Part 4

I shall refer to another tale or report which is very unusual and new regarding the Indies, and which until now has not been found in any other part of them. As this kingdom, on account of its close proximity to it, comes within the jurisdiction of my bishopric of Chiapa, on one of my visits I disembarked and remained at a very healthy port. I met there a clergyman, good, so it seemed, of mature age and honest, and [one] who knew the language of the natives from having lived there several years. As it was necessary for me to return to my episcopal residence, I nominated him as my vicar, and ordered and entreated him to travel inland and visit the Indians there and preach to them in a certain way in which I instructed him. After a certain number of months (I even believe it was one year), he wrote to me that on his trip he had met a principal lord or chief, and that on inquiring of him concerning his faith and the ancient belief all over his realm, he answered him that they knew and believed in God who was in heaven; that that God was the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That the Father is called by them _Içona_,[15] and that he had created man and all things. The Son's name was _Bacab_,[16] who was born from a maiden who had ever remained a virgin, whose name was _Chibirias_,[17] and who is in heaven with God. The Holy Ghost they called _Echuac_.[18] They say that _Içona_ means the great Father. _Bacab_, who is the son, they say killed _Eopuco_,[19] and flagellated him, crowning him with a crown of thorns, and placed him with arms extended on a pole, not meaning that he should be nailed to it, but tied (and in order to show him how, the chief extended his own arms), where he finally died. He was dead for three days, but on the third day he returned to life and went up to heaven, and he is there with his Father. After this immediately came _Echuac_, which is the Holy Ghost, and he filled the earth with all it needs. When asked what _Bacab_ or _Bacabab_ meant, he said it meant the son of the great Father, and that _Echuac_ meant merchant. And very good merchandise did the Holy Ghost bring to this earth, for he filled men with all their faculties, and divine and abundant graces. _Chibirias_ means mother of the Son of the great Father. He added, furthermore, that at a certain time all men would have to die, but he did not seem to know anything of the resurrection of the flesh. When asked how they came to know all these things, the chief replied that the lords taught their sons, and in this manner it descended from one age to another. They also assert that in olden times, long ago, there came to the land twenty men (he gave the names of fifteen of them), but because they were very poorly written, and furthermore as they do not have great importance for this report, I do not copy them. Of the five others the vicar says he could not obtain their names. The principal one was called _Cocolcan_,[20] and they called this one the God of all kinds of fevers. Two of the others are the Gods of fish, still another two the Gods of farms and homesteads [landed properties], still another was the God of Lightning, etc. They all wore long gowns or mantles, and sandals for their feet. They had long beards, and wore nothing to cover their heads. These men ordained that the people should go to confession and should fast, and some people fasted on Fridays because on that day _Bacab_ had died. The name of this day (Friday) is _Himis_,[21] and they honor it in their devotion on account of the death of _Bacab_. The chiefs (caçiques) know all the particulars of those things, but the common people believe only in the three persons, _Içona_ and _Bacab_ and _Echuac_, and in _Chibirias_, the mother of _Bacab_, and also [in] the mother of _Chibirias_ called _Hischen_,[22] whom we consider to have been Saint Ann. All this above stated is from information I have received in a letter from that reverend father whose name is Francisco Hernandez, and I still have his letter among my papers. He also stated that he took the said chief to a Franciscan friar who lived near there, and that the caçique repeated all he said before the friar, and they remained both greatly surprised at it. If all those things just stated are true, it would seem that that part of the land had been (long ago) informed about our Holy Faith, for in no other part of the Indies have we ever found such news. It is true that in Brazil, which belongs to the Portuguese, it was stated that traces of the wanderings of Saint Thomas the Apostle had been discovered, but such news could not very well fly over through the air, and furthermore it is quite certain that the country and kingdom of Yucatan give us more special and singular cases to ponder over, and of far greater antiquity, if we think of the great, exquisite, and admirable way the most ancient buildings are constructed, also of a certain lettering in queer characters which are not found anywhere else. Finally these are the secrets which only God knows.

