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BOOKS OF THE CHILAM BALAM OF CHUMAYEL

 

 

(For this new English translation of this important work, the translator is Suzanne D. Fisher; editorial comments, inserted in the text, as it proceeds, are by Dr. Bruce S. Fisher. The Spanish version of Antonio Mediz Bolio is being used.)

 

 

 

Prologue: History of the Translation and Commentary on the Texts
Introduction: the Mayans and their Spiritual Involvement
Books of the Chilam Balam
Book of the Lineages
Kahlay of the Conquest
Katún
Book of the Trials
Book of the Ancient Gods
Book of the Spirits
The Thirteen Ahau Katún
Book of the Origin of the Itzaes
Book of the Month
The Katún of the Flower
Book of the Enigmas
The Wheel of the Katunes
Book of the Sequence of the Katúnes
Kahlay of the Dzules
Book of the Prediction of the 13 Katúnes
Book of the Prophesies
 
 

To Unique and Unusual Esoteric Books!

 

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 which it happened.
 
Then the tribute was measured and one saw that the whole mass that had come down was sufficient and had existed from ancient times. And then it happened that the tribute of Holtun-Suhuy-uá came down. And one saw that it was enough. It was then when "their speaking evened out." This happened in the Thirteenth Ahau Katún.
 
There the Great Lords received the tribute. And then they [the people] began to venerate their majesty; and they began to behold them as gods, and serve them. And it happened that they arrived to carry them in stretchers. And they began to throw certain ones into the well so the lords could hear their voices of prophesy. Their voice was not the same as the other voices. (The sacred natural well of Chichén Itzá had an oracular function.)
 
That Cauich - a Hunacceel whose family name was Cauich, behold he stretched his throat to the edge of the well on the south side. And then the ultimate power of his voice manifested. And he began to express the gift of this voice. His mandate then began. And he began to say that he was Ahau (the highest theocratic hierarchy). And he settled down in the place of the Ahau, through their auspices. And one began to say that before there was Alach-uinich and not Ahau; that only he was the precursor of Al Mex Cuc ["He of the beard of a squirrel," a seemingly Nahua deity.] And it was said that he was an Ahau because he was the adopted son of Ah Mex Cuc; that an eagle had been his mother, that he had been found on a mountain and that since then they began to obey him as Ahau. Such was what they said at that time.
 
Then they began to build the High House for the Lords, and the Stairway of Stone. And then he sat down in the House Above, among the Thirteen Ahau, filled with majesty.
 
And then the Law was established, the glory and era of Ah Mex Cuc. Such was the nature of things when he established them.
 
In this vicinity, then, in the time of Ah Mex Cuc, they began to consider him as Father, and began to venerate his name. And then he was adored and was served in Chichén. Chi-Chén Itzam is its name, because there he went to give Itzam, when one swallowed the Sacred Stone of the land, the Stone of the Force from ancient Itzá. He drank it and entered inside the water. And then bitterness began to enter in Chichén Itza. And then he went East and arrived at the house of Ah Kin Cobá. Now came the Eighth Ahau Katún.
 
Eighth Ahau is the name of the Katún that ruled when the change of the Katún and the Ahaues occurred.
 

* * * * *

 
"Our gods have grown!" their priests said (those from the Sun). And then days of the year were introduced.
 
"Behold abundant suns come," they said. And the hoofs of the animals burned and the edge of the sea burned.
"This is the sea of bitterness!" they said.
 
And the face of the sun was corroded, and its face became darkened and was put out [this refers to an eclipse]. And then, above, they became frightened. "It has burned up! Our god has died!" their priests said. And they were beginning to think about making a picture of the figure of the sun, when the earth shook and they saw the moon.
 
And then came the Beetle gods, the dishonest ones, those who put sin among us, those who were the mud of the earth. ("It was Ix-Tziu-nene who introduced sin among us, the slaves of the land when he came.")
 
