http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== Soy Chicano Forums <../index.php/> > Entertainment > Books > Chilam Balam ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PDA View Full Version : Chilam Balam ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tecpaocelotl 09-20-2005, 12:00 PM http://myweb.cableone.net/subru/Chilam.html Only because of crazy times, crazy priests, did sadness come to us; "Christianity" came to us. Because the "very much Christians" arrived here with the true God; but that was the beginning of our misery, the beginning of the tribute, beginning of the 'alms", the cause that occult discord would leave, the beginning of the fights with firearms, beginning of abuse and of the rubble of everything, the beginning of slavery for debts, beginning of debts attached to the backs, the beginning of the continuous dispute, the beginning of suffering. It was the beginning of the work of the Spaniards and of the "fathers", the beginning of the doings of the political bosses, the schoolteachers and the fiscal administrators. - Chilam Balam Here's the whole book: PROLOGUE "This knowing reached us in spite of the bonfires of the Spaniards, of the destructive fury of men. Because the word of the Chilam Balam is not solitary: it is the expression of an entire people, their soul, and their life. Distant, enigmatic, the oracle's Mayan voice continued reading the message of time for us, inscribed in the heavens among the stars." Prologue of J. M. Le Clézio in his French version of Chilam Balam of Chumayel Books are today, for us, somewhat familiar and known; in principle they are within reach of everyone, because reading and writing can be a common acquisition. But for ancient man, the written word was something that only a few could be acquainted with; it was at the service of the sacred, because it itself was sacred. Thus books were objects of veneration in that they contained the knowledge revealed by the gods, divine laws or the history of great men and the most significant events of a people that generally were determined by the gods. Such is the case with the Bible, the Koran, the Tao Te Ching, the Vedas and the Zend Avesta, for example. Books, furthermore, were anonymous because they did not have a personal meaning and the authors were merely the transmitters of divine will and of a spiritual heritage. Among the prehispanic indigenous peoples of Meso America, the written texts had that same significance of something sacred. We do not know if they were considered as revelations of the gods, but they were embellished by the priestly caste * the only members of the community who did the writing, and the texts were regarded as divine objects. In them were the religious and moral principles of the community, the truth one should follow, and the example of the ancestors and the prescriptions of the gods. Because of this, sacred books were read in religious ceremonies by some priests, thus making the entire community aware of the meaning of its existence. The Mayan people, which constitute even today around 28 ethnic groups with different languages, created writing so complex that it has to be considered the most developed in America. Using this writing, they manufactured texts labored in stone, modeled in stucco, painted on walls and ceramic, embroidered on clothing and painted on the codices or books of amate bark or papyrus that folded in the form of a screen. These codices were called Anahte by the Yucatecan Mayas, and only three have survived: the one in Dresden, that in Paris, and the one in Madrid, which were found in the cities from which their names originated. On the other hand, hundreds of stone and stucco texts have been preserved. This due in part to the fact that the codices were quite fragile, and furthermore, that the Spanish conquerors considered them to contain the teachings of the devil, and as a result, they were destroyed at the same time that those who knew how to read them were pursued and punished. So, with the Spanish conquest the knowledge of Mayan writings was lost. But a people of strong religious traditions and a highly conservative spirit such as that of the Mayas could not do without their sacred books, the crux of their identity. That is why some noble Mayas that were educated by Spanish friars and had learned the Latin alphabet were determined to preserve their traditions, history and religious beliefs by writing books in their own languages, but with the new form of writing brought by the conquerors. This conservation movement happened in all of the Mayan areas, and as a result, during the 16th century indigenous books came out in communities in Guatemala as well as in Chiapac, Yucatán and Tabasco. In all of this literary production, two classes of books can be distinguished: (1) those written with legal ends in mind * these, at times, solicited by the Spanish authorities, and (2) those that constituted the new sacred literature of the communities. The first served to obtain privileges, such as the diminution of tributes and for conserving the lands bequeathed by their ancestors. Nevertheless, they were titles of ownership, and as they dealt with showing the antiquity in the possession of the lands, they speak of the origin of the lineages and of the main historical events as well as the boundaries and extension of territories. The authors tried to please the Spanish authorities, making clear that they had assimilated the teachings of the friars, that they often say are descendents of Noah, and they present versions of the biblical history of the Hebrew people instead of the actual facts of their own past, which they likely knew about through the ancient sacred books. The second category of books were written out of another necessity, perhaps even more important to the Mayan people then defending their lands: that of preserving the spiritual heredity of their ancestors - their religion and their customs that had been invalidated by the Spaniards. Thus arose new sacred books, which came to replace the ancient codices, because in them the myths of the gods and the history of the ancestors were reproduced; and, besides, they put into writing the oral tradition passed down from father to son, the explanation that the old priests gave of the codices, as the events and the personal experiences of that time. These new books served no legal purpose, such as the titles of ownership, but were destined to be read in ceremonies of the indigenous community in which were also carried out rites as offerings, sacrifices, songs and dances of prehistoric tradition. These acts, which looked to the conservation of indigenous spiritual inheritance, were secret, and those who participated in them were pursued and killed by the Spaniards, who considered them demoniacal practices that were a crime against the "True Religion." For that reason the books were jealously guarded by an important family of the people and were passed down from father to son. Thus, the existence of these books was unknown until the 18th century, when by chance or due to the interest of some studious people in locating ancient manuscripts, they began to find what we know today, of which the most important are the Popol Vuh of the Quichés, the Memorial de Sololá of the Cakchiqueles and the Libros de Chilam Balam of the Yucatecan Mayans. The Popol Vuh, written in the 16th century, was discovered in the possession of the indigenous residents of the town of Santo Tomás Chuilá, today Chichicastenango, Guatemala, by Father Fray Francisco Ximénez, at the beginning of the 18th century. Ximénez translated it and included it in his historic work, but also transcribed the text into the indigenous tongue. This manuscript remained forgotten in the archives of the convent of Santo Domingo until 1854, when it was found by Dr. Carl Scherzer, who published it in Vienna in 1857. Presently it is in the Newberry Library of Chicago. The Memorial de Sololá or Anales de los Cakchiquelas was also written in the 16th century and preserved in the town of Sololá, next to Lake Atitlán in Guatemala until it reached the hands of Father Fray Francisco Vázquez at the end of the 18th century. Vázquez also wrote a history utilizing the indigenous book, which remained in religious archives. Later, it was translated into French by Abbot Charles Etienne Brasseur of Bourbourg in 1855. Juan Gavarrete, a student of historic documents of civil and ecclesiastic archives, translated it into Castilian and edited