GLOSSARY

_Alux_, _h'lox_, or more fully _h'loxkatob_. According to Brinton the meaning is "the strong clay images." He writes in his paper, The Folk-lore of Yucatan, that "the derivation of this word is from _kat_, which, in the Diccionario Maya-Español del Convento de Motul (MS. of about 1580), is defined as 'la tierra y barro de las olleras,' but which Perez in his modern Maya dictionary translates 'ollas ó figuras de barro'; _ob_ is the plural termination; _lox_ is strong, or the strength of anything; _h'_ or _ah_, as it is often written, is the rough breathing which in Maya indicates the masculine gender."

_Atole._ Nahuan _atolli_, or _atlaolli_. Corn-meal gruel.

_Balám._ Tiger or mountain-lion. The word was applied also to a class of priests and to kings as a title of distinction.

_Balché._ A fermented liquor made from wild honey and the bark of a tree.

_Buhul_, _buuhul_. A section of a stick of wood split lengthwise in the middle.

_Bulihuah._ Tortillas made of corn-meal and beans. From _bul_ or _buul_, beans; _uah_, tortilla.

_Caçique._ Antillean word meaning a lord or chief.

_Camote._ Nahuan _camotl_, a kind of sweet-potato.

_Canlahuntaz._ Large loaves of native bread. From _canlahun_, fourteen; _taz_, tiers, or layers.

_Comal._ Nahuan _comalli_, clay griddle.

_Hipil._ Nahuan _huipilli_, a woman's chemise.

_Huahuapach, ua ua pach._ According to Brinton (op. cit.) it means giant crab.

_Huit_, _uith_. Loin-cloth.

_Jicara._ Nahuan _xicalli_, corrupted into _jicara_, a calabash.

_Kex._ To barter or change; also used as a name for ex votos placed on altars.

_Kipxosi_, _kipchoh_, _cipchoh_. "A diviner bird among the Indians."

_Kool._ A dish prepared by cooking corn with chicken.

_Mecapal._ Nahuan _mecapalli_, leathern band used over the forehead for carrying burdens.

_Mecate._ Nahuan _mecatl_, rope or cord made of maguey fiber.

_Metate._ Nahuan _metatl_, a stone on which corn is ground.

_Milpa._ Nahuan _milli_, cultivated land; _pan_, a postposition.

_Mitote._ Nahuan _mitotli_, a dance.

_Moloch._ Brush-wood or kindling.

_Pahatun_, _pah ah tun_. The four _pa ah tunes_, the lords of rains, are, according to Brinton, "identical with the winds, and the four cardinal points from which they blow.... The name _pahatun_ is of difficult derivation, but it probably means 'stone, or pillar, set up or erected.'"

_Pib._ An underground oven.

_Pochat tancab._ According to the author of this report the phrase has the same signification as _buhul_: the offering made to a girl by a prospective bridegroom.

The words seem to be: _poc_, to wash or rub; _hat_, numerical termination serving to count split-wood; _tancab_, outside the house, or in the patio.

_Pozole._ Nahuan _pozolatl_, or _poçol atl_, a drink of cooked corn.

_Sacá_, _zacá_. Orgeat of corn; from _za_, corn gruel; _cá_, or _caa_, duplicative particle.

_Sintun_, _zintun_. A heated stone for heating water for bathing purposes. From _zin_, to haul, girdle or encircle; _tun_, stone.

_Taukul_, _tunkul_. A wooden drum.

_Tich._ A mass celebrated in planted fields. See Brinton, op. cit.

_Xaché xtabay._ According to the author, the name of a plant. The first word, _xaché_, is evidently _xach_ or _xachah_, to comb. _Xtabay_ may be _x-_, a prefix, indicating feminine gender; _tabal_, to deceive.

