Kimi (Death): Mayan day sign Meaning

Death — and therefore the ancestors. Kame is not an evil day in K'iche' practice: it is the day for remembering and asking help from the dead, and is considered one of the luckiest days for those born on it.

The glyph of Kimi shows a skull or the face of a death god. Death was a constant presence in Maya religion, but not simply something feared: the dead became ancestors who could be honoured, consulted and asked for help.

K'iche' daykeepers call the day Kame and treat it as the day of the ancestors. Ceremonies on Kame days honour the dead and ask them for guidance, protection and luck; it is also a day for asking forgiveness and for prayers against illness. Those born on Kame are described as receptive and intuitive, close to the ancestors and often good at foreseeing what will happen. In Tedlock's account, Kame is regarded as a fortunate day of birth precisely because of this closeness to the protecting dead.

Personality

intuitive · receptive · peaceful · wise · far-sighted · ancestral

Among K'iche' Maya daykeepers, a person born on Kame (Yucatec Kimi) is described as receptive, intuitive and close to the ancestors, often gifted at foreseeing what will happen. The day's name means 'death', but in Maya thought this is not simply ominous: the dead become ancestors who can be honoured, consulted and asked for help, and Kame is the day of their ceremonies.

Daykeepers credit Kame people with wisdom, calm, sensitivity, a peaceful and helpful nature, and the ability to counsel others and to act as mediators between worlds; Barbara Tedlock reports that Kame is considered a fortunate day of birth because of this closeness to the protecting dead. The challenges traditionally named are a tendency to be influenced by others, to worry, and to be weighed down by the burdens and moods of those around them.

In love and friendship Kame people are portrayed as gentle, loyal and understanding. In work they are suited to counselling, healing, mediation and religious or ancestral service. Kame days are used for prayers for forgiveness and against illness; as with every nawal, the number of the birth day shapes the reading.

Sources and further reading

Time and the Highland Maya — Barbara Tedlock, 1982
The Code of Kings — Linda Schele and Peter Mathews, 1998
Maya Calendar Origins — Prudence M. Rice, 2007