it in 1873. Thus, it was in the 19th century when these important indigenous texts from the 16th century became known. As for the sacred books of the Yucatan Mayans, these are known under the name of Chilam Balam, although it appears that this was not the original title. The word chilam means literally "that which is mouth"; or, in other words, "that which prophesies." The Chilams were the sacerdotal prophets who interpreted ancient books to elaborate upon the prophecies, in which they transmitted to the townspeople the knowledge of that which was to come. This relates to the concept that time has a cyclic rhythm, and thus events, in a certain sense, tend to repeat themselves. These prophecies were considered to be interpretations of the messages of the gods, as is expressed, for example, in the following prophesy: "This is the remembrance of how Hunab Ku, supreme Deity, with Oxlahum Tihu, third deity, immense deity, came . . . to say his word to the Ah Kines, Sacerdotes-of-the-solar-cult, Prophets, Chalames Balames, Wizard-Interpreters . . . the speaking taking place in the house of the Chilam, Interpreter. These words were of a warning and advisory nature, their meaning revealed . . .. The reason why it is called Chilam Interpreter is because the Chilam Balam, Wizard-Interpreter, went to bed stretched out, without moving or getting up from where he threw himself, in his own house. But no one saw the face or the form and size of who was talking on top of the house, straddling it . . . . They said that Hunab Ku, supreme Deity . . . ." In this way, stretched out on their backs, the sacerdotes repeated the messages of the gods, predicting the future. Balam means "jaguar" or "wizard", and is a family surname; so Chilam Balam was a concrete miracle worker, a sacerdote from the town of Maní who seems to have lived a little before the conquest and who had a great reputation as a prophet. Along with other sacerdotes, called Napuctun, Ah Kauil Chel, Nahau Pech and Natzin Yubun Chan, he predicted the coming of a new religion, for which, after the conquest, his prophesy was interpreted as a warning of the arrival of the Spaniards and Christianity. These prophecies are included in the sacred books, which were appropriately called Chilam Balam. Each settlement wrote its own book for which there are Chilam Balames of Maní, Tizimín, Chumayel, Kaua, Ixil, Tekax, Nah, Tusik, and there are references of Chilams from Teabo, Peto, Nabulá, Tehosuco, Tixcocob, Telchac, Hocabá and Oxkutzcab. Thus, the initiative of writing the new books in an indigenous tongue utilizing the writing taught by the Spanish was common in the whole Yucatán peninsula, as was common in the entire Mayan area. Furthermore, though the style of the books of Yucatán is distinct from those of the books of Guatemala, in all of them, the structure and contents faithfully preserve the religious traditions and the memory of the past. They all constitute a form of continuity of being and identity appropriate to the Mayan people at the moment of the Spanish imposition of a new religion and some new social, political and economic forms that reduced that people to servitude in their own territories. Such is, from this standpoint, the chief merit of these books, many of which have been kept until the present time in the hands of the indigenous communities, as, for example, the discovery of one of them in 1973, of the Quichés of Totonicapán, Guatemala. The Libros de Chilam Balam were written on European paper, in the form of notebooks, at times with cowhide covers. In general, they are compilations of diverse texts written in different epochs, starting from the 16th century. There are written myths (some Mayan, some Christian), historical, (principally about the lineage of the Xiúes and the Itzaes), prophetical, ritualistic, medical, astronomical and chronological (tablets from the series of Katunes, with its Christian equivalent, explanations of the indigenous calendars and the eclipses; additionally, other astronomical texts where European ideas of the 16th century are revealed); literary texts and diverse others not classified. Barrera Vásquez and Silvia Rendón, experts on Mayan writings, maintain that the naturally indigenous religious and historical texts were copied from ancient codices, which fact is quite likely, since the quantity of events, names and exact dates contained in these documents could not have been kept entirely in the memory. The history of the Itzaes, for example, springs from a katún 8 Ahau corresponding to 415-435 AD. The same thing occurs in the books of Guatemala: the Popol Vuh bears witness to the existence of an ancient book from which the narration of the origin of the world has been taken. Some prominent family of the town guarded the books, and when they became deteriorated, they were copied, resulting in errors of transcription and the adding of words and phrases. Likely, new texts were being integrated according to the criteria of the keepers. The known versions, consequently, are not the originals of the 16th century, but were copies of copies made in the last part of the 17th and 18th centuries. The Chilam Balam de Chumayel proceeds from Chumayel, a district of Tehax, Yucatán. It is supposed that the compiler was a native of Yucatán named Juan José Hoil, since his name appears on page 81 of the manuscript, next to the date January 20, 1782, but it is clear that later other persons participated who interpolated diverse texts. The book passed to the possession of some sacerdote or his secretary, named Justo Balam, who wrote two baptismal registrations on one of the blank pages of the book, in 1832 and 1833. In 1838 it passed into the hands of Pedro de Alcántara Briceño, from San Antonio, who made a entry on the same page, expressing that he had bought the book "in his poverty," for the price of one peso, probably from a sacerdote, who was perhaps Diego Hoil, the son of the original compiler. At some time during the next ten years, the book of Chumayel was acquired by Audomaro Molina, and from him it passed to don Crescencio Carrillo y Ancona, bishop of Yucatán. In 1868 it was copied by hand by Dr. Carl Hermann Berendt and various fragments were published by Daniel Brinton in his work Maya Chronicles. (Juan Martínez Hernández published a translation in Spanish from these chronicles and from other fragments of the book in 1912, 1913, 1927, and 1928.) In 1887, it was photographed by Teobert Maler, and after the death of Carrillo y Ancona in 1897, it passed to Ricardo Figueroa. In 1910, George B. Gordon, director of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, made a photographic reproduction, and edited it in a facsimile form in 1913, returning it to Figueroa, in whose house it was seen by Sylvanus G. Morley, distinguished Mayan Archeologist. Upon the death of Figueroa in 1915, the manuscript passed to the Biblioteca Cepeda de Mérida. When Morely visited this library in 1918, the sacred book of Chumayel had been stolen along with other manuscripts. Fortunately the photographs of Maler and Gordon remained. In 1938 it appeared for sale in the United States for the amount of $7,000, and later was offered to Morely for $5,000. The first complete translation of the work was the Spanish version of Antonio Mediz Bolio, edited in Costa Rica, by the Repertorio Americano in 1930. The second complete version was that of Ralph L. Roys, in English, edited by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1933. In 1931, William Gates, who collected a large number of original manuscripts on photographic reproductions, published his own version of some fragments in the Maya Society Quarterly, Vol. 1. Various fragments were included in the version Alfredo Barrera Vásquez and Silvia Rendón made of the Libros de Chilam Balam in 1938, and that the Fondo de Cultura Económica edited under the name of El Libro de los libros de Chilam Balam. In 1955, Peret translated it into French, and J. M. Le Clézio prepared another version in French called Les Prophéties du Chalam Balam, that Gillimard published in 1976. The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México edited the version of Mediz Bolio in the in the Biblioteca del Estudiante Universitario (the University student Library), number 21, in 1941, with a new Introduction of the translator; in 1952 and 1973 the second and third editions were published. The same version was re-edited in 1980, in the anthology entitled Literatura Maya, prepared by Mercedes