Mah Jongg Tile Set Description

Tile Set Name: MAYAGLIF.TIL
Subject:       Mayan Glyphs (for Haab Calendar Months, etc.) 
Created by:    Jean Hoffman
Date:          July 7, 1994

Description:

I thought it would be very interesting to have a tile set depicting Mayan
glyphs.  I have visited a number of Mayan ruins, attend Maya programs at
Cleveland State University and have worked with glyph depictions for my 
husband's programming.  It was difficult to fit a set of calendar glyphs to
the tile set structure and I have only marginally adhered to the traditional
suit concept.  

The Mayan Calendar has many levels, the bottom of which is called the Haab
which is the "everyday" calendar for the solar year.  It is divided into 18
months of twenty days and an additional five day unit.  The Haab is
preceded by the count of the Tzolkin, or ceremonial calendar to provide what
is sometimes called the short count.  There aren't enough tiles to show both
the Haab and the Tzolkin, so I chose the Haab.  The month glyphs have been
represented in carved stone inscriptions and various painted images (such as
the Dresden Codex and much pottery) and as the latter tend to be simplified,
I chose them as my basis.  Tiles No. 1 - 9 (in red) and 11 - 19 (in purple)
show the regular months in their normal sequence and Tiles No. 39 - 42 show
the added period called Uayeb the days of which were regarded as especially
unlucky.  Each tile contains the glyph name which is taken from spoken
Yucatec Maya.  The colors throughout the set are entirely my own and have no
relationship with any tradional Mayan color usage.

Each month glyph is preceded by a number which can be represented either in
the graphic number style of the Maya, or as in some inscriptions, with head
representations of the numbers.  I chose the number one through nine head
glyphs for Tiles No. 21 - 29.  The pictures are unfinished at the right edge
as the month glyph would begin there.

It was easy to fill Tiles No. 31 - 34 with the Maya glyphs for the four
directions in the place of the traditional winds.

The glyph Ahau is one of the Tzolkin days and as such is special because the
Mayan Calendar begins on the short count day "4 Ahau 8 Cumku".  Ahau is also
a glyph which means "lord" and is often found in carvings depicting various
Mayan rulers.  Thus I felt it should be included in this set and it appears
as Tiles No. 35 - 38.

The remaining tiles were the traditional dragons and I used them for some
special glyphs.  Tile No. 10 is Balam, the jaguar.  Tile No. 20 is Kuk, the
quetzal.  Tile No. 30 is the Emblem Glyph associated with the Classic Maya
city of Tikal.  The version I worked from was used as the backstamp for my
entry card to the National Park at Tikal in Guatemala.

I relied heavily on a small number of books for information and the starting
point of my glyph drawings.  They are:
BREAKING THE MAYA CODE by Michael D. Coe, 1992,
THE WORLD OF THE ANCIENT MAYA by John S. Henderson, 1981, and
CALENDARIO MAYA by Marco Y Marcus De Paz, 1991 (Spanish).

For help in pronouncing the names of the glyphs, Coe says:  "The vowels are
generally pronounced as they are in Spanish.  However, "u" preceding another
vowel is pronounced like English "w"; thus, "ui" sounds like English "we".
Most of the consonants have the same values as in Spanish.  An exception is
"c", which is always hard (like English "k"), even before e and i.  As it
had in sixteenth-century Spain, "x" has the sound of English "sh".....
Stress in Mayan words is almost always on the final syllable."

I find the tile arrangements with these glyphs very pleasing and hope this
set will bring enjoyment of Mah Jongg to any users.  Try different
background colors to find the one best for you.  I have enjoyed creating
these tiles and hope you will share my enjoyment.

If you have not seen them, the Maya and Maya2 Tile Sets by Tom Boothby
on the Maya pronouncing alphabet and counting numbers, complement what is in
this set.  (On the Xevious BBS, they are currently in the directory as
MJTIL518.ZIP and MJTIL519.ZIP respectively.)  As always, thanks go to
Nels Anderson for providing not only the game, but the marvelous opportunity
for all the many tile sets!

      
        __________
     O  | ______ |
        | |    | |
     O  | |@  @| |
        | | /\ | |
     O  | |[<>]| |
        | |____| |
     O  |________|

        4 AHAU