Little horses

The žirgeliai (little horses), are common motifs on Lithuanian rooftops, placed there for protection of the house...

They are a symbolic depiction of the Ašvieniai, Baltic counterparts of Vedic Ashvins, who are said to pull the chariot of Saulė (the Sun Goddess) through the sky. As depicted on this rooftop of a house in Nida...

Both names, Lithuanian ašva and Sanskrit ashva, mean "horse" and are derive from the same Proto-Indo-European root for the horse – *ek'w-...

And in India, we also find (horse headed) twins...

Surya's wife Saranyu transforms into a mare and runs away from her husband. Surya eventually finds her, turns himself into a white stallion and...

After which Saranyu delivers horse head twins called Ashvins...

I talked about this in my post "Hayagriva" about the Indian solar horse mythology...

BTW, these guys were hidden in our zodiac as Dioskuri, divine twin horsemen... 

The guys who wanted to marry "the daughters of the white horse". They mark Summer Solstice, the peak of the horse mating season, characterised by wild stallion fights for mares...

I talked about solar horse (more precisely equid) in many of my posts...

We find the same horse twins in Etruria. I talked about this in my post "Ponte Sodo fibula" about this Etruscan gold disc fibula, from the Necropolis of Ponte Sodo, Vulci, Etruria, Italy. 650 BC, from the "Orientalizing period". Currently in the Antikensammlungen, Munich, Bavaria, Germany. 

We find them in Sasanian Iran, on this plate with youths and winged horses drinking water from a jar ca. 5th–6th century AD. I talked about this in my post "Dioskuri plate from Iran"...

And in Gotland. Together with horses. And pile of soar symbols...I talked about this in my post "Gotland sun stone with Dioscuri"...

But this link between (horse) twins and Summer Solstice is not just an Indo-European thing. 

In Mesopotamia, we find them "guarding the gates of hell". In my post "White raven" about Apollo-Nergal, I talk about the Sumerian twin gods, identified as Gemini constellation, and associated with Nergal, which "guard the gates of hell"...Are they holding torches? Or keys?

And in Egypt, we find god Hapi, the god of the annual flooding of the Nile, who was "often depicted as twins, tying papyrus and lotus flowers together". Papyrus flowers in Apr/May, and lotus in Jul/Aug...I talked about him/them 🙂 in my post "Lotus and papyrus"...

Twins marking summer solstice, Nubia. I talked about this in my post "Meroitic language"...

In Central America the Hero Twins pour the water of heaven (rains there arrive in Jun/Jul). I talked about this in my post "Resurrection of the maize god"...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Resurrection of the Maize god

Codex-style plate depicting the rebirth of the Maize god. Maya, Late Classic Period. 680–740AD...Currently kept in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston...

In this article I would like to analyse the scene description which says:

"Maize god emerges from the Underworld through a cracked turtle shell, symbolizing the earth. The Hero Twins pour water onto their father to facilitate his resurrection, as Maya farmers water maize seeds to help them sprout"...

So corn god "emerging from the Underworld" is a symbolic depiction of a corn sprouting...So when does corn sprout in the Maya land? In the 1848 book "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. I" by John L. Stephens we read that:

"In the dry season...Jan/Feb...a place is selected in the woods, from which the trees are cut down and burned. In...May/Jun...the corn is planted...by making little holes in the ground with a pointed stick, putting in a few grains of corn and covering them over..."

Local farmers in the old Maya lands even today plant corn in Apr/May/Jun, with planting season peaking in May...And, it takes only 4 days at 25 degrees celsius or more for corn to sprout...

Soooo...Turtle...Why "emerging through cracked turtle shell"...

Any guesses? Maaaaaybe this is another animal calendar marker, derived from a major turtle annual reproductive lifecycle event? 

Bingo...

When Maya made their mythology, every year, from May to Sep, thousands and thousands of sea turtles descended on the beaches of Central America to lay their eggs...They still do today...

Guess what happens in Maya land, right when the first turtle comes to lay its eggs, in May? Corn planting begins...

Guess what happens in Maya land right when the last turtle lays its eggs, in Oct? Corn harvest begins...

So corn god "emerging through cracked turtle shell"...

I am sure that turtles were a major food source for the Mayas...You can only hunt turtles during their nesting season, which is also corn growing season...And to get to the turtle meet you have to break the turtle's shell...

BTW, this is not the only place in the world where we find turtles (tortoises) as animal calendar markers...

Remember this article about turtles in Indian mythology? 

About earth being carried by four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle (tortoise)? From my article "Turtles all the way"...

And these articles about turtles in Sumerian mythology?

"The keel of Enki's little boat was trembling as if it were being butted by turtles"...From my article "Enki's little boat"...That must have been some scary turtle, cause "Against Ninurta [Thunder god], Enki fashions a turtle"...From my article "Ninurta and the turtle"...

And this article from Greek mythology?

About "The lyre of Apollo" made out of turtle (tortoise) shell and bull horns? 

All these turtles from all these legends turned out to be animal calendar markers linked with fertility of the land and grain agriculture in their respective areas...

So no surprises here then.

This is the House of the Turtles in Umaxl was a Mayan temple which has been named such because of the turtles which adorn the top of the building. The turtle in Mayan mythology/religion represented creation.

Hmmm...The description says "...turtles were associated with rain and the earth's cycles..." 

No one knows why...Maybe because sea turtles come to Maya land to nest during rain season? I

Now what about "The Hero Twins pour water onto their father to facilitate his resurrection"? 

Well here we have to look at the climate in the Maya territory. Here is Yucatan climate chart...It is hot year-round. The wet season usually starts in Jun and ends in Oct...

See how rain season proper starts in Jun, right after the planting of corn? Do you know of any twins which like to hang around Jun? I do...All the horse twins from Eurasia...I talked about it in my post "Hayagriva"...

They mark summer solstice...The moment which marks the middle of the solar year. Solar year which starts when the old sun dies and is reborn as the new sun, on winter solstice...Two halves...Twins?

Mayan calendar also started on winter solstice...And considering that in Maya land, the time of the twins, Jun/Jul, is also the time when the rains arrive, we have the twins (rain season) pouring water on the resurrecting (growing) corn (god)...

BTW, this just reminded me of another pair of twins...Well actually it's a single god, Hapi, the god of the annual flooding of the Nile, who was "often depicted as twins, tying papyrus and lotus flowers together". I talked about him/them 🙂 here, in my post "Lotus and papyrus"...

In my article I said that "this depiction of Hapi as twins, is depiction of flooding Nile, which rises between flowering of papyrus and flowering of lotus, when it floods...

But I completely missed the fact that in the middle of this period between flowering of papyrus (Apr/May) and flowering of lotus (Jul/Aug) is Summer solstice...The twins central...🙂

Does this make sense? 

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...