de la Garza for the Biblioteca Ayacucho, of Caracas, Venezuela. As for the contents of the Chilam Balam de Chumayel, the majority of the texts are religious, distinguishing the individual fragments from the cosmological myths, without apparent connection between them; perhaps they refer to the distinct cosmic catastrophes that are found in the myths of other groups, such as the Quichés and the Nahuas. Others are ritual texts, prophesies of the Katunes, symbolic formulas of religious initiation, as the "Language of Zuyída", calendar and astronomical texts, and historical ones about the main groups of Yucatán and about the Spanish conquest. The work ends with the famous prophesies about the arrival of a new religion, attributed to Chilam Balam and other miracle workers. The mythical and prophetic writings are rendered in an archaic language, highly symbolic and multivocal, employing metaphorical objects, colors and natural beings to express ideas; besides, there is an abundant use of synthetic formulas, through which the texts have an esoteric or secret character that seeks to hide from the profane its true meaning. As in many sacred books there are parallelisms (repetition of the same thought in different terms), redundancies and enumerations that give the texts their own rhythm in order to allow them to re recited or sung. On the other hand, the historical fragments endeavor to consolidate and be true to the facts and the dates of their occurrence * as the historical facts in the old codices should be recorded, to be later told to the people in a narrative form. In this latter case, there is an eagerness for clarity and precision that contrasts with the metaphoric language of the religious texts. The historical writings express to us, furthermore, that in the colonial period the events were still recorded so they could serve as a basis for the prediction of the future, according to the cyclic concept of history that the ancient Mayans had. For example, on August 18, 1766 a wind storm was recorded and the writer affirms: "I write its memory so that one can see how many years afterwards there is going to be another." The narrations of the Spanish conquest are notable for their dramatization, which corroborates for us that these books were written with a defensive attitude and with the zeal of affirming the ancient beliefs, and to "banish Christianity," as the Spaniards pretended to "banish idolatry." We see in these fragments painful lamentations due to the arrival of the Spaniards, indignation and contempt for their rapacious attitude and their lust, which is expressed with the symbol of the May flower. These subjects reveal the central preoccupations of the Mayans of Chumayel who intended to express them through writing so they would not be forgotten by their descendants. Regarding the complete translations made directly from the Mayan, we can say that the Roys version, accompanied by the transcription of the Mayan text, is the result of a complex critical work that included a comparison with other Chilames, mainly the ones of Tizimén and of Maní, as the author obtained photographs of the three books from Gates. Roys indicates that the work is very difficult to translate, since the original language now is obscure, fundamentally because it deals with archaic terms that are currently obsolete, above all the names of deities and plants * which today are unknown. To the symbolism of the text is joined the fact that Latin and stereotyped words are inserted. In another part, the authors committed errors in spelling. For example, in the use of the letter C (instead of Z), occasionally the cedilla (e.g., as in façade) was omitted. Besides, many words were arbitrarily broken up, i.e., the same word is divided in different ways on the same page. Another problem is that the meaning of the sentences can be read in three different ways, for which it is necessary to take into consideration the context, and to make comparisons with parallel fragments from other indigenous books. It was necessary, therefore, to have recourse to Spanish colonial sources, such as dictionaries and chronicles, archeological evidence, ethnological facts and linguistic aspects of other languages. Such measures gave more reliable results than those obtained by consulting Mayan residents, who would overlook many terms. Roys, with a base in all these difficulties, established a critical text in his final translation. As far as the Spanish version [upon which this English translation is based] presented here is concerned, it is fitting to say that Antonio Mediz Bolio, skilled in the Mayan tongue, endeavored to make a clear translation that, however, preserved "all the literal strength of the Mayan expression." At times, nevertheless, he seems to prefer the beauty of the expression to the literal meaning, which results in a profoundly emotional and poetical version. Of his labor, the same translator tells us: "It is certain that sometimes, above all when one crosses the synthetic tangle of archaic religious texts, it is necessary to interpret a little, at the same time as translating literally and that, on occasion, one stumbles over the difficulty of finding, when being precise, too much rigidity in our words when we try to use them to represent the authentic Mayan meaning * which often is very subtle and abstract * which, especially in the religious concepts, never ceases to have a somewhat allegorical intention and occult essence. "But I can sincerely say that, except when necessary, I have not interpreted but translated with persevering fidelity, concept by concept, leaving it up to those who study these mysterious writings to understand and interpret them according to their own personal intuition." And he ends by saying: "For my part, I could only boast about having put into this version, through long and arduous vigils consecrated to this endeavor, all my love and strength in carrying out an honest work that in some way contributes to the knowledge of the ineffable spirit of the mysterious and very ancient race, in the midst of whose last offspring I was born and have lived the better part of my life." We hope that, as the ancient Mayans of Chumayel wished, their sacred book continues to live. May these words be listened to, revealing the being of the Mayan man and of his zeal to preserve his identity and dignity, trampled upon by the conquistadors and by many others since then. We hope that these words communicate something of their profound significance, something that has meaning today, such as the anonymous writer of this fragment of the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel expressed: "This is the memory of the things that happened and they did. Now all is passed. They speak with their own words and thus not all is understood of its meaning; but rightly as it all happened so it is written. Now again it all will be very well explained. And perhaps it will not be bad . . . . Truly many were their 'Real Men.' Not in order to sell betrayals did they like to be united some with others; but all that is herein contained or how much needs to be explained is not yet apparent. Those who know it come from our great lineage, that of the Mayan men. These will understand the meaning of what is in here when they read it. And then they will see it and then explain it, and then the obscure signs of the Katún will be clear. It is so because they are the sacerdotes. The sacerdotes ended, but not their name, ancient as they are." INTRODUCTION: THE MAYANS AND THEIR SPIRITUAL INVOLVEMENT If we begin with the idea that the sacred or spiritual realm is that which man considers to be transcendent reality, i.e., that which is superior to himself and to nature, then, in order to comprehend a religion, we have to base it on that which the religious man expresses of this transcendent reality, that is to say, on myths, symbols and rites created within the environment of a specific culture. Each town or pueblo has a collection of expressions of its personal experiences about that which is sacred, which are in agreement with particularities of its culture and its historical moment. This implies that each pueblo has a distinct religion, constantly changing and transforming. This means that the religions are historical, that is to say, that they constitute particular and dynamic forms of capturing the sacredness. Nevertheless, in the diverse religions there are common structures ? universal symbols, because in the psyche