The Year of the Deer
I’m writing this in deer season, and behind my mountain house people are looking for their buck. We have a love hate relationship with the deer. As children we still crane our necks, asking parents to slow down when we see the beautiful animal out the car window. As adults, we see thousand dollar body-shop repair bills as they run in front of the car, and oversized deer tick trolleys, purveyors of Lyme disease, that have adapted to our suburban habitat like rats in a city. And we hunt them, for sport and for food, but hunting is not always what it used to be. Deer are so common now that I know folks who ‘drive-by hunt,’ drive around with a handgun until they can pull up alongside a herd. Some corn-bait, and wait in their tree stand with a 6 pack while the deer come to eat. We have to hunt; all the other predators are long gone.
February 22, 2010 is the Mayan date eleven-K'ej, the first day of the Haab solar year, and the beginning of the year of the deer. In the Mayan Cholq’ij calendar, ‘K'ej’ means deer. This is in the Quiche language. They used to use the Spanish ‘Venado,’ still the name of a rot-gut rum in Guatemala. The name of the deer and its day in the Yucateca Tzolkin calendar is ‘Manik.’
Kej is one of four Mayan ‘time bearers’ (Mayan Time Lords), four Nahual spirits that take turns carrying the solar years on their backs, and giving their year part of its character, its personality. In addition to the deer, the time bearers are the wind (spirit), wisdom (intellect), and the road (path through life). The deer picks up our solar (linear) time in February 2010 and carries us for a year.
Four ‘wisdoms’ carry us forward in time: The wind (the current time-bearer that gives up his load in February), the intellect, the path through life, and the deer. The deer? The giant disease-carrying rats that throw themselves into the plastic grills of our automobiles? What puts them on an equal footing with the intellect and the spirit? In terms of our mainstream American cultural logic it makes no sense at all, but then, the spirit doesn’t hold much weight for us either.
The Deer Clan is one of seven clans of the Cherokee tribe. Deer Clan members both cared for the deer and hunted them when food was needed. They respected the wishes of the deer tribe itself, which had decreed that a hunter must say a prayer and ask their pardon before killing them to feed Indian people. The penalty for not showing this respect was crippling rheumatism. Deer Clan members were know as swift runners and messengers. The deer was a totem animal that came in visions and dreams to guide one in deer medicine, the ability to see with heightened perception, to heal wounds through gentleness and balance, and to understand the need for sacrifice. Hopi stories describe the deer tribe as having human form below ground in their kivas, and donning deer skins when venturing above ground.
The Mayan K’ej, the deer, is described as the force that bears the destiny of mankind. What better wisdom to be appointed by Ajaw-God to carry the burden of our year? K’ej holds up the four great pillars which in turn hold up the corners of the sky that was lifted at the beginning of the age. The four pillars are Balam Q’itze (the red east), Balam Ac’ab (the black west), I’q Balam (the white north) and Majukut’aj (the yellow south).
What is the symbolism here? The four corners are the earth itself; they give the earth its form. That which supports the four pillars supports the earth and holds it in balance. This is the balance necessary for mankind to fulfill its destiny. K’ej is the power of focused mental ability, the energy needed to establish the pillars, give the earth its form and to maintain it. K’ej is the power of sacrifice.
The deer is the silent protector, strong, but willing to sacrifice, to give itself up for the hunt. The deer dance was outlawed by the government of Guatemala which sought to destroy Mayan culture and succeeded in destroying several thousands of Mayans. It was carried to Mayan Belize where it is still performed each August in the town of San Antonio, the deer dancer being chased and then returning to town to give itself up to the hunters.
The day Waqxaqi’ K’ej, 8-Deer, is a sacred day, a day for the initiation of spiritual guides. It is a day to ask for strength and wisdom, and the fortitude to bear our responsibilities and sufferings. It reminds us that there is no progress without sacrifice.
The K’ej glyph shows an upturned hand with the thumb and index finger apposed. I have heard it said that these two fingers hold between them b’atz, the thread of time. It is the thread that connects our past to the present and to the future, running through the tapestry of space and time. The silent deer reflects the totality of this thread, of human destiny, in its eyes. It is the entire thread, the knowledge of the past and responsibility for the future, that gives us the strength to face every day the vicissitudes of life.
The wisdom of K’ej is to face our responsibilities and sufferings with strength, and to use our strength to maintain this world’s balance to the best of our abilities. In out Gregorian calendar, K’ej lifts us up at sunrise, February 22, 2010.