The Annals of the Cakchiquels, page 19 by Daniel G. Brinton
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the temperament and fortunes of the individual were controlled by the supposed character of his birthday, and its name and number were therefore prefixed to his family name. This explains the frequent occurrence in the Cakchiquel Annals of such strange appellatives as Belehe Queh, nine deer; Cay Batz, two monkey, etc.; these being, in fact, the days of the year on which the bearers were born. They should be read, "the 9th Queh," "the 2d Batz," etc.
Tribal Subdivisions.
The chinamitl appears to have been the sub-gens. Besides it, there are other words frequently recurring in the Annals referring to divisions of the community, hay, home or household; [c]hob, sept or division; and ama[t] tribe or city.
The first of these, hay, appears to be a general term applied to a community, without necessarily implying relationship. An Indian, asked where he is from, will answer in ah-hay vae, "I am of this place," referring to his village. Yet it is evident that in early times, all of one village were considered to be related. The word hay, moroever,[TN-3] does not signify a house as an edifice. In that sense the proper term is ochoch.
The frequent references by Xahila to the seven tribes, or rather the seven cities, vuk ama[t], and the thirteen divisions or provinces, oxlahuh [c]hob, are not explained in the course of the narrative. These numbers retained sacred associations, as they were adopted later to assign the days of worship of their divinity (see Sec. 44). Brasseur is of opinion that the thirteen divisions refer to the Pokomams,[34-1] but that such a subdivision obtained among the Cakchiquels as well, is evident from many parts of their Annals. The same division also prevailed, from remote times, among the Quiches,[34-2] and hence was probably in use among all these tribes. It may have had some superstitious connection with the thirteen days of the