_Xanleox_, _x'kanleox_. From _x-_, prefix denoting feminine gender; _kan_, yellow; _lox_, to strike with the closed fist. Brinton simply gives "yellow goddess" as the equivalent.

_Xbolonthahroch bokolhahoch_, _X bolon thoroch bokol_ (or _bookol_) _h'otoch_. From _x-_, prefix denoting feminine gender; _bolon_, nine; _thoroch_, sound of a spindle revolving in its shaft. Brinton says, "The name therefore signifies 'the female imp who magnifies the sound of the spindle." _Bokol_ or _bookol_, to stir; _h_ or _ah_, to indicate the rough breathing which in Maya denotes the masculine gender.

_Xhantumbú_, _xkantumbub,_ or _xkantun bub_. A small plant used for medicinal purposes.

_Xtabay._ See etymology under _xaché xtabay_.

_Xulab._ Spelled by Sanchez de Aguilar _xubab_. An ant which attacks beehives.

_Yuncimil_, _Yumcimil_. The God of Death; from _yum_, universal father or lord; _cimil_, death.

_Zaztun._ A quartz crystal; from _zaz_, clear; _tun_, stone.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1845

BAEZA, BARTOLOMÉ JOSÉ GRANADO. Los Indios de Yucatan. Informe dado por el cura de Yaxcabá D. Bartolomé del Granado Baeza, en contestacion al interrogatorio de 36 preguntas, circulado por el ministerio de Ultrámar sobre el manejo, vida y costumbres de los Indios, que acompaño el Illmo. Sr. obispo á la deputacion provincial. _Registro Yucateco_, Mérida, tomo I, pp. 165-178.

This account was written in Yaxcabá, April 1, 1813. It is one of the principal sources of information used by Brinton in his paper, The Folk-lore of Yucatan.

G. C. El Indio Yucateco, carácter, costumbres y condicion de los Indios de Yucatan. _Registro Yucateco_, Mérida, tomo I, pp. 291-297.

This report is dated Mexico, December 30, 1843.

1846

CARRILLO, ESTANISLAO. Papeles sueltos de P. Carrillo. Fantasmas. _Registro Yucateco_, tomo IV, pp. 103-106.

The material in this article was used by Brinton in his paper, op. cit.

HERNANDEZ, JUAN JOSÉ. Costumbres de las Indias de Yucatan. _Registro Yucateco_, Mérida, tomo III, pp. 290, 298.

This report is dated Mérida, April 24, 1846.

1865

CARRILLO, CRESCENCIO. Estudio historico sobre la raza indigena de Yucatan. Vera Cruz, 1865, 26 pp.

1882

BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE. The native races of the Pacific states. 5 volumes, San Francisco.

In the several volumes of this work Bancroft has assembled most of the early accounts of the manners and customs of the Maya of Yucatan. He was unaware of the existence of the report by Mendez which forms the basis of our publication.

1883

BRINTON, DANIEL G. The Folk-lore of Yucatan. _Folk-Lore Journal_, London, vol. 1, part viii, pp. 1-13.

This study is based largely on the report of Baeza, with additions from the article of Estanislao Carrillo, and manuscript notes of several other persons, notably those of Carl Hermann Berendt.

CARRILLO Y ANCONA, CRESCENCIO. Historia de Welinna. Leyenda Yucateca. Segunda edición, Mérida, 52 pp.

The first edition was printed in 1862.

1895

BRINTON, DANIEL G. A Primer of Mayan hieroglyphs. _Publications of the University of Pennsylvania, Series in Philology, Literature, and Archæology_, vol. III, no. 2.

1905

REJÓN GARCÍA, MANUEL. Supersticiones y leyendas Mayas. Mérida, 1905.

NOTES

[1] For the meaning of this and of other Indian words, consult the glossary.

[2] _Fotuto_ is a musical instrument used by the Carib Indians and also by the negroes of the Antilles.

[3] _Luneros_ are Monday-workers.

