Showing posts with label Equinox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Equinox. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Dzibilchaltún Revisited



The Temple of the Seven Dolls or La Casa de las Siete Muñecas is named for the seven figurines found here during its excavation. The platform or base of this temple is one of the oldest known conserved structures in the Yucatán. The roofs and walls of this and the other pre-classic buildings on site were made of uncut rocks, with a clay or mud mortar. Post-classic constructions, as evidenced in the temple on top, were cut rocks held together with a lime based cement.


This is the doorway that we were looking into on the morning of the equinox. There is another room inside the area I am standing in. All the doors and windows are aligned to face cardinal points and their orientation coincides with light and shade associated with solstices and equinoxes.

The first set of ruins you see behind me is part of the Group of the Seven Dolls. On the morning of the equinox the sun shone through the door and lit up a perfect golden square against its wall.

Another great aspect of the above photo is the view of a typical sacbé, or causeway, found at most Mayan ruins. Some of these causeways connect the cities themselves and have existed for centuries. There are usually causeways within the cities and ceremonial centers also.



It is believed that the Temple of the Seven Dolls was never used as a residence, but instead artisans worked inside creating among other things offerings required for rituals

Monday, September 22, 2008

Seeing the Light


These two folks were lucky enough to see the phenomenon of the sun rising through the center of the doors of the Temple of the Seven Dolls at Dzibilchaltún Ruins, Yucatán. The equinox is September 21st. We did not go.
Today is the 22nd. We did not go yesterday because the recent in depth article I read about Dzib said the best viewing would be today. Unfortunately, the bomberos and policia and guardias told us this morning that they were not authorized to open up early today, only yesterday. When we mentioned the newspaper recommended today's viewing, we were told someone informed them incorrectly. Gotta love life in Mexico. I will post my own photo of this phenomenon in March, I promise. This sort of pissed me off.
I say 'sort of' because that is how life is. The thousands of people who went to Chichén Itzá were not only rained out, and did not get to see its equinoxial phenomenon: the Snake God Kukulcán descend the Castillo....but four people were struck by lightning! The hundred people who did not read the Diario de Yucatán and went to the Dzibilchaltún ruins on the usual day of the equinox(21st) were lucky enough to see the light.