When they came, the Katún was ending. "The Cursed Katún" was that which was ordered. "Speak carefully, thus are the gods of this land!"
When the time of the next Katún commenced, and the Katún in which the dishonest ones were brought ended, the multitude of their warriors was seen. And they began to kill them. And they erected gallows so they would die. And Ox-halal-chan began to shoot them with arrows. And the gods of the country began to be evoked. And their blood spilled and they were seized by the Lords of the Deerand then they were astonishedand their war ended
 
The Eleventh Ahau Katún is seated on his mat, sits on his throne. There his voice is raised, there his nobility manifests. The face of their god emits rays.
 
Leaves come down from the sky, flowered arches come down from the sky. Celestial is their perfume. Music sounds, the tambourines announce the Eleventh Ahau. He enters at dusk and happily covers the sun with his canopy, the sun that there is in Sulim chan [wet serpent], the sun in Chikinputún [Chakanputun, Sabana-de-chiles]. Trees will be eaten, stones will be eaten, all sustenance will be lost within the Eleventh Ahau Katún.
 
In the Eleventh Ahau the story begins, because it was in this Katún when the Dzules arrived ? those who came from the East when they arrived. Then Christianity also began. In the East his course ends. Ichcansihó is the seat of the Katún.
 

* * * * *

 
This is the memory of the things that happened and that were made. Now all is passed. They speak with their own words and so hardly not everything is understood in its meaning, but, rightfully, such as everything happened, so it was written. Now again everything will be explained very well. And perhaps it will not be bad. Everything is not bad as it is written. There is not much written regarding their traditions and alliances. Just as the town of the divine Itzaes, so are those of the great Uxmal, so re those of the great Ichcaansihó. The named Couoh also.
 
Truly many were their "True Men". They did not like to get together with each other to sell traditions; but not all of this is revealed or explained. Those who know it come from the great lineage of us, the Mayan men. Those will know the meaning of what there is here when they read it. And then they will see it and then will explain it and then the obscure signs of the Katún will be clear. This is so because they are the priests. The priests died off, but not their name, which is as old as they.
 
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.
 
Because the boys of the towns were so small, they were martyred! The poor wretches! The poor ones did not protest against the one who for his pleasure enslaved them, the Antichrist on the earth, tiger of the towns, wildcat of the towns, bloodsucker of the poor indian. But the day will arrive in which the tears from their eyes reach God and His justice will come down all at once on the world.
 
It truly is the will of God that Ah-Kantenal and Ix-Pucyolá will return, in order to gnaw them from the firmament of the land!

 

Kahlay of the Conquest

 

In the year one thousand five hundred forty one of the Dzules [the year of the Spanish settlement in Mérida].

 

1541, the day 5 Ik 2 Chen.

 

Behold the memory that I wrote. It has been 20 Katúns and 15 Katúns more since the heretics built the pyramids. Great men built them. And the remains of their lineage disappeared. Cartabona [today in Guatemala it is Cajabón] is the name of the land where they are now. There they were when San Bernabé [the day of San Bernabé, the date when the decisive battle of the Conquistadors occurred in Ichcaansihó, today Mérida] arrived, and he taught that they should kill them, because they were heretical men. This is the name of their caste.
 

* * * * *

 

1556, the difference today is 15 years. [Fifteen years after the occupation of Mérida in 1541.] Behold what I wrote: the great temples were built by the ancestor nobles, and their kings made things of great repute. During 13 Katúnes and 6 years more the pyramids were built by those who made them in olden times. From the beginning of the pyramids, they made 15 times 420 of them and 50 more, by their account, in a group. These pyramids filled the entire country, from the sea to the heart of the land. And they left their names and those of the wells. Then it happened that their religion was composed by God.
 
And the town of Israel and the prophets was burned by the fire! The memory of the Katúns and the years was swallowed in the red moon! The red moon of the land corrodes the lineage of the Tutulxíu!

 

* * * * *

 

This is the memory of the Katúns and of the years in which, for the first time, the land of the Yucatán was conquered by the Dzules, the white men. That within the Eleventh Ahau Katún it happened that the "door of the water," Ecab, was taken control of. They came from the East. When they arrived, they say that their first lunch was of anonas (soursop, the slightly acid, pulpy fruit of the anona tree). This is the cause of their being called "foreigners, eaters of anonas." Foreign men, consumers of anonas, was their name. This is what the inhabitants of the town that they conquered called them: those of Ecab, Nacom Balam is the name of the first one conquered [according to the chronicler Diego López Cogolludo, Nacom Balam was an old man who lived near Conil, on the east coast of the peninsula], in Ecab, by the first captain Don Juan of Montejo [Juan de Mantejo was not the conqueror of Yucatán, he was the son of Francisco de Montejo, the Servant, who arrived at Mérida in the Katún 11 Ahau], first conqueror, here in the country of Yucatán. In the same Katún it happened that they arrived at Ichcaansihó.
 
