It would seem that the duration of certain religious festivals was fixed to commemorate the existence on Earth of these _seven_ primitive gods or rulers, the tradition of which we find in all countries where we meet with vestiges of the Mayas. So we see the _seven days_ of the festival of the Eleusinian mysteries; the _seven days_ of the festival in honor of the bull Apis, a symbol of Osiris; the _seven days_ of the feast of the tabernacles. The septenary system was also adopted for the same purpose no doubt, in Mayax, since we find the _seven_ cities dedicated to each of the members of king Can's family; the _seven_ pyramids that adorned the city of Uxmal; the _seven_ turrets that ornamented the south façade of the north wing of king Can's palace at Uxmal, each turret inscribed with the name of one of the members of his family; those dedicated to the females being on the east end of the wing. The _seven gradients_ into which is divided the third or uppermost of the three platforms that serve as a substructure to the temples and palaces; the _seven superposed gradients_, forming all the pyramids calling to mind the _seven terraces_ of the temple of the _seven_ lights at Borsippa, the most perfect form of Chaldee "temple tower," and the "pyramid degrees" at Sakkara, although in this Egyptian pyramid the gradients are more numerous. The _seven rooms_ built on the west side of the conical mound that supports the temple in which the mysteries were performed at Uxmal: each room again being dedicated to one of the members of king Can's family; the bust of the person to whom it was consecrated being affixed over the doorway. The _seven courses_ of the stones used in the construction of the walls and of the triangular arches that form the ceilings of the rooms. The same system prevails in the arrangement of the grand gallery in the centre of the great pyramid at Ghizzeh in Egypt. In that monument as in all the antique edifices of Mayax, the proportional scale followed by the architects in the drawing of their plans is in accordance with the numbers 3, 5, 7, and their multiples.
The predilection of the nations of antiquity in which the sacred mysteries were celebrated, for number _seven_ appears in many ways. The _seven days_ that the rainfall that produced the deluge lasted, according to the Chaldeans, is reproduced in the _seven days_ of the prophesy of the deluge by Vishnu to Satyravata, as we read of it in the _Bhagavata purana_; and the _seven days_ of the prophesy of the same event, made by the Lord to Noah, according to Genesis; on account of the _seven days_ of rainfall the Babylonian priests used _seven vases_ in the sacrifices; and in the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven Marouts_ or genii of the winds; the _seven rounds_ of the ladder in the cave of Mithra. The Aryans had the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the sun; the _seven Apris_ or shapes of the flame; the _seven rays of Agni_; the _seven steps_ of Buddha at his birth. The Egyptians had divided their nation into _seven classes_; the week into _seven days_: according to them the creation was completed in _seven days_. Among the Hebrews, we find the _seven lamps_ of the ark, and of Zacharias vision; the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick; the _seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple; the _seven years of plenty; and the seven years of famine_. In the Christian dispensation, the _seven churches_ with the _seven angels_ at their head; the _seven golden candlesticks_; the _seven heads_ of the beast that rose from the sea; the _seven seals_ of the book; the _seven trumpets_ of the angels; the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of God; the _seven last plagues_ of Apocalypse. In Greek mythology, the _seven heads_ of the hydra killed by Hercules, the _seven islands_ sacred to Proserpine mentioned by Proclus.