[4] _Fagina_--_faena_, manual labor.

[5] _Milpa roza_ is, literally, field cleared of underbrush and ready for planting.

[6] _Milpa caña_, literally cane field.

[7] An _almud_ is a dry measure equivalent to twelve English bushels. There seems to be an error in the quantity here.

[8] The author here seems to have confused the meaning of the word _mitote_ (see glossary). In Yucatan the instrument he describes is called _tunkul_.

[9] The _machete_ is the large knife which the Indian men of Yucatan invariably carry with them.

[10] The _arroba_ is the Spanish measure of twenty-five pounds.

[11] We have been unable to find the meaning of the word _güero_.

[12] _Calabaza_ is the Spanish for pumpkin; but the Mexican pumpkin is different from that raised in our latitudes.

[13] _Jicama_ seems to be a local word not in the dictionary.

[14] _Tzomes_, according to Sanchez de Aguilar, is the name applied to hairless dogs. The common appellation is _kúkbil_, or _kikbil_. _Tzom_ in Maya means a horn, also a proboscis. The word _tzomes_ is close to _tzimin_, pl. _tzimines_, the name of the tapir, which has an elongate snout. Alonzo Poncé who was in Yucatan in 1588, speaks of tapirs being called by the natives _tzimines_, and further states that they call horses by the same name, a definition to be found in the Maya dictionary of Pio Perez.

[15] The names to which we call attention in notes 15 to 22 represent, with a single exception, in misspelled form, well-known Mayan deities. It is interesting to note the early influence of the Spaniards on the religious beliefs of the Maya, as evidenced by the interpretation given to Father Hernandez by the old caçique. There is a curious mixture of old and new in the account. Dr Seler has identified the various deities spoken of, and a description of their attributes will be found in Brinton's Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphs. Içona is _Itzamna_, chief of the beneficent gods, the personification of the East. According to Brinton the name means "the dew or moisture of the morning." Brinton writes, "He was said to have been the creator of men, animals, and plants, and was the founder of the culture of the Mayas. He was the first priest of their religion, and invented writing and books."

[16] According to Brinton the _Bacabs_, or _Chacs_, were the offspring of _Itzamna_ and his consort _Ix-Chel_ (spoken of by the caçique as _Hischen_).

[17] _Chibirias_ is identified by Seler as _Ix-chebel-yax_, who, according to Brinton, was "the inventress of painting and of colored designs on woven stuffs."

[18] _Echuac_ is _Ek Chua_, said by Landa to be the god of the cacao planters, hence, as cacao-beans were the medium of exchange, the god of merchants, as here related. It is difficult to understand the confusion by which this god has been interwoven in Christian beliefs as the Holy Ghost.

[19] _Eopuco_ has been interpreted by Seler as_ Ah uoh puc_, or _Ah-puch_, the God of Death, or God of Evil. Brinton believes that "these words mean the Undoer, or Spoiler, apparently a euphemism to avoid pronouncing a name of evil omen." In modern Maya he is plain _Yum cimil_, lord of death.

[20] _Cocolcan_ is _Cuculcan_, or _Kukulcan_, the same as the Nahuan _Quetzalcoatl_. _Kukulcan_ was the feathered or winged serpent god, a deity of culture and kindliness.

[21] _Himis_ is _Imix_, the name of the first day of the twenty-day month of the Maya calendar.

[22] _Hischen_ is _Ix-Chel_, the consort of _Itzamna_. Brinton states that the word means "rainbow," and that the goddess was also known as _Ix Kan Leom_, "the spider-web" which catches the dew of the morning. Her children, according to Brinton, the _Bacabs_ or _Chacs_ were "four mighty brethren, who were the gods of the four cardinal points, of the winds which blow from them, of the rains these bring, of the thunder and the lightning, and consequently of agriculture, the harvests, and food supply. Their position in the ritual was of the first importance. To each were assigned a particular color and a certain year and day in the calendar."