and in the development of man in the world there are also common structures, based on similar forms of personal experience and perception of reality. Due to this, we find parallel meanings in the concepts and myths of many religions, not communicated in time and space; for example, the ideas of cosmic trees, of an axis of the world, of the aquatic origin of the universe, etc. In the prehispanic Mayan world, religion was the foundation of community living. The different cultural creations emerge from a peculiar religious conception, according to which the whole universe is penetrated by sacred energies which, unfolding in multiple combinations, determine everyday life. For the Mayans, man is in a certain way harmonized with divine nature, that his being is constituted of vegetable and animal substances, and his energy flow is governed by the same laws as the physical world, at the same time that the universe comports itself and acts like a man. That is to say, man is cosmic and the cosmos is anthropomorphic. Besides, man's spirit, divided into one part impulsive and irrational, and in another part conscious and rational. It lives simultaneously in a human body and in that of a wild animal, thus also reconciling the scope pf the organized community and the environment of nature. But man and nature are subject to that which is sacred. The universe was conceived by the Mayans as a scene and manifestation of the divine forces, like a great collection of hierofanías? manifestations of what is sacred and, kratofanías, manifestations of power. The great cosmic levels (heaven, earth and the underworld), which were not for them static spaces, but were in constant movement and change, were populated by multiple visible and sensitive expressions of what is divine; meaning that the sacred was revealed before men in many of the beings who inhabited the three levels. Thus, the stars are gods; the elements are gods, such as water, earth, wind and fire (represented above all by lightning); the great mountains are divine, some trees (like the bombax or silk-cotton tree), some vegetables (like corn) and some animals (like the quetzal, the jaguar and the serpent). And time, which was put in order and systematized (thanks to the development of mathematics) in groupings of lapses (durations of time) that are repeated cyclically, also was deified. Within great cycles or ages of the universe are produced an infinity of minor cycles, whose origin is to the Mayans that of bodies or vehicles that, with a leather strap, transport deities with human form. These, which are the numbers, arrive "carrying time," travel through a certain space, on one of the four cardinal directions of the land, and leave when "exhaustion" hits them, passing the burden of time to the next deity. These minor cycles range from days or kines to the lapses of 64 million years. Therefore, time, that blows up space, is not simply the transit of one carrier alone with his load, but of many carriers simultaneously, each one with its corresponding lapse: the days, months, years, periods of 20 years or katunes, etc. And as these carriers are gods, they always bring to the world either a beneficent or malevolent influence, according to the different combinations. In this way each god-time has diverse meanings, according to its movement and relationship to the others. This relationship is one of the more original conceptions of time that has been created and it reveals a consciousness of temporality without parallel in ancient cultures. So, that which is sacred for the Mayans is diversified in multiple deities, whom are versatile because of being subject to temporality; that is, they have various meanings and functions, such as different forms. The Pantheon or gathering of Mayan gods escapes all logic of identity and lack of contradiction, since many gods are one and several at the same time, good and bad, masculine and feminine, celestial and terrestrial. The gods that appear represented in plastic arts and mentioned in the texts are characterized, in general, by uniting human, animal and vegetable attributes, but above all, are hybrid beings of man and animal or a combination of various animals. These figures, however, are not the gods themselves as naturally mentioned, but rather are symbolic images of the great cosmic forces or natural elements that, in their turn, are the physical manifestations of what is sacred or hierofanías material. The anthropomorphic (man like) or zoomorphic (animal like) figures that received the cult, the ill-named idols, seem to have been only representations of divine beings; nevertheless, at the moment that the cult was established, the god would have incarnated, since the offerings were placed in their mouth, and they then received a special treatment as sacred objects. But the great natural forces (heaven, sun, rain, wind, earth, etc.) were conceived with some human characteristics, since they were angry, happy, acted willfully and, above all, were nourished with the blood and offerings of men. At times one god has an animal representation and another anthropomorphic, although the human forms of deities have always some extraordinary characteristics ? like fangs, reptilian eyes, claws or wings. The most common are the features of a snake, of feline and bird, the main symbolic animals in the Mayan religion. These deities also act like patrons of lapses (time periods), thus connecting themselves with the time-gods. Among the many gods of the Mayan pantheon, stand out the creators and those who symbolize life and death, who are related to the great environments of the universe. For the Quichés of Guatemala, the creator gods are one unit of deities that form a council, which decides and achieves the creation of the world. These gods form pairs and most of them have an animal nature, for example, Hunahpú Vuch, "Hunter Tlacuache", goddess of dawn, and her partner Hunahpú Utiú, "Hunter Coyote", god of the night. Another partnership is formed by Zaqui-Nimá-Tziis, "Great White Trampler", old mother goddess, and Nim Ac, "Great Pig or Mountain Javelina". These gods are also named Tzacol and Bitol, "Creator of the Maker", mother goddess and father god ? engenderers (begetters), "Heart and Spirit of the Lagoon", "Heart of Heaven", "Lord of the Green Dish" (the earth), "Lord of the Blue Gourd" (the sky). Next to them, Gucumatz appears as "Plumed Serpent", as a vital principle, as generating water which gives origin to the life of the world, since the plumes are a symbol of water, of what is precious, like blood, jade, and the serpent ? i.e., vital energy. Gucumatz is identified with Huracán, also an aquatic deity that forms part of the council of creator gods. In the cosmogonic Mayan myths, of Yucatán, the plumed serpent also appears as vital energy giving birth to the world and is called Canhel, "Serpent or Dragon", related to rain and primordial water (chaos or mother-space), the original material (prima materia) from which the world emerges. In this way, the incarnated serpent, in the Mayan religion, is the generated sacred energy that gives perpetual life to the cosmos. For this pueblo the existence of the universe follows a cyclic law of death and rebirth, of creations and destructions, which are based upon a conflict of opposites. These are represented by antagonistic divine forces, which are the celestial beings and the gods of the underworld. The former represented life, and the latter death. The Mayans of Yucatán tell of a cosmic catastrophe originated by the action of the new gods of the underworld on the 13 gods of the sky: a fight in which death defeats life and, as such, destroys the world and men perish. When, after this, the principle of life (Canhel, the plumed serpent) is stolen by the (creator) gods from the 9 underworld strata (Bolontiku) and given to the gods of the 13 celestial strata (Oxlahuntiku), a flood ensues which provokes the collapse of the sky (heaven) and the sinking of the earth (land). When this cataclysm ends, the world is rearranged by the Bacabes, gods of the four earthly regions and supporters of the sky, and men associated with corn appear, men of the present epoch. The Mayans of Guatemala (in the Popol Vuh) tell of the creation of the world in a cosmogonic myth that can be considered as the best structured and most complete. In it they express how creator gods, reunited in council, decide to create the world so that a being who venerates and supports the gods inhabits it. Once