In the year 1513, in the Thirteenth Ahau Katún, it happened that they conquered Campeche. A Katún was there. The priest Camal, from Campeche, put the foreigners in the country.

 

* * * * *

 

I am writing now on august 20 of the year 1541. I noted the names of the years in which Christianity began here.
 
[The conquest began in] the year1519 [and was] completed 151 years later, and then there was harmony with the foreigners. This is the price to be paid. War was waged between the whites and the other men from the towns here, those who were captains of the old towns. That is the price we have paid for [what we have] today.

 

* * * * *

 

Behold what I wrote. The first arrival of the Dzules from the East occurred in the year 1541 at Ecab, which is the name of the place. The year they arrived at the "door of the water," Ecab, town of Nacom Balam, was the beginning of the days of the years and of the Katún, of the Eleventh Ahau Katún. The dispersion of the Itzaes happened fifteen to twenty-some years before the arrival of the Dzules. The city of Sac-lah-tun was abandoned and the city of Kinchil was ruined. And Chichen Itzá was ruined. And the city next to Ixmal, to the south of Ixmal, named Cib, and also Kabah, was abandoned. And Seyé was abandoned as was Pakam and Homtún, and the city of Tix-calom-kin, and Aké, the one with the stone doors, and the city of Etzemal, where the rain from the dew falls, was abandoned.
 
There the son of the true God, Lord of the sky, King, Virgin and Miracles came down. And the King said: "Lower your shields of Kinich-Kakmó. He cannot reign here. Here lives the Miracle Worker and the Merciful." Chords came down, came from heaven. His voice came down, from heaven, and then his divinity was worshipped by the other towns, which said that the gods of Emmal were vain. And then the great Itzaes left.
 
Thirteen times 400 times 400 thousand and 15 times 400 times 400 hundreds more, years upon years lived the Itzaes as heretics, and behold they went away. Also their disciples went after them in great numbers and gave their support to them.
 
Thirteen measurements was Iximal to the head of their count, and nine measurements Almut and three Oc, in his Iximal. And many small towns with their familiar gods at the forefront were behind them also.
 
They did not want to wait for the Dzules or for Christianity. They did not want to pay tribute. The spirit men of the birds, the spirit men of the precious stones, the spirit men of the carved stones, the spirit men of the tigers, guided and protected them. Sixteen hundred years and 300 years more and they would have to reach the end of their life! For they knew [what was to be] within the measurement (limitation) of their time.
The moon [in all its phases], all of the year, all of the day, and all wind [that] blows, passes also. Also all blood (races and clans) reaches the place of its quietude, as it arrives at its power and its throne. Measured (limited) was the time in which the magnificence of The Three were praised. Measured was the time in which the good of the Sun (vitality, the vital force) could be found. Measured was the time in which they saw above them the grid of the stars, from where, flying by them, they were contemplated by the gods, the gods that were imprisoned in the stars. Then all [that] was good was then demolished.
 
There was wisdom in them. There was not sin then. There was holy devotion in them. They lived healthy lives. There was no sickness then; there was no pain in their bones; there was fever for them; there was no smallpox, there was no breast burning, there was no pain in the abdomen, there was no consumption. Their bodies were erect then.
 
What the Dzules did when they came here negated all of this wellness. They taught fear; and they proceeded to wither the flowers. So that their flowers might live (their welfare would be promoted), they damaged and corrupted the flowers (destroyed the welfare) of the others.
 
There were no longer good priests to teach us. This is the source of the Chair of the second time, of the reign of the second time. And it is also the cause of our death. We did not have good priests, we did not have wisdom, and at the end value and shame were lost. And everyone was equal (there were no longer any outstanding individuals).
 
