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INDIAN NOTES
AND MONOGRAPHS
EDITED BY F. W. HODGE
VOL. IX
[Illustration: Logo]
No. 3
A SERIES OF PUBLICATIONS
RELATING TO THE
AMERICAN ABORIGINES
REPORTS ON THE MAYA
INDIANS OF YUCATAN
BY
SANTIAGO MENDEZ,
ANTONIO GARCIA Y CUBAS,
PEDRO SANCHEZ DE AGUILAR,
AND
FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ
EDITED BY
MARSHALL H. SAVILLE
NEW YORK
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
HEYE FOUNDATION
1921
This series of INDIAN NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS is devoted primarily to the
publication of the results of studies by members of the staff of the
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, and is uniform with
HISPANIC NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS, published by the Hispanic Society of
America, with which organization this Museum is in cordial cooeperation.
Only the first ten volumes of INDIAN NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS are numbered.
The unnumbered parts may readily be determined by consulting the List of
Publications issued as one of the series.
REPORTS ON THE MAYA
INDIANS OF YUCATAN
BY
SANTIAGO MENDEZ
ANTONIO GARCIA Y CUBAS,
PEDRO SANCHEZ DE AGUILAR
AND
FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ
EDITED BY
MARSHALL H. SAVILLE
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface 139
THE MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN IN 1861, by Santiago Mendez 143
Customs 143
Women 177
Dress 190
Language 192
Stature, Physiognomy, Color 192
Savage Tribes 194
Note by Antonio Garcia y Cubas 196
NOTES ON THE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE INDIANS OF YUCATAN (1639),
by Pedro Sanchez de Aguilar 202
OF THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF THE INDIANS OF YUCATAN IN 1545.
Report of Francisco Hernandez 209
Glossary 216
Bibliography 221
Notes 223
PREFACE
So little has been written in regard to the ethnology of the Maya
Indians of Yucatan, and especially concerning their beliefs, which
persist to the present time, that we publish here a translation of an
important and practically unknown account of this subject. This report
was printed in Mexico in 1870, but it is buried in a study by Antonio
Garcia y Cubas entitled "Materiales para formar la Estadistica General
de la Republica Mexicana," in _Boletin de la Sociedad Mexicana de
Geografia y Estadistica_, segunda epoca, tomo II, pp. 352-388. It is
on pages 374-387, bears the date Merida, October 24, 1861, and was
written by Santiago Mendez, who states that he was governor of Yucatan
during the years 1841-42. In connection with a study of this report,
so far as it relates to the beliefs of the Maya, it will be profitable
to consult the paper by Dr Daniel G. Brinton on The Folk-lore of
Yucatan, printed in the _Folk-Lore Journal_, London, vol. I, part
viii, 13 pp., August, 1883.
We have also had translated the notes on the superstitions of the
Indians of Yucatan contained in the work of Pedro Sanchez de Aguilar,
1639, published by the Museo Nacional of Mexico in 1892 (pp. 83-84),
and the report of Francisco Hernandez on the religious beliefs of the
Yucatan Indians, which was sent to Bartolome de las Casas, evidently
while Bishop of Yucatan in 1545, and is given by him in chapter cxxiii
(pp. 328-330) of his Apologetica Historia de las Indias, a work which
did not appear in print until 1875-76, the first complete edition of
which was edited by M. Serrano y Sanz, and printed at Madrid in 1909.
The information contained in the Mendez report is strikingly similar
to that given by Bartolome Jose Granado Baeza on Los Indios de
Yucatan, an account written in 1813 but not published until 1845,
when it appeared in the _Registro Yucateco_, tomo I, pp. 165-178. This
report of Baeza is one of the principal sources used by Brinton in his
study.
The editor has incorporated a few Gbrief notes, and has prepared a
glossary of the Indian words and a short bibliography of the subject.
MARSHALL H. SAVILLE.
THE MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN IN 1861
BY SANTIAGO MENDEZ
_Report on the Customs, Labor, Language, Industry, Physiognomy,
etc., of the Indians of Yucatan, made by the Agent of the
Department of Public Works, who signs this report, in obedience
to orders of February 6, 1861._
CUSTOMS
The character of the Indians of Yucatan is such that, were they to be
judged only by their customs and their habits, we would have to
qualify them as stupid and devoid of reason. It seems indifferent to
them to be in the shade or exposed to rain or to the scorching rays of
the sun, even though they could avoid it. It does not matter to them
whether they go dressed or naked. They never try to obtain commodities
they see other races enjoy, even though the trouble or sacrifice it
would cost to get them might be but small. In order to rest or to chat
with their companions they hardly ever sit down: they squat, it being
quite indifferent to them that they do it in a sun that scorches them
when they might perhaps have shade two steps from where they are.