the world is organized, there are several attempts to form human beings, that correspond to the cosmic creations and destructions referred to in other myths. They speak also about a deluge, but also of burning resin, that destroys the men of wood because these were not aware of their creators. After this deluge, the gods create the man of cornmeal, the present man, who is the conscious being who venerates and feeds the gods. In this myth, too, there is a fight of the beings of the underworld, the gods of death, with the celestial beings, Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué, who, after conquering death, are transformed into the sun and the moon, starting off the time of the men. The men of corn are conscious because of having been formed with a sacred substance and with blood from the gods; their mission on earth will be to communicate with the deities, offering them their blood so that they will continue to exist and to give life to the world and to men. Thus blood is converted into the vital principle through the excellence that unites men with gods. Regarding the structure of the world, we find two conceptions among the Mayans: one geometric and another animal, which in religious mentality is not a contradiction. For them the cosmos is constructed through 3 horizontal planes placed in a vertical order: the sky or heaven, divided into 13 layers or strata; the earth, perhaps conceived as a quadrangular iron; and the underworld, divided into 9 layers or strata. Perhaps the sky was intended to be formed as an inverted pyramid. The sky, the earth and the underworld are divided into 4 sectors, corresponding to the 4 cardinal points. Each sector has a color: black for the West, white for the North, yellow for the South and red for the East. In the directions of the land a silk-cotton tree of the corresponding color is raised, on which has alighted a sacred bird of the same color. In the center stands straight the "Great Mother Silk-Cotton Tree" or green ceibá, whose roots penetrate to the underworld and whose leaves go through the heavens, constituting itself in the bond of union of the three great planes. At the same time, the sky and the fertility proceeding from it were symbolized in the Mayan religion as a being having serpent, lizard and bird features, and that sometimes it is represented with deer hoofs: the dragon called Itzam Na by the Yucatán Mayans. This reptilian monster has various forms in its plastic representations, according to the style of each region; it can appear as a bicephalous dragon or a 2-headed plumed serpent; and also as a bird with serpent features. The celestial dragons are seen above all in sculptured works of the Classical period (300-900 AD) proceeding from Copán, Quiriguá, Palenque and other places; likewise, they are seen in the codices of the Post Classical Period (900-1524 AD) as beings having a scaly body of a serpent, feet with claws or deer hoofs and heads of a stylized serpent. Its body has at times astral symbols and from it fall streams of water, such as from its open mouth downward. In other representations, the celestial monster has the form of a 2-headed plumed serpent, with aquatic symbols on his body; The fantastic heads have feathers, flames, circles and a fang coiled in the corner of their mouths, which are seen in all the representations of serpents. Out of their open and elongated mandibles emerge on many occasions the figure of some anthropomorphic god of fertility, as that of the sun and of vegetation. Examples of this celestial 2-headed serpent are seen on the lintel (upper part of a door) 25 of Yaxchilán, the tablet of the Temple of the Inscriptions of Palenque and the north and east buildings of the Quadrangle of the Nuns of Uxmal. Because of some images where the bicephalous body of the serpent appears adorned with signs of directions, and because of certain references in the texts, we know that the serpent that symbolizes heaven among the Mayans was the jingle bell of the dorsal of rhombus (Crotalus durissus terrificus), one of the most dangerous and imposing of the Mayan region, called in Yucatán Mayan and Ahau Can, "Lord Serpent." The relationship of this animal symbol of the sky with the geometric conception is that there are four great monsters, of the colors of the cosmic atmospheres, situated in the four heavenly regions. Itzam Na is mainly associated with water and sky, for which it seems to have symbolized rain or fecund energy derived from it. The two heads can represent the wet and dry seasons, but also the duality of cosmic opposites, whose conflict makes life possible - a concept that was common to the Mesoamerican pueblos. On the other hand, the symbol of the plumed serpent, tied to Itzam Na, appears in the Mayan region from the end of the Preclassic Period (2000 BC to 300 AD) representing fertility. The combined qualities of the bird and serpent constituted the religious symbol of excellence in the Mesoamerican world; it also seems to have represented the cosmic vital principle that gives birth to the world (the fecund energy of the cosmogonic myths), the fertility of the sky, in other words the rain, which for the agrarian towns is the basis of subsistence. For the Nahuas, in the central high plain, the plumed serpent had also a place of first importance among the manifestations of what is sacred, and he was called Quetzalcóatl. With the arrival of Nahuan groups to the Mayan area at the start of the Postclassical Period, Quetzalcóatl was identified with the plumed serpent already existent for many centuries, and he was venerated mainly in Chichén Itzá by the name of Kukulcán, who also means plumed serpent. Itzam Na had an anthropomorphic representation: the god D of the codices, identified with the deity that the written sources mention. These say that Itzam Na was the lord of the "dew or substance of the sky," which alludes to rain; that he was a creator god and supreme god, inventor of the calendar, writing, medicine and agriculture - meaning a cultural hero. This humanized figure is represented as an old man with a large and quadrangular eye, derived from the eye of the serpent, an aquiline nose and toothless mouth. It was that he lived in the sky and sent rain ? his name so indicated this, since Itzam means "sorcerer of the water" or "he who has occult powers in the water." One of his hieroglyphics carries the sign Ahau, or "lord", related to the rattlesnake that is the celestial monster, the animal version of Itzan Na. The anthropomorphic Itzan Na has a feminine aspect or a companion, the goddess Ixchebel Yax, patron of painting and embroidery. In the codices it is the goddess O, the weaver, who is represented with a twisted serpent on her head and a roll of cotton. She appears at times accompanied by the celestial dragon and throwing, like him, water on the earth. The sun also was considered as a manifestation of what was sacred in the Mayan world. In the written sources he receives the names of Kin, "Day" or "Sun"; Ah Kin, "He of the Sun"; Kinich Ahau, "Face of the Sun" or "Lord of the Solar Eye." He is represented in humanoid form in the codices carrying a glyph Kin, which is a flower of 4 petals, and a strip hanging from the corner of his mouth. The incisors appear smooth and his eyes are large, quadrangular and squinting. He has a slight relation with Itzam Na because of being also a heavenly deity and linked to fertility; the united energies of both produce life on earth. That is why Itzan Na is at times called Itzan Na Kinich Ahau. He is patron of the number 4, associated with the 4 cardinal directions of the universe by those who transit the sun, producing temporality. Just as he has a beneficent aspect, so he has a malevolent one, presenting himself as the deity who razes the harvests. And besides being a heavenly god, he is god of the underworld, lord of night, since at dusk there is a descent to the region of the dead. In many of hid representations he is also associated with the serpent, due to his relationship to fertility. The sun has an animal manifestation and then he is called Kinich Kahmoo, "solar macaw face of fire." For that reason, at times he is represented by a macaw head and human body, carrying in his hands lighted torches, symbol of draught and braising heat. He was venerated in Izamal, Yucatán, and it was said that he came down flying in the form of a macaw to receive the offerings of men. His companion, apparently, is Ixchel, goddess of the moon, birth, procreation