There was no High Knowledge, there was not a Sacred Language, and there was not a Divine Teaching in the understudies of the gods who arrived there. To castrate the Sun! The strangers came to do that here. And behold, the sons of their sons remained here amidst the people, and those suffer the bitter consequences of this.
 
It happens that these Dzules have resentment, because the Itzaes were three times to attack them, because 60 years ago they took away our tribute to them, because for a long time the Itzaes were bold against these men. No, we did it and we pay for it today. Perhaps, because of the Concert that exists it is possible for there to be harmony among us and the Dzules. If it is not so, we are going to have a great war.

 

Katún

 

The beginning of the eleventh Ahau was in the year 1513

 

SERIES OF THE MAYAN MONTHS (20 DAYS EACH) IN A YEAR

Poop 
July 16
Uoo
August 5
Zip
August 25
Zodz
Tzec
October 4
Xul
October 24. This is when the fish spawn.
Dze-yax-kin
November 13. This is when the stalks of corn are bent
Mol
December 3 
Chchén
December 23
Yaax
January 12. This a good time for harvest. 
Zac
February 1. this is when the white flowers bloom.
Ceeh
February 21. 
Mac
March 13. This is when the turtles lay their eggs.  
Kan-kin
April 2. 
Muan
April 22. The path of the sun is halted in the vault of heaven.
Paax
May 12.
Kayab
June 1.
Cum-kú
June 21. 

 

The uayeyab (the"goblin" days of the year) are five.

 

When the 11th day of June* arrives, the days are longer than the nights. When the 13th day of September arrives, day and night are the same lengths. When the 12th of December comes, the day becomes shorter and the night longer. When the 10th day of March arrives, day and night are of the same length.

*This date of the vernal equinox derives from the passage written at the time when the Julian calendar was in force.
 

 

Diagram that shows the course of the sun in the sky.

 

 

Behold the circle in the center, the one that is white. It means that it locates where the Sun is traveling. The double wheels surrounding it, the black ones, signify that the face of the Sun progresses along the greater black circle and it goes down to the small black one. Likewise, it is the same as to how it goes and how it walks (progresses) here too in the world on land. And so it is how one sees the marching of the Sun in all parts of the country. In order to walk it takes a real elongated mug and enters it through the widest part, which is the edge of the land. Such is the Kahlay of the Sun, as one knows here.

 

 

Diagram representing an eclipse of the Sun..

 

It appears to the men that at their sides is that half circle in which is described how the Sun is bitten into. What bites into it, is that it is matched with the Moon, which goes attracted by it (the Sun), before biting it. It arrives through its path to the north, large, and then they become one and the Sun and Moon bite each other, before arriving at the "trunk of the Sun." It is explained this way so that Maya men can understand what happens to the Sun and to the Moon.

 

 

 

Cause of the solar and lunar eclipses.

 

 

Eclipse of the Moon. It isn't that it is bitten. It is interposed with the Sun, at one side of the Earth.
 
Ecl;ipse of the sun. It isn't tht it is bitten. It is interposed with the Moon, at one side of the Earth.
 
This is a sign that God gives of which they are equaled; but they don't bite each other.
 
 

 

 

 

Book of the Trials

 
Language of figures* and their understanding for our Governor Marshal [of Yucatán in 1604-1612], that is established in Tzuc-Uaxim, to the east of Ichcaansihó, there where there was land to take in order to have his orchard and his plot established there. The day will arrive in which his road ends and he goes to talk to his king. His speech will be strong and his garment red when he arrives.
*This refers to a questionnaire applied to candidates to be chosen to govern hamlets and town.
Behold, in allegorical language, what he is going to say, what he is going to ask the king of this land when the day arrives in which the time of the Three Ahau Katún ends, when the other Katún will arrive, the One Only Ahau Katún. Thus it is said.
 
About this Katún of now, the Three Ahau Katún, it may be said that the day has already arrived when his lordship and majesty has ended. He did not have another path. What was within him was not permanent but borrowed.
 
