t and the second in a dark color. As the name of the
ceremonial dance was explained to Dr. Warburg as signifying "helping the
sprouting or growing maize," and celebrated the advent of the rainy
season, it is obvious that the two forms of tau which were displayed in
alternate order on the heads of the dancers in the procession symbolized
the juxtaposition of the Above and Below, of Heaven and Earth.

In the ruined temples of Central America, windows in the shape of upright
and reversed taus also occur. The following series of architectural
openings (fig. 39) are copied from Mr. Alfred P. Maudslay's invaluable and
splendid work, which has not, as yet, met with the recognition it so
richly deserves.(16) They display besides the tau-shape (_g_ and _h_)
other forms, the symbolism of which has been discussed. There are
cross-shaped (_e_), square, round and oval windows (_d_, _j_, _b_ and
_i_), the square obviously symbolical of the Earth and the round of the
Heaven. Besides these there are openings in the form of a truncated cone
(_a_ and _c_) and others ending in a narrow point (_k_). A striking form
which recalls the Moorish arch and is shown in _f_, may, perhaps, be
looked upon as an attempt to express the idea of a union of the Above and
Below.

[Illustration.]

Figure 39.

In connection with these architectural features it is interesting to study
their names in the native languages. The Nahuatl names for windows are
singularly expressive of their uses: tlachialoyan=the watching place or
look-out; puchquiauatl=the smoke opening; tlanexillotl=a word which
literally means light and splendor, and to which the following words are
related: tlanextia, verb=to shine, shed light and radiance;
tlanextilla=something revealed, made manifest, found or discovered, newly
invented or formed (brought to light); tlanexcayotiliztli=figure,
signification or example; tlanexcayotilli=something figured or
significative.

The meaning of the Maya name for window, ciznebna, is not clear, whilst
that for door, chi, is the same as for mouth, opening or entrance. At the
same time it is evident that, as in Mexico and elsewhere, the window
openings in the Maya temples must have been associated with the idea of
light, and the symbolical forms given to these besides their positions
lead to the inference that they were actually regarded as mystic framed
images, so to speak, of the suprem