and medicine. She had a great sanctuary in Cozumel, where pilgrims came from many places of the greater area. As a goddess of medicine she was given a party in the month Zip, in which doctor and sorcerers brought their remedies in packages. At the same time other gods of medicine were involved, among them was Itzam Na in a humanized aspect. As a human goddess and patron of births, Ixchel was related to water, the vital principle, and was venerated in various aquatic places, like the cave of Bolonchén, Yucatán, called "Hidden or Guarded Lady"; likewise she is linked to the earth, as a great mother. In the codices she is the named goddess I, who is represented as a young woman with a coiffeur of a twisted serpent on her head. Among the Quiché of Guatemala, the sun and moon were two human persons, demi-gods, called Hunahpú and Ixbalanque, as we had indicated previously. These gods, after going down to the underworld to play ball with the gods of death - that is, of passing an initiatory trial in which they die and are reborn - ascend to heaven and become stars. With this, the word of the creation of the world is fulfilled. In spite of the fact that the celestial monster had as a function the production of rain, there is a deity that incarnates rain itself; he is named Chaac in Yucatán, an anthropomorphic deity of a serpentine character, linked as much to the sky as to the earth. For the Mayans, the terrestrial water of rivers, lagoons and seas is not different from the water of rain, except that the latter proceeds from the former, and for them water is in constant movement: it ascends to form the clouds and then descends in the form of rain to render the land fertile. This movement is caused by divine beings of serpentine character and besides, the terrestrial water (what ascends) as well as the celestial water (what descends) is also symbolized by serpents. This cyclic transit of water is expressed in the codices with the following image: a serpent forming with its body a receptacle containing water, as well as water rising from open mouths. The god of rain rises (called god B and represented as a man with a long nose serpentine eye and curved fangs from the corner of the mouth) - this rising provoked, perhaps, by the celestial monster. In other representations we see god B falling from the heights. That is why the Mayans of Guatemala said: " . . . water is a god who knows many paths and has much strength as he climbs to the sky in order to bring rain. Chaac is another of the quadruple deities of the Yucatán Mayans and his cult is preserved even today. In other Mayan groups, as those of Chiapas, the god of the thunderbolt is called Chauk, and is perhaps a descendent of Chaac; therefore one of the attributes of this latter god was a raised hatchet that symbolized the thunderbolt. This association between Itzam Na and Chaac is very narrow now that both symbolize rain, but it could be that while Chaac incarnates water, the celestial and terrestrial serpents signify the vital energy which generates it and one would deal with the same sacred aqueous energy from the beginning of all time, the plumed serpent with which the creator gods produced the life of the universe. Regarding the terrestrial level, besides being represented in the codices by a receptacle-serpent, it was symbolized with an erect serpent from whose mouths the sun comes out - just as it comes over the horizon at dawn - so much so that its tail penetrates the underworld and surrounds the god of death, communicating to him its vital energy. That is, that the underworld, more than being a distinct region in the animal symbolism of the Mayan religion, is the womb of the great mother earth, from which life is generated, since there are the subterranean riches: seeds and precious stones that symbolize water. But there also is the region of death, the Metnal, the dwelling place to where the immortal heart of man arrives, except for those who because of a special form of death were going to heaven with the sun or to the paradise of the ceiba tree with the aquatic gods. And because of that, the gods of death dwell in this region. These are represented by a corrupt anthropomorphic body, a fleshless body or a skeleton. The god of death among the Yucatán Mayans is Ah Puch, "The Fleshless One" or Kisin, and among the Quichés for whom the place of death is called Xibalbá, "Region of those who vanish," the underworld gods are Hun Camé, "One Death" and Vucub Camé, "Seven Death," at whose side are the gods who cause illnesses. In the codices, he is god A. Thus, the underworld is life and death in the cycle of time; it expresses the idea that from death comes life, and life ends in death. Another terrestrial deity, the most well-known, is a great reptilian monster, crocodile or fantastic lizard. In the plastic Mayan arts it is represented as a great fleshless stone mask with an animal appearance, to which it has been called "Monster of the Earth" Or "Land Monster." In the texts it is named Itzam Cab, "Wizard of the land Water", Itzam Cab Ain, "Wizard of the Land Water Crocodile," or rather Chac Mumul Ain, "Great Muddy Crocodile," names that corroborate its reptilian character. Examples of these stone masks are seen on the panel of the Temple of Cruz Foliada of Palenque and in Temple 22 of Copán. Therefore, just as the sky was symbolized by a reptile monster, so earth was also, constituting in this way reptiles into animal symbols par excellence in Mayan thinking. Man, then, finds himself immersed in this sacred cosmos. As much in his essence as in his existence he participates in what is sacred, but all that which is sacred is monstrous and terrible. It is the other thing, what is incognito, the inaccessible, the inexplicable; and the reconciliation with it requires self-sacrifice, handing over one's own life. Man is distinguished from the other beings by his conscious awareness, which allows him to be linked with the gods through the ritual. As provider of nourishment for divine beings, man has in his hands the existence of the world, which is created and maintained by the gods. In this sense neither men nor gods are perfect, since both are mutually dependent upon one another; both are insufficient unto themselves, but the dynamic harmony they constitute gives them sufficiency. The Mayan forms of venerating the gods were multiple, but the prayers and self-sacrifices or gifts of something of one's self to the deities stand out. These are from offerings of flowers, incense 9copal, food and drinks, to the spilling of one's own blood or the offering of a human life to nourish the life of the gods. In the rites there also were processions, dances, song and dramatic representations; all the community participated, headed by the sacerdotal group, who carried out the main acts of the rites. A good part of the Mayan life was dedicated to ritual; there were ceremonies of the time periods, agricultural rites, rites of different activities and professions, rites of the life cycle (pregnancy, birth, infancy, puberty, marriage and death) and some initiatory rites reserved for the priests and governors. An essential aspect of the ritual was the prophecy based upon the cyclic idea of time; so just as the sun returns each morning and the seasons return, and vegetation becomes green again, the same divine influences of the lapses return, causing the repetition of events. Because of this, one of the principle functions of the priests was to know these influences, thanks to their complex and precise calendar system, and to warn the community, helping it to thus prepare itself to receive the future with diverse rites that propitiated good influences and to exorcise the evil ones. The prophecy played a decisive role in the life of the prehispanic Mayan; it went from personal horoscopes, elaborated when each child was born, to general predictions for different calendar periods. In order to conduct and fulfill any activity, they first had to consult the priest or chilam, who analyzing everything in the ritual calendar or Tzolkin, indicated the propitious day for the enterprise. But the central part of the ritual was the offering of blood and human hearts to the gods, since blood is the energy of divine origin that instills life in men, animals and gods, substantially to these three entities of the universe. Giving blood to the gods, man completes the mission for which he was created: to maintain the life of what is sacred, and thus, that of the whole cosmos that depends upon it. Their multiple symbolic figures in which what is sacred is manifested among the Mayans and their varied ritual practices, constitute a religion according to the plurality that in all the holy orders reveal its culture, and with its sense of profound union with the land and life. The complex and multivariate Mayan gods reveal that human richness about which Fernando Savater speaks when he says that this polytheism represents " . . . the primate of what is open, is plural, for respect to the difference, it does not demand faith, but piety. It does not look for the abstraction that erases sacred places, but the taking root of what is religious in the sense of the earth." THE BOOKS OF THE CHILAM BALAM Book of the Lineages The Lord of the South is the root of the lineage of the great Uc. Xkantacay is his name. And it is the stock of the lineage of Ah Puch. Nine rivers guarded them. Nine mountains guarded them. The red flint is the sacred stone of Ah Chac Mucen Cab. The Mother Red Ceiba (a tropical tree), its Hidden Center, is in the East. The chacalpucté is their tree. Theirs are the red zapote and the red reeds. The red turkeys of a yellow crest are their turkeys. The red and toasted corn id their corn.