Behold the One Only Ahau Katún, present within the house of the Three Ahau Katún, and to visit him.*
*This refers to the Lord or Patron of the Katún. In the progression of these 20-year periods, the idol of a Katún was beginning to be venerated during the last quarter of the period of the previous Katún, and this situation is amusing to him [the Patron] because those of the Three Ahau Katún, ashamed, are going away to hide in their places.
he Kaat Naat, the Inquisitor, comes within the Katún who now finishes. And he arrives at the time in which the Princes of the towns must "ask for his understanding"; if they know how their ancient lineage and their Lords came; the order [of succession] in which their princes and kings came: and if they are of the cast of princes or of kings. And they must prove it.
 
Behold the first enigma that will be proposed to them. They will be asked for their food. "Bring the sun," the True Man will say clearly to them. So they will say to the Princes: "Bring the Sun, my children. And let it be extended on my plate. For on it (the plate) is hammered the lance of the sky, in the middle of his heart. On the Sun the Great tiger must be seated, drinking his blood." This all must be understood in figurative language. Behold the sun that will be required of them: the sacred fried egg. Behold the lance and the cross of the sky, kneading in one's heart: what we call "the benediction." Behold the green tiger crouching above, drinking his blood; the green chili, that is the tiger. This all is in figurative language.
 
This is the second enigma that will be proposed to them: "Go and bring the brains of heaven so that the True Man may see them, who has a very great desire to see them." They were told to go carefully. Behold the brains of heaven are incense. Figurative language.
 
Behold the third enigma that will be proposed to them: that if when they build a large house the façade is aligned with the roof in a straight line. Behold the large house; the great royal hat, placed on the floor. They will be told to go up on the royal white horse, with their garments and white capes, and in their hands a white rattler that will be sounding. The horse will be stained with blood, which will be seen coming out of the rattler's flower. Behold the white horse: the sandal of the feet with threads of henequén. The white rattler, the white cape, the flower, with the white gentlemen. The blood from the rattler's flower, gold. It is in the middle of it, because bloodstained it comes from those who have neither mother nor father, and from them it comes.
 
This is the fourth trial that one must be subjected to. They will be told to go home. And then they will be told: "when you are about to return you will barely see the midday fire and you will be two boys who will be crouching. When you will arrive, your dog will be at your side. This dog will have in its hands the soul of Our Holy Lady [Ca Cilich Colel], when you arrive with him." Behold the stock boys to whom it was told, and the midday fire; that they would be seated in its shadow. That is why they were told that they would go crouching when they arrived at the home of the True Man. His dog, which will be ashed, is its pureness, and the soul of Our Holy Lady is the great candle or wax hatchet. This is all in figurative language.
 
This is the fifth enigma that will be proposed to them: they will be told to search for God's heart, in the heavens. "And you will bring me one of the many children in his cape, who is wrapped in the back in a white sheet." Behold the heart of God: the sacred precious stone [kun]. He of the many children, who has been mentioned, is the royal bread, with many beans inside [Yahau Uah]. The white wrapping is the woolen cloth. From this, the meaning of the figurative language will be asked for.
 
This is the sixth enigma that will be proposed: that they go search for the branch of a pochote tree, and three twisted things, and a live reed. "That will make my food very delicious tomorrow; I have an urge to eat it. Who knows if it will be bad to eat the pochote trunk!" they will be told. "Behold the trunk of the pochote tree: the small lizard, the three twisted things: the tail of the iguana. The live reed: the intestines of the pig. The pochote tree trunk: the trunk of the lizard's tail." Figurative language.
 
This is the seventh enigma that will be proposed: they will be told: go bring me those things that cover the bottom of the natural well, two white ones, and two yellow ones. I want to eat them. Behold those that cover the bottom of the well, that will be asked them: the jícamas, two of them yellow.
 
He who has understood will be able to reach the principality of the towns, a second time, in the presence of the King, Great True Man.
 
And if it is not understood by the Princes of the towns, these words will be told to them:
 
"Very sad star, adorn the abyss of the night! Be speechless from the terror in the House of Sadness! The dreaded trumpet sounds deafeningly in the vestibule of the nobles' house: the dead do not understand: those who are alive will understand."
 
Those who are above the principality of the towns, those who have measured their harvest will know that their reign will end sorrowfully. Their hands will be tied in front to their genital parts. With a wet cord, they will be taken to the King, First True Man. The last princes, those who exist in their crazy time and in their crazy age, will hear that their principalities will end with pain; those who exist in the time in which the conclusion of the Katún occurs.
 
