What it means
The serpent feels the ground before it moves, and Chicchan is the sign of that kind of instinct. In K'iche' daykeeping, Kan is linked to Q'ukumatz, the feathered serpent of the Popol Vuh and one of the makers who brought the world into being. The day is associated with strength, justice and sexuality, and with the signals of the body itself, which daykeepers take seriously as a source of knowledge. Chicchan people are said to be passionate, quick to sense danger and very hard to fool. Don't mistake their stillness for sleep.
Strengths
Sharp instincts, physical stamina, a strong sense of justice, and a passion that pulls other people along with it.
Challenges
Impatience, a tendency to strike when cornered, jealousy, and acting on a gut feeling before checking it.
Dates
Chicchan comes around every 20 days, because the Tzolkin runs through its 20 day signs in a fixed order, with Kan before it and Cimi after it. Each time it returns it carries a new number from 1 to 13, so one exact pairing of number and sign comes back only every 260 days. The next four Chicchan days on or after October 23, 2026 are November 3, 2026, November 23, 2026, December 13, 2026 and January 2, 2027. The Long Count completed its 13th b'ak'tun on December 21, 2012, which was 4 Ahau, and the first Chicchan day after it fell on December 26, 2012. Someone born on September 5, 1980, for example, has Chicchan as their day sign.
How Cosmic Array reads it
Cosmic Array counts your day sign in the traditional Tzolkin, using the standard GMT correlation (584283) between the Maya Long Count and our calendar, the count that lines up with the one highland daykeepers still keep. The Architect blueprint shows your day sign by its Yucatec name, Chicchan, and reads it alongside your other ancient calendar signs and the rest of your chart. It shows the sign only, not the number from 1 to 13 that completes a full Tzolkin date. The colour name Red Serpent comes from the Dreamspell, a modern system created by Jose Arguelles. Dreamspell runs on a different day count, so a Dreamspell calculator may show a different sign for the same birthday.