* The white flint is the sacred stone of the North. The Mother White Ceiba is the Invisible Center of Sac Mucen Cab. The white turkeys are their turkeys. The lima beans are their beans. The white corn is their corn.* The black flint is the stone of the West. The Mother Black Ceiba is their Hidden Center. The black and spiral corn is their corn. The black camote de pazóne (sweet potato) is their sweet potato. The black turkeys are their turkeys. The black night is their home. The black bean is their bean. The black lima bean is their lima bean.* The yellow flint is the stone of the South. The Yellow Mother Ceiba is their Hidden Center. The yellow pucté is their tree. Yellow is their sweet potato. Yellow are their turkeys. The kidney bean with a yellow back is their bean.* -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * It is interesting that black-yellow-white-red are alchemically the four successive stages in the formation of the Philosophers Stone in the work of inner personal transformation. Whether or not there is a connection between this and the four categories stated in the Chilam Balam text is a matter of comjecture. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With the Eleven Ahau Katún (a katún consists of 20 tunes, or a 360-day year) appears the retinue of their servants. And Ah Ppisté began to come. This Ah Ppisté was the measure of the earth. And then came Chacté Abán, to prepare the measurings of land to be cultivated. And Uac Habnal came to mark the measurings with signs of the herb; while Miscit Ahau came to clean the marked out lands and Ah Ppipsul, the measurer, came, who measured wide areas. This was when the chiefs of the directional routes established Ix Noh Uc, Chief of the East. Ox Tocoy Moo, Chief of the East. Ox Pauah, Chief of the East. Ah Mis, Chief of the East. Batún, Chief of the North. Ah Puch, Chief of the North. Balamná, Chief of the North. Aké, Chief of the North. Kan, Chief of the West. Ah Chab, Chief of the West. Ah Uucuch, Chief of the West. Ah Yamás, Chief of the South. Ah Puch, Chief of the South. Cauich, Chief of the South. Ah Couoh, Chief of the South. Ah Puc, Chief of the South. The great Red Bee is the one who is in the East. The red rose is its cup. The incarnated flower is its flower. The great White Bee is in the north. The white rose is its cup. The white flower is its flower. The great Black Bee is in the West. The black lilac is its cup. The black flower is its flower. The great Yellow Bee is in the South. The yellow lilac is its cup. The yellow flower is its flower. When the multitude of the children of the bees multiplied itself, the small Cuzamil was the flower of the honey; the mug of honey was the first apiary and the heart of the earth. Kin Pauah was the great priest, the one who governed the army of the warriors and was the guardian of Ah Hulneb, on the altar of Cuzamil; and of Ah Yax Ac-chinab and of Kinich Kakmó. Ah-Itz-tzim-thul Chac was worshipped in Ich-caan sihó [Mérida today], those of Uayom Chchichch. They were priests in Ich-caan-sihó, Canul, IxPop-ti Balam, and the two Ah Kin Chablé. Their king was Cabal Xiú. The priests of Uxmal worshipped Chac (god of rain), the priests of old times. And Hapai-Can (blood-sucking serpent) was brought in his boat. When he arrived, the walls of Uxmal were marked with blood. Then the Serpent of Life [Canhel] from Chac-xib-chac was stolen. And the Serpent of Life from Sac-xib-hac was also stolen. And the Serpent of Life from Ek-yuuan-chac was snatched too. Ix Sac-belis was the name of their grandmother. Chac-ek-yuuan-chac was their father. Hun-yuuan-chac was the younger brother. Uoh-Puc was his name. This was written "Uoh", in the palm of his hand. And under his throat was written "Uoh". And it was written in the bottom of his foot. And it was written inside the cheek of his hand, to Ah Uoh-Pucil, [The Chaques] were not gods. They were giants. Only the true god Great Father was adored in the language of the wisdom in Mayapán. Ah Kin Cobá was a priest within the walls. Tzulim Chan in the West. Nauatin the door of the fort in the South. Couoh and Ah Canul, in the door of the fort in the East. Ah-Ek was another. Behold their Lord: Ah Tapai Noh. Cauich was the name of their Halach-Uinic, Hunacceel, servant of Ah Mex-cuc. And the latter then asked for a whole flower. And he asked for a white floor mat. And he ordered two garments. And he ordered blue turkeys. And he asked for his hunting whip. And he asked for urns of white clay. And from there, they left and arrived at Ppole. There the Itzaes grew up. At that time and place they had Ix Ppol as mother. Behold, they reached Aké. There children were born to them; there they were nourished. Aké is the name of this place, they said. Then they reached Alaa. Alaa is the name of this place, they said. And they came to Kanholá; and to Tixchel. There their language arose and their knowledge climbed. And then they arrived at Ninum. There the language and the knowledge of the Itzaes progressed further. And they reached Chikin-dzonot. They turned their faces to the West there. Chikin-dzonot is the name of this place, they said. And they reached Tzuc-op. There they divided into groups under a custard apple tree. Tzuc-op is the name of this place, they said. And they arrived at Tah-cab, where the Itzaes concocted a drink from honey, dedicating it to the Image of the Sun. And honey was doctored up and was drunk. Cabilnebá was its name. And they reached Kikil. There they became sick from dysentery. Kikil is the name of this place, they said. And they reached Panab-haá. There they dug searching for water. And when they left there, they loaded down their cargoes with water, well water from the depth. And they arrived at Yalsihón. Yalsihón is the name of that place that they populated. And they reached Xppitah, also a town. And then they arrived at Kankab-dzonot. From there they left and reached Dzulá. And they arrived at Pib-hal-dzonot. And they reached Tah-aac, which is so-called. And they came to a place that is named T'Cooh. There they bought words at a heavy cost, there they bought knowledge. Ticoh is the name of this place. And they arrived at Tikal. There they lived in seclusion. Tikal is the name of this place. And they came to Ti-maax (today's Temax). There the warriors suddenly bruised each other. And they arrived at Buc-Tzotz. There they dressed the hairs on their heads. Buctzotz is the name of this place, they said. And they reached Dzidzontun. There they began to conquer lands. Dzidholtun is the name of this place. And they arrived at Yobain. There they were transformed into caimans by their grandfather Ah Yamás, Lord of the edge of the sea. And they arrived at Sinanché. There the evil spirit named Sinanché enchanted them. And they reached the town of Chac. And they reached Dzeuc and Pisilbá, towns of relatives; and another where their grandparents had come. There they relieved their spirits. Dzemul is the name of this place. And they arrived at Kini, place of Xkil, Itzam-Pech and Xdzeuc, their relatives. When they arrived where Xkil and Itzam-Pech were, it was a time of sorrow for them. And they reached Baca. There water reached their bones. Baca is here, they said. And they reached Sabacnail, place of