When the Three Ahau Katún is ended, the princes of the towns will be rounded up because they do not have understanding.
 
 
In this way the Principality will be reached. Relationship
 
In order to give their support to the Great True Men, when these ask for their food, they will attach a cord to their neck, they will cut the tip of their tongue and their eyes will be removed from the time that is going to end. These children of nobles will remove themselves in the presence of their Father; and they will kneel, so that he will know they have wisdom and so he will hand over to them his mat and his throne. In the same way his harvest will be looked at. Carefully one will see his lineage of sovereign powers of this land. And those who live in that day will receive a great staff.
 
So it is how this lineage of the Mayan men will be founded again, here in the Yucatán land. So it is how the descendents of the royal lineages of Mayan men were established in their places here in the land of Yucatán.
 
First God, when the world ends, the True King will come to ask us: " What you obey, what you worship, are they stones or precious stones?" And he will ask for a balché [an alcoholic drink made with honey and the fermented bark of the balché tree]. He who does not have it will be dead. And the one who worships the god of his land and says that he does not know if it is god, everything that is written will happen to him.
 
Also, the noble descendents of the Princes, who have known their lineages, came and the kings, who kindly governed them, will see that it was their wisdom that had power over their vassals. And solemnly they will be handed over their mat and throne by Our Father, the True Man.
 
That mat and throne were beaten upon and buried, and their face was trampled on the ground, and was dirtied and dragged in the time of delirium and in the epoch of the rabies. "Children of indolence," the son of Evil said to them, he of the false mat, he of the false throne, the monkey of the gods, the cunning rogue. And thus they walked inside the Three Ahau Katún, heart swollen and broken, the descendents of the nobles, the men of royal blood, until it came to tell them that they were to take the principality of the towns, in order to go to take possession of it.
 

* * * * *

 

"My son, go and bring me the flower of the night," it will be said to him. And then he will go on his knees to the presence of the True Man who commanded him. "Father, the flower of the night that you asked for comes with me, and also the evil of the night, that is with me," he will say.
 
So, if they are there with you, perhaps the Venerable Weak One [Ix Dzoy] is also with you together with the Great Poplar.
 
"Father, they are with me, they came with me."
 
"Well, my son, if they came with you, go invite your relatives: one is an old man who has nine sons and one is an old woman who has nine daughters."
 
"Father," he answers, saying, "they arrived with me, here they are next to me. They came in front of me when I arrived to see you."
 
"Well, son, if they are with you, go to gather the stones of the plain and come with them, joining them and gathering them on your chest, if it is true that you are the True Man, if you are from the lineage of the kings of this land."
 
Behold the flower of the night that was asked for: the star of heaven. Behold the evil of the night: the Moon, the venerable Weak One and the Great Poplar, the "stevedore of the earth" [ah cuch cab] called "he of wrinkled skin who is below." The old man asked of him, who has nine sons, is the big toe; the old woman is the thumb. The stones of the plain that he was asked to gather armfuls of: the quails.
 
"Therefore, my son, although they have told you that he is your father-in-law, he has not told you to look at his face."
 
"Father, he is next to me."
 
"So, son, go and bring me celestial resin [heavenly placenta]. When you return, you have to pass through the East. Following you closely, he has to come."
 
"So be it, Father," he says. Behold his father-in-law who is here at his back: the rind of the pumpkin. Behold the resin of the sky that was ordered of him: the incense [copal], derived laboriously from much grain. What he is told must come after he has gotten the incense is his shadow that will be at their backs, enlarged by the western sun.
 
"Son, since you are a True Man, since you also are powerful, come and bring me the 'accounts' of your prayers." The "accounts" that are asked for are: precious stones. "Then one must ask how many days do you pray."
 
"Father," he says, "I pray the first and tenth day."
 
"On what days do you raise your prayer?"
 
"Father, the ninth day to God [Bdon-Ti-Ku, 'Nine Deity'], and the thirteenth to the Word [Oxlahun-Ti-Citbil*, 'Thirteen Ordainer']. It is when I review my 'accounts'."
*Citbil means "he who creates with the word."
"Son, go and bring me your clothes, so that I may feel your odor hear and far away; the odor of the wool cloth of my waist, the odor of my clothing, the odor of my incense burner, the odor that is attracted to the center of heaven, to the center of the clouds; that which sticks to my mouth and is in the white cup; if you are True Man."
 
