Western numerological concepts upon this Native American system. This is all the more puzzling when we realize that the concepts of contemporary Mayan teachers regarding the numbers are really not that much of a secret.