their ancestors, lineage of the caste of Ah-Ná. The Chel-Ná were their ancestors. When they arrived there, where the practice was of the Ná people, they went into a meditative state. And they came to Ixil. And they went to Chulul. And they reached Chichicaan. And then they went to Holtún-Chablé. And they came to Itzamná, and then to Chubulná. And they reached Caucel. There the cold overpowered them. "Cá-ú-ceel" is here, they said. And then they reached Ucú. There they said: "Yá-ú-cú" ("the elbow hurts"). And they went to Hunucmá, and to Kinchil, and to Kaná. And they reached Xpetón, a town, and Sahab-balam, and then Tah-cum-chakán. And they arrived at Balché, and then Uxmal. From there they left and reached Yubak, and then Munaa. There their language became tender and their knowledge became smooth. And they went to Ox-loch-hok, then to Chak-akal, and then to Xocné-ceh. The deer was their tutelary genius (temperament) when they arrived. And they went to Ppustunich; and to Pucnal-Chac and to Ppenhuyut; and to Paxueuet and to Xayá. And they reached the place called tistis; then to Chican and Tix-meuac, and to Hunacthi and Tzalis; and Musbulná and Tizáa and Lop (actually Tixholop); and Cheemi-uán and Ox-cah-uanká; and finally Sacbacel-caan. When they arrived, the names of the towns that did not have it were already complete, and those of the wells, so that one could know where they had passed walking, in order to see if the land was good and if it was established in those places. They said that this was called the "order of the land." Our Father God was the one who ordained this land. He created and ordained everything in the world. And they named the country and the towns and named the wells in which they were established and named the high lands that were populated and named the fields where their dwellings were. This was so because no one had ever arrived here, to the "pearl of the throat of the land," when we arrived Subinché. Kaua. Cum-canul. Ti-em-tun. There they brought down precious stones. Sizal. Sacií. Ti-dzoc. There ended the course of the Katún. Timocón. Popolá. There was extended the matting (political power) of the Katún. Tixmaculum. There they made their language occult. Dzitháás. Honkauil. Tixmex. Kochilá. Tix-xocen. Chumpak. Pibahul. Tunkáás. Haaltunha. Kuxhilá. Dzidzilché. Ti-cool. Stilpech. Chalanté. There their spirit rested. Itzam-thulil. Tipakab. There they made seeds. Tiyá. Consahcab. Dzidzomtun. As did their ancestors, they lay down a foot of conquest and conquered the Doors of Stone. Popolá, to the south of Sinanché, in order to come to Muci and to the well of Sac-nicté and to Sodzil. Here, where they marked the border of the Katún, is the place named Mutumut, which is here in Mutul. Muxupip. Aké. Hoctun. There they stopped at the foot of the stone. Xoc-chchel Boh. Sac-cab-há. Tzanlahcat. Human. There the word resounded upon them, there its fame sounded. Chalamté. Pacaxúa. This is the name of this place, they said. Tekit. There they dispersed the remains of the Itzaes. Yokol-Cheen. Ppupulní-huh. The iguanas were their temperaments when they left there. Dzodzil. Tiab. Bitun-chchen. It happened that they entered Tipikal, the name of this well. And it happened that there they became more numerous. And they went to Pochuh. This is the name of the well where it happened that iguanas were annoying. And they went to Maní. There they forgot their language. And they arrived at Dzam. There they were submerged for three days in water. And they went to Ti-cul; Sac-lum-chcheén; Tixtohilchcheén. There they were healthy. And they went to Balam-kin, land of the priests; and to Chcheen-chchomac, to Sacniteel-dzonot, to Xaxcab, Umán, Oxcum, Sanhil, and to Ich-caan-sihó, and to Noh-pat, the place of the Great Mother; to Poychéná, and to Chulul. And they then arrived at Titz-luum-Cumkal. There they ceased to filter their pots (use them as sieves or filters). Yaxkukul. Tixkokob. CucáEkol. Ekol is the name of the well. Tix-ueué. Tix-ueué is the name of the well here. Its murmur reached them suddenly. To Kanimal. To Xkaan. There, in old times, Father Xul swung his hammock. Holtun Aké. Acanceh. Ti-cooh. Ti-chahil. And to the rest of the great Mayapán, the one that is inside walls and on water. And they went to Nabulá. Tixmucuy. Tixkanhub. Dzayilá. And they reached Ti-sip. There their language ripened and their knowledge ripened. And the Lords began to found lands. There was Ahkin-Palon-cab and the priest named Mutec-pul. This priest Palon Cab was Ah May. This priest Mutec-pul was Guardian of Uayom Chchicheh and also of Nunil. And the two Ah-kin-chablé, from Ich-caan-sihó. And Holtun Balam, the son of the one who let loose the Yaxum in the prairie. Then other Lords arrived. These Lords were "same in voice" as the gods. This happened in the Eleventh Ahau. And then they established their towns and their lands and they were established in Ich-caan-sihó. And then those from Holtun-aké came down there. And then those from Sabacnail came down. And so the Lords were arriving and gathering. Those from Sabacnail had the Ah Ná as the root of their lineage. And then all were reunited in Ichcaansihó. There was Ix-pop-ti-Balam and there was their king Holtun-Balam, Dzoy root of the Couoh lineage and the Xiúes, Tloual, also. And Chacté, the god who cultivated the lands, was their old god. Teppan quis was a priest of Ichtab and Al-Ppisté, he who measured the lands. And behold he measured from the lands that he measured, great measurements in the land of the Mayans. Behold that when the lands began to be dug, Ah-cunté was the digger and the one who cleared the lands was Miscit Ahau. For that reason they established lands for them, the watered lands. Then it happened that dawn occurred for them. Out lord had awakened the land for them. And tribute began to flow in to them in Chichén. The tribute of the Four Men arrived in ancient cotton thread. The Eleventh Ahau is the name of the Katún in whi ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tecpaocelotl 06-26-2006, 05:25 PM As for the sacred books of the Yucatan Mayans, these are known under the name of Chilam Balam, although it appears that this was not the original title. The word chilam means literally "that which is mouth"; or, in other words, "that which prophesies." The Chilams were the sacerdotal prophets who interpreted ancient books to elaborate upon the prophecies, in which they transmitted to the townspeople the knowledge of that which was to come. This relates to the concept that time has a cyclic rhythm, and thus events, in a certain sense, tend to repeat themselves. These prophecies were considered to be interpretations of the messages of the gods, as is expressed, for example, in the following prophesy: "This is the remembrance of how Hunab Ku, supreme Deity, with Oxlahum Tihu, third deity, immense deity, came . . . to say his word to the Ah Kines, Sacerdotes-of-the-solar-cult, Prophets, Chalames Balames, Wizard-Interpreters . . . the speaking taking place in the house of the Chilam, Interpreter. These words were of a warning and advisory nature, their meaning revealed . . .. The reason why it is called Chilam Interpreter is because the Chilam Balam, Wizard-Interpreter, went to bed stretched out, without moving or getting up from where he threw himself, in his own house. But no one saw the face or the form and size of who was talking on top of the house, straddling it . . . . They said that Hunab Ku, supreme Deity . . . ." In this way, stretched out on their backs, the sacerdotes repeated the messages of the gods, predicting the future. Balam means "jaguar" or "wizard", and is a family surname; so Chilam Balam was a concrete miracle worker, a sacerdote from the town of Maní who seems to have lived a little before the conquest and who had a great reputation as a prophet. Along with other sacerdotes, called Napuctun, Ah Kauil Chel, Nahau Pech and Natzin Yubun Chan, he predicted the coming of a new religion, for which, after the conquest, his prophesy was interpreted as a warning of the arrival of the Spaniards and Christianity. These prophecies are included in the sacred books, which were appropriately called Chilam Balam. Each settlement wrote its own book for which there are Chilam Balames of Maní, Tizimín, Chumayel, Kaua, Ixil, Tekax, Nah, Tusik, and there are references of Chilams from Teabo, Peto, Nabulá, Tehosuco, Tixcocob, Telchac, Hocabá and Oxkutzcab. ------------------------------------------------------------------------