"Father, I am going to bring it," he says.
 
Behold, the odor of his clothes that are asked for, the odor that is attracted to the center of heaven: the lighted incense that burns. Here is what he asks for that sticks to his mouth: the ground up cocoa, the chocolate.
 
"So, son, go and bring me the pure blood from my son's urine [Yax kikel, precious blood or green blood]; and his head and belly and thigh and hand. And what you have covered inside your virgin earthenware pot, and the urine stool, son. Bring it to me; I want to see it. I have already given you what will tie your throat in my presence and what will burst out your lament.
 
"So be it, Father." Likewise the scratching of the ceremonial cape of the distributor will come with him, the day after tomorrow, and then he will be gone.
 
Behold the blood of the son's urine that was asked for: Mayan wine. The belly of urine of the son: the beehive of honey. The head of the urine of the son: the virgin earthenware pot, in which the wine soaks, The great stool of the son's urine: the apiary. The scratching cape of the distributor is like peeling the bark from the balché tree. Here are the bones of the son's urine: the balché full of holes. The thigh that says it is the trunk of the balché. The hand of the urine of the boy is the branch of the balché. What is said that will lament is as the intoxicated one says: "Then may it be given to me." When he arrives, he will be motionless, his speech suspended, his tongue rigid.
 
"Father, here is your son's urine, that you gave me4 to guard, whatever you say, Father. You are my lord," says his son.
 
"Oh, my son! You are the equal of the True Men, the same as those who have power. Remember it, then! Know it, then!" so he says. "That is the blood of the boy's urine I have asked you for. An infinite number of times does the boy's urine pass in front of him,, crying, and the boy's urine reposes below in the end. He bursts out crying while the sight passes before him, and, in the meantime, the Father speaks. "Oh, my son," he says, "while you cry, you already are a True Man. Oh, my son, you already have power! Oh, you already are equal to the True man. I am going to hand over to you your mat, your throne and your nobility (dominion). You, my son! The power is yours, yours is royalty! You, my son!"
 
In this manner, the speech to the Princes of the towns will end. And they will leave the place where the Great True Man is, the head place of this land. And they will go to their homes.
 
When they are in their homes they will give their support to the True Man and will ask for their own support, too. And thus will they go to explain it:
 
"My son, bring me four 'cardinal' birds [Chac Dzidzib] that are in the door of the cave. His crest will be raised above what sticks to my mouth and reddish he will be when he arrives before me."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Here is what he asks for: wine. This is the crest that says: the foam of the chocolate. What sticks to my mouth: cocoa recently ground.
 
"Son, bring me the birds of the night [Ch'ich'il Akab], and the things that pierce the night, and the brains from the sky. I am eager to see them here."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Here is what has been requested: The incense burner that burns the incense. Here is what pierces the night: the precious stone. Here are the brains from the sky: the incense. This is figurative language [of Zuyúa].
 
"Son, bring me your father's bones, the ones you buried three years ago. I am eager to see them."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Here is what is asked for: the cooked yucca under the ground; let it be given to the True Man.
 
"Son, go and bring me an old man whose buttons on his clothing are not fastened. He is called the one who hides in the hole in the earth when it rains."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
The armadillo is what is asked for.
 
"Son, bring me three halves of the sky. I wish to eat them."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
What is asked for is poured "atole" [American drink made from corn flour] the foam of the atole. All will be asked for in figurative language.
 
"Son, bring me a trunk of henequén, from a flat henequén; do not take off its bud; bring also its striped and broken stem."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Here is what is requested: the head of a javelina [keken] baked underground that is given. The so-called stem is the tongue, in that its tongue is its spirit. This is figurative language.
 
"Son, bring me the sparrow hawks of the night for me to eat."
 
Chickens are asked for.
 
"Son, tell the Venerable Weak lady and he who is called 'the one with the wrinkled skin from below' [the first captive called Otlom-cabal] to bring me a basket of thrush birds that are taken from the Great Alamo (Poplar). There they are scattered in the shade of the tree.
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Here is what is requested: black beans, that are in the house of the Ah Cuchcab (the stevedore of the earth), from the Venerable Weak One and from he who is called "he of the wrinkled skin from below."
 
"Son, let them go look for the tiger of the cave, so that it can be cooked and I eat it. I feel like eating tiger."
 
"So be it. Father."
 
The tiger that is requested is the tepezcuintle [agouty].
 
"Son, bring me seven leaves from what is the poor man's coat. I feel like eating them the day in which one must eat."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Here today and gone tomorrow: chaya leaves squeezed and cooked (dzotob-chay).
 
"Son, bring me two good dancers to come to dance, to entertain me; they must come with their drum and their rattler and their fan and their drumstick. I will wait for them."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Here is what is requested: turkeys. Their drum is its double chin, their rattle is its head, their fan is its tail, and the little drumstick is its music. This is figurative language.
 
"Son, bring me the whim of this land. I feel like eating it."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
What is requested is honey.
 
"Son, bring me the stones from the burnt land, those which have burned; and then have your daughter come with them, so that with her I can put them out, and so they can be gotten rid of in my house."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Here is what is asked for: the macal baked underground; the daughter so that with her it be put out: the liquor of honey.
 
"Son, bring me the glowworms of the night, those that from north to /west pass out their smell. May the licking of the tiger's tongue come with them."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Cigars are requested. The licking of the tiger's tongue [jaguar] is fire.
 
"Son, bring me your daughter so that I see her, the one who has a clean, white face, the pretty one; white is her shawl and her belt. I desire her."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Here is the request: the white cup and atole (corn flour drink). This is figurative language.
 
"Son, bring me what is called sabel, whose aroma is dear."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Melon is asked for.
 
"Son, bring me to the great ham (back of the knee) that has a blue back. I am hungry to eat it."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
What is requested is turkey throat. This is figurative language.
 
"Son, bring me a girl, with a white and wavy calf (of the leg). Here I will take off her dress down to the calf."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
The jicama is requested. What will take off her dress will pull up her rind from her.
 
"Son, bring me a very pretty girl, with a white face. I desire her a lot. Here before me. I will pull off her shirt and dress.
 
"So be it, Father."
 
A female turkey is requested to be eaten. To tear off her shirt and dress is to peel off her feathers, whenever one requests to eat. Figurative language is used here.
 
"Son, bring me here an old man caretaker of a maize field. I want to see his face."
 
"So be it, Father."
 
Here is what was requested: the fat macal to eat. This is what it means.
 
"My son, bring me an old lady caretaker of the maize field, her body black, whose back is of seven palms. I wish to see her.
 
What is requested is the great fruit from the pumpkin. This is figurative language. His day will arrive.
 

* * * * *

 

Now is the day in which our Father the Great True Man [Halach Vinic], who was trampled upon, is arriving here, at this land of Yucalpetén. [Yucalpetén is an attempt to convert the name Yucatán into a comprehensible term in Mayan.]
 
"By chance, are you Princes?"
 
"We are, Father," they respond.
 
"My sons, if you are the True Men of this land," he will say to them," go get the tiger who flies, and come give it to me to eat." Place its pearls well situated, also its crest and come give it to me to eat. Go quickly and right now come. Sons, I am eager to eat it. You, my sons, you who are True Men."
 
Those who do not know are poor in their understanding and their sight. Oh! They say nothing. He who knows, happily is going to look for the flying tiger. And then, he comes with it.
 
"Are you my son?"
 
"Yes I am, Father."
 
"Are you noble, son of nobles, my son?"
 
"I am, Father."
 
"What news is there of your companions, my son?"
 
"Father, they are on the mountain looking for the tiger. They said 'There is no tiger,' and then the tiger was passing in front of them!"
 
Here is the tiger that was asked for: the horse of the Governor [Batab], he who wants to eat up the weak, skinny horse. The pearls are the bells, the crest is the red vegetable mold well placed with the saddle and the bit. This is all spoken figuratively.
 

 

Book of the Ancient Gods*

*Another translator (Roys) entitles this text The Creation of the World, because it refers to the cosmogony; it is part