The Timeless Days: Honoring My Parents on the Anniversaries of their Deaths

Thursday and Friday, October 6 and 7 — Autumn Invitations: A 21-Day Daily Writing Journey- On Time, Change, and Memory

E. Katherine Kottaras
Flint and Steel

--

photo by writer

I scheduled this invitation for myself (and others) during this time, partially because it’s the most difficult time of the year for me — this week in particular.

My father passed away on October 7, 1993 when I was seventeen years old; my mother passed away on October 12, 2007 when I was thirty-one.

When I was in college, I took a Sociology class in the Art and Iconography of Meso-America during which I learned about the Mayan calendar and the Uayeb, or the “Timeless Days.”

According to La Vaca Independiente:

The Uayeb essentially gathers five dead days which were used to understand the movements of nature and to reflect upon the paths walked over the course of the year…..The period occurs in our own calendar from July 21 to 26….The Uayeb had a bad reputation among the Maya people….These days were considered black periods in which the universe had released dark forces and therefore they didn’t share in the blessings of time.

--

--

E. Katherine Kottaras
Flint and Steel

(she/they) queer contemplative writer, holistic teacher, multimedia artist, homeschooling parent, co-author of A RAINBOW INSIDE MY BODY (Viking, 24) & more