Reward does not encourage them, nor does punishment admonish them; in
the first place, they think they deserve more,--perhaps because they
were always accustomed to be made use of,--and in the second case they
consider punishment as a kind of fatality from which it is quite
useless to try to deliver themselves: hence they do not reform. So
long as their hunger is stilled, it is quite indifferent to them
whether their meal is exquisite and varied, or whether it consists
only of tortillas and chile, devouring their food in either case with
astounding voracity. When they find themselves driven by utter
necessity, they will work in order to remedy it, but they never do so
with zeal or with the desire to improve their fortunes. They are so
improvident that they may squander in one day the earnings of a week,
in an exaggerated amount of dainties or in superstitious practices,
and above all by intoxicating themselves, leaving their families
without bread and clothing. Or, they remain idle until whatever they
earned by the sweat of their brow is gone. They cultivate a cornfield
and gather a good harvest from it, and even though they do not need to
do so, they will sell the corn with considerable loss in order to
squander the money in splendid repasts and superstitions, both of
which always go together. This harvest might insure the subsistence of
their family for a whole year, but their improvidence will reduce them
within a few days to having to sell themselves for work (peonage).
The love of the parents for their children, of the children for their
parents, and between husband and wife, is barely lukewarm, and not at
all passionate, if we are to judge from their absolute lack of signs
of sympathy, pity, or condolence. They contemplate dry-eyed and rather
indifferently the suffering of their nearest, and even their demise,
without allowing this to change their demeanor or letting it interfere
in the least with their general customs of life.
Although some of them can read and write, they use it very little,
either because they are very slow and clumsy in the exercise of both,
on account, no doubt, of the lack of practice, and also because there
is but little written in their own language.
Their children have usually no other education than that which they
receive from the curates, priests, choirmasters, and teachers of the
catechism, which education was formerly given to them at the church
doors or in the mansions of the large ranches and farms, and they were
compelled to assemble every morning from seven to eight to learn the
catechism. At the present day, as it is not possible to force the
parents to send their children to learn even this, there are but few
who learn at all, especially among the boys. When the writer of this
was governor of this state in the years 1841 and 1842, he succeeded in
establishing primary schools in almost all the villages, and although
averse to anything that looks or sounds like despotism, he authorized,
nevertheless, the mayors, justices of the peace, and chieftains
(_caciques_[1]) to use it in order to force parents to send their
children to the said schools. Unfortunately, in 1842 came the invasion
by the forces of general Santa Anna, and in the effort to resist them,
all the resources of the state were spent for many years in advance.
Then followed our own senseless revolutions and the almost general
uprising of these same Indians against the other native races,
consequently these schools passed out of existence without it having
been possible until this day to reestablish them. Hence this remains
an unsolved problem and it is difficult to calculate the profit they
might have brought (once the tenacious and persistent opposition of
the Indians overcome), leaving them convinced of the advantages it
might mean to further their knowledge even in the manual labor they
perform.
Generally they train their children from a very early age to help in
their agricultural labor such as their forefathers did before the
conquest, or else they teach them light manual labor, such as weaving
little mats or matting in general, making small bags, baskets of all
kinds and sizes, leather bands such as are used by the native porters,
sacks, hammocks, ropes, to prepare henequen from agave fiber, to make
straw hats, and so forth. In some villages they are taught to make
common pottery, and in places near the coast they are shown how to
extract salt, to fish, and seamanship in general. It is very rare that
they are taught other arts and crafts or trades, with the exception
perhaps in cities or principal towns, where, especially when they
have been reared and educated in the households of white people, they
may become efficient in the art of quarrying stone, though quite
primitively, or they qualify as masons, shoemakers, tailors,
muleteers, drivers, and cowboys. They also provide the town with
firewood, charcoal, and fodder.
With regard to their marriage customs, there is little else to say
except that the daughter-in-law goes to live in the house of her
father-in-law, and the son-in-law goes to live with his wife's
parents, which is at present the most usual way, because an episcopal
edict had to be issued prohibiting the first-mentioned to avoid the
very frequent abuses committed on the bride by her father-in-law and
brothers-in-law. At a very early age young men marry, without
repugnance, women who are much older, widows, and even girls who have
children born out of wedlock. To remonstrances made by those who wish
to dissuade them in view of such conditions, they will reply, "Why
should I care? This happened before my time!" It is to be supposed
that conjugal fidelity is not regarded very scrupulously by such
couples. Their most common diseases depend largely on the seasons, and
recur regularly. During summer and fall, when fresh food is abundant,
the Indians are very immoderate in its use, consequently they suffer
from diarrhea and vomiting. In spring and summer they have
_tabardillo_, which is a burning fever, and dysentery, both of which
are caused by too much exposure to the hot sun; and in winter
obstinate constipation, colds, and affections of the throat and lungs.
Their curative methods consist merely of abstinence and of bleeding,
which they perform with a thorn or a fish-bone, and they cool their
blood by drinking sour _pozole_ or boiled lemonade, or else a
decoction of a plant called _xhantumbu_. They never use emetics nor
cathartics.
Ordinarily they eat two meals a day, one on rising and another in the
evening. If they go to work in the field, after having breakfasted on
tortillas and _atole_, they take with them a large lump of _pozole_
which they use as a refreshment at noon by diluting it in water. At
sunset they leave work, and, returning home, eat the second meal,
generally after having taken their bath. Their usual food consists of
boiled vegetables seasoned with salt, chile, and sometimes with the
juice of oranges (the sour orange is used for this) or of lemons. On
Sundays, if they are able to do so, they buy beef or pork; these are
the only days when they eat meat, except when they kill a wild bird or
a creature of the woods while hunting. Such meat they cook by baking
it in a special way in the earth, or else in _pib_. The very poor
among them live all the year round on tortillas and chile, and a
bowlful of _pozole_ or _atole_. Even the wealthiest content themselves
with only one dish. This does not interfere with their being big
eaters, nor devouring all they can get when it does not cost them
anything.
Their usual beverage is called _pitarrilia_, consisting of the bark of
a plant called _balche_ which they put in soak in fresh water and
honey and let it ferment. After fermentation it becomes strong enough
to be intoxicating. They are also very fond of liquor, and there are
very few among them who do not become intoxicated occasionally, at
least on Sundays.
Experience, and to a certain extent tradition, are their only guides
for telling the different seasons of the year; they have not the
slightest remembrance of their ancient calendar system. They are
accustomed to hear clocks strike where such exist, but otherwise,
simply from the course of the sun, moon, and stars, they are able to
regulate the hours of the day and night, more or less. They also know
when an eclipse of the moon is approaching, attributing this
phenomenon to an intention of the sun to destroy his satellite, and
they therefore are prepared to make a fearful racket with sticks,
_mitotes_, whistles or horns (_fotutos_[2]), shotguns, and other
instruments during the eclipse, believing that by so doing they can
avoid the catastrophe.
They sleep from early evening until four o'clock in the morning. Their
working hours, if it is at all necessary for them to go to work, last
from sunrise to sunset. If they are paid, they walk or travel at all
hours, even with a load.
There are a few among them who are trustworthy and faithful in their
contracts, and know how to keep their word and promises; but there is
a greater number who absolutely lack all of these virtues, with the
exception, perhaps, of the solemn promises they make to their saints,
in the fulfilment of which they are scrupulously punctual.
They lie easily and very frequently, although they are aware that lies
are prohibited. Generally they evade, whenever possible, a truthful
answer which is to the point and fully satisfies the question.
Their principal vices are lasciviousness among both sexes, and
drunkenness among the men. To do them justice though, we might as well
acknowledge that it is more than probable that if other races and
tribes had to live as they do, almost naked, in the complete liberty
and isolation of country places, all members of one family, males and
females, grownups and minors, the married and the single ones sleeping
together in those little huts without any, or at best, very scant,
knowledge of religion, of modesty and honor, without any fear of the
consequences of unchastity to the women, without any intellectual
enjoyment, reduced to the merest essentials--to satisfy hunger,
thirst, sleep, and the intercourse of the two sexes, might they not be
guilty of worse crimes?
They are generally accused of being inclined to theft, but as a rule
they steal small things of little value, and they are not known to
recur to violence or murder to satisfy this tendency.
The wealthy are free money-lenders to members of their own tribe and
even to those of a different stock, so long as they are satisfied they
are not going to be cheated.
As in almost all of the most populated part of the Yucatecan
peninsula, it is impossible to use the plow for tilling the fields;
labor is reduced to clearing the tropical growth by burning it in the
height of summer and sowing corn or vegetables when the rains
commence, to fencing in the fields and weeding them, etc. In order to
be able to cultivate at one time as much as possible of their
extensive lands, the wealthy Indians pay their day-laborers and
volunteers exceedingly well, either in money or in its equivalent in
provisions at a price below its actual market value, especially in
times of scarcity. They are guided in this by the rule, "This is sweat
of my brethren and it is not right that they should pay it too
dearly." If those workers are servants of some large ranch and live on
the place, they are called _Luneros_,[3] because they give their
master their day's work on Mondays in exchange for the land he gives
them to cultivate for themselves and for the water he allows them for
irrigation of their fields. If they do not, for one reason or another,
go to work on that day, he receives one real in silver instead. The
customary amount of work they really are compelled to do for their
master per year is twenty _mecates_ of clearing of untilled land and
another twenty of already previously tilled fields. Had the owner to
pay for hired labor, this would amount to 12 pesos, 4 reals. In
addition to this they have to give him two hours on Saturdays for what
they call _fagina_,[4] which means work around the house of any kind
their patron should order them to do. On some of the ranches the
obligatory field-work is reduced to half, but in this case they have
to pay their real for Mondays, and always have to do the Saturday's
_fagina_. Any other service or work they may be called on to do is
paid or put to their account. By _milpa roza_,[5] the first clearing
of a field by felling trees, cutting and burning undergrowth, etc., is
meant; while the _milpa cana_[6] is the clearing of fields that have
already been tilled the year before, where the cornstalks are to be
split and burnt in order to plant again.
Those who are employed as cowboys on stock-farms receive a fixed wage,
and are not subject to the Monday service nor to the usual field-work.
They have to look after the cattle and horses, and they have charge of
the draw-wells, the tanks, and drinking pools. They have to attend to
irrigation, weeding, and sowing of the truck gardens and orchards, and
in general to do all work performed on such ranches either for their
conservation and improvement or else in personal service to the owners
or for the advantage of its products. It is also their duty to rasp a
certain amount of henequen fiber from the agave each day. Their wage
is from eight to twelve reals per month and five _almudes_[7] of corn
per week. Yet neither this latter nor the salary are paid to him as
his earnings, but credited to his account against what he draws in
provisions or money, so that he actually is always indebted. This,
however, is the aim of the owners, in order to hold the man quite
secure, even though they know very well that, should the man die in
their service, they would lose that amount. They see to it, however,
that he never owes too much. This really constitutes a kind of slavery
(peonage) which the men try to avenge by serving as poorly as they
can, even to such masters as aim to make their lot easy and agreeable
by frequent gifts or bonuses.
As a rule the Yucatecan Indians are regarded as being meek, humble,
and not easily stirred to ire and cruelty, basing such an opinion on
the fact that the most customary punishment among them was a whipping
applied with moderation. This kind of punishment did not offend them,
if they were informed of the reason why it was meted out to them, nor
did they consider it degrading. This characteristic is still
noticeable among those who have remained submissive and attached to
the white people. It is quite different with those among them who have
had to suffer the cruel, atrocious, and protracted martyrdom inflicted
by the rebels. They are merciless to those who have fallen and still
fall into their power, not only those of other tribes, but even of
their own, in case they refuse to follow their tracks. They have no
pity on either age or sex.
The chieftains (_caciques_) of today, as well as those who were in
office in the past, and the most prominent or wealthy Indians, live
just as simply as the rest, without the slightest variation. They all
are respected by their subordinates, whom they do not oppress to their
own advantage, nor do they demand any services from them without
compensation.
The Indians are generally gay, light-hearted, gossipy, and fond of
tricks, in which they can display strength, agility, and adroitness.
They are also very fond of music and song, although not very gifted or
talented in the execution of the former especially. At their feasts
and dances, which usually are rather tumultuous and poorly organized,
they still use some of the old songs in their own language, to the
accompaniment of a little raucous flute, the carapace of a turtle
(_hicotea_), upon which they beat the time with a hart's horn, and of
the _mitote_ or _taukul_. The _mitote_[8] is a solid piece of wood of
cylindrical shape, one yard long and a third of a yard or a little
more in diameter, open at one side almost from one end to the other.
This opening is made for the purpose of hollowing out the piece of
wood until it is reduced to one inch or a little more in thickness. On
the opposite side of the mouth, or opening, they fasten two oblong
wings, which, starting at both ends, meet in the center and are
separated from one another by a serrated edge. In order to play this
instrument, they place it, mouth downward, on the ground, so that the
wings remain on the topmost side, and they hit them with two short
sticks whose points are covered with an elastic resin that makes them
jump, so as not to deaden or confound the sound, which is of such
resonance and force that it may be heard at a distance of two
leagues.
Notwithstanding the fact that they regard death almost with
indifference, they are timid and cowardly. They never attack the enemy
unless they are far superior in number. Still, they are very astute or
cunning to plan ambushes and to take advantage of every occasion to
surprise their foes, and then fight with great advantage, always
accompanying the fighting with frightful shouting. They are generally
good marksmen, and they handle the machete[9] with admirable skill.
Whenever they see that they cannot resist the onslaught, they disperse
in the woods, but almost instantly come together again at a previously
designated meeting-place. They are very fleet of foot and good racers,
and of an almost incredible endurance for walking long distances, even
with a load of six to eight arrobas [150 to 200 pounds][10] on their
backs. They also can stand a long time without food or drink.
They do not excel in writing or in learning to write, although not a
few have studied the same length of time and the same subjects as
white men, but they are generally clownish and slow of understanding.
It happens very often that after they have been given a clear and
oft-repeated order, they will manage to execute it the wrong way, and
their memory is so short that, although they attend catechism daily
from the age of six or seven until they are twelve or fourteen years
of age, there are very many among them who have never been able either
to learn it or to commit it to memory. Those, however, who do not
evade those lessons and who furthermore attend the preaching of the
gospel in their own language, have obtained Catholic ideas about
eternity, the last judgment, the glory of God, purgatory, and hell.
As the climate of the peninsula is so hot that it exhausts our
physical strength and energy, as well as reduces the needs of man who
can live almost nude and in the open air and feed himself sparingly,
we cannot expect that the Indian should be particularly inclined to
work. We had the same experience among the other native races,
although perhaps their social standard may impose greater necessities.
A hut of six or seven yards in length by three or four in width, he
builds himself; its walls consist of rows of sticks (which sometimes
are covered with a coat of clay) and thatched with palm-leaves or
grass, with a door frequently made of reeds twined together. Two or
three roughly-woven hammocks of henequen, a machete, perchance a hoe,
perhaps a hatchet, and, very rarely, a poor shotgun, are all his
furniture. A _metate_ to grind his corn, an earthen pot to boil it,
another pot to cook the vegetables and the _atole_, a _comal_ or flat
earthenware plate to cook the corn-cakes or tortillas, a pitcher for
water, one or two _jicaras_ of _guero_,[11] an equal number of gourds
cut in halves to make drinking vessels and for other purposes, are the
eating utensils. A roughly-made, circular stool of half a yard in
diameter and about as much in height, and which is used for shaping
the tortillas as well as for a table at which they eat their meals,
etc. Fifteen to twenty yards of cotton cloth for the man's clothes,
for the wife's, and for the children's, which costs a real per yard,
supposing the woman does not spin and weave this herself; two or three
coarse needles, a reel of cotton thread, a straw hat, sandals, a
handkerchief and a cotton belt; a large straw basket or hamper, a
_mecapal_, and a sack of henequen, complete the list. A trough in
which to wash clothes and to bathe themselves; a few pounds of corn
which he sows himself, as well as chile, beans, calabazas,[12]
_camote_ [sweet potatoes], and _jicama_,[13] a bunch of bananas, the
leaf of which is used to shape the tortillas, and perhaps a sour
orange. His wood he himself cuts in the forest for cooking his meals
and also for the fire which he keeps all night in the center of the
hut; and lastly a little salt. This is the entire inventory of the
necessaries of life an Indian family of Yucatan needs, and which
suffices even to the wealthy ones in the larger towns and principal
cities. A great many of them live even without some of the things
enumerated. They substitute for corn and vegetables (in case they
cannot have them either for not having sown or for having lost the
harvest), fruits, roots, and indigenous plants which grow wild all
over their country, and which are edible and nourishing. Shall we
still ask why the Yucatecan Indian is so indolent, when he has such
few and such modest necessities, all of which are so easy to obtain
even in the midst of the forests and at a great distance from any
other human habitation?
