New beginnings and old concepts combine to strengthen each other and bring their fullest expression. This is a day to celebrate a new dawn, new life coming to the world.
The day Aq’ab’al is a day to celebrate our ability to conceive our dreams into reality. It is a day on which we can embrace novelty for everything it brings to us.
Today it is associated with the energy of the number 8, representing totality. It represents the new birth of the 1 and the finality of the 7 in one place, together. We can see it as representing the very new and the very old, the first hint of the new day, and the fully risen sun together.
Our new concepts and ideas are what keep the new life coming to our world. We are here to progress, to advance, and to evolve. However, in order to truly do this, we advance ancient concepts by revitalising them rather than forgetting them. We can incorporate old concepts into our brand new ideas, bringing out the best of both worlds.
This is a day to really flesh out our ideas, to see them in totality so that we can understand how to further nourish them in order to bring them into this world. We might find that nourishment in ancient concepts.
In the Kiche language, the word aq’ab means night. The suffix -al changes the meaning slightly, to hint at change and alludes to the dawning of the day, the time between darkness and light, night and day. Just as birth is the beginning of the mortal journey, Aq’ab’al is the beginning of the day, although the detail of the day may still be obscured. Aq’ab’al is representative of new things, things which are not yet fully formed. While in Santiago Atitlan one day, a friend explained to me the different parts of a weaving in process on a backstrap loom. Aq’ab’al is the warp (the vertical threads), B’atz is the weft (the horizontal threads) which creates the whole cloth, and the newly woven cloth is Kawok. In order for the weaver to create, first she has an idea in her head or a dream. She sets out the dream on her loom by setting up the warp. Thus, the design has passed from being just an idea, to the beginnings of a woven reality, although it still requires creative input before it becomes whole. Aq’ab’al can also represent conception, the fertilised egg is far from ready to be born, but has passed from the dream or spirit world into the physical.
Aq’ab’al days are great days for the start of new things, particularly new relationships – Aq’ab’al has a strong affinity with marriage. It is also a perfect day for starting new projects, or at least bringing them into the world of light from the world of dreams and ideas.
The number 8 is considered to be a number of wholeness. It can be seen as birth (1) and death (7) combined to represent the whole cycle of the soul. It can also be seen as the point where the four first men who raised the sky from the sea were joined by their wives and the world become whole. It is the most common day for ceremonies to be made, it is still in the balanced range of numbers and is an even number, which is also considered fortunate. As this wholeness represents every aspect of the energy of the day with which it is coupled, it is the wholeness of the nawal that is addressed in ceremony.