He instinctively hates the superiority of the white race, and even of
the mestizos, to whom institutions both of long ago and of the present
day, customs, greater civilization, and above all the allotment of
land, give so many advantages. His almost irresistible inclination
carries him into isolation, almost exile, in order to escape from the
torment of seeing them and from social duties. He retires where the
land is free, where he can till his field wherever he pleases. This
accounts for the often very small settlements of perhaps only a couple
of families in the thickets of the forests, provided they find a
spring or at least a watering place, even though they might have to
travel a considerable distance to provide themselves. But even those
who live in larger settlements, in towns of white people, will
invariably select the most retired spots in streets in the outskirts
(far away from the center of the town) where to build their huts.
This isolation in the big forests is the principal cause of his
becoming more and more brutish, and it grows with the facility which
those same isolated places afford him to satisfy the one and only
desire he has acquired--drunkenness. It is there he finds _balche_ and
wild honey to brew his _pitarrilla_. And there are ever some of his
own race or mestizos who bring him liquor in exchange for the little
corn he may have stored. He gives this up with an improvidence which
seems innate, though perhaps we might attribute it to ignorance.
The Indian never sees the crucifix or a simple cross or the image of
some saint displayed anywhere, without going to kneel before it in
reverent devotion, nor does he ever meet a priest without raising his
hat or hurrying to his side to kiss his hand. He spends half of his
earnings in devotional offerings which in the end degenerate into
perfect orgies of religious fervor. And yet, in spite of all that, he
does not feel the slightest scruple to take as concubines his sisters
or even his own daughters.
He does not profess half as much love and devotion to God as he shows
toward the images of Saint Anthony of Padua or to the crucifix, both
of which are the only ornaments he has in his little hut. He enters a
church without bowing to the Holy Sacrament on the main altar, but he
goes and kneels before the cross or before Saint Anthony or Saint
Francis of Paula, or to any other image to which miracles are
ascribed, no matter how poorly executed or how defective such an image
might be. On rising from his prostrate position, he bends over to
kiss the altar, to touch its board with his cheeks or forehead, then
touches the image itself, if such is possible, at least with a twig of
some aromatic herb or a flower which he carries home as a relic,
paying it the utmost reverence. In addition to this he offers a
certain amount of money for candles which he lights before the image
of his saint at certain times; he pays for a determinate number of
"Salve Reginas" to be sung either in the church or during street
processions for his sake, and he offers prayers for the souls of
departed relatives.
He believes that the souls of the departed return to earth, and he
therefore marks with chalk the road from the cemetery to their former
abode, that they may not get lost.
He has just as deep-rooted a belief in witches and elves, and he is in
very great fear of witchcraft. It is impossible to eradicate from his
mind the idea that there are men who especially dedicate themselves to
inflict this dreadful art on others.
He fears and respects at the same time an ideal being whom he calls
_Balam_ and who, so he says, is the lord of the fields. They all are
therefore convinced that these fields cannot be tilled without danger
even to their lives if they do not offer him sacrifices before
beginning work, such as _horchata de maiz_ (orgeat), which they call
_saca_; a stew made of corn and turkey, which they call _kool_; the
tortilla with beans, called _bulihuah_; pitarrilla, and fumes of copal
which they use instead of incense. It may safely be stated, therefore,
that they adore him like God, but they are always careful that the
white people do not see or notice this sacrificial offering for fear
of being considered as idolators.
_Alux_ they call certain apparitions which they believe to exist in
the ancient ruins and on the hills, and they say that as soon as it
grows dark in the evening these apparitions or ghosts commence to walk
around the houses, throwing stones, whistling to the dogs and lashing
them when they get near them, which leaves the poor beasts with a
cough that kills them. They pretend that these ghosts can run with
great speed, as well backward as forward; that they do not terrify
those who look at them. They are wont to enter into the houses to
annoy and tease people who are abed in their hammocks, not letting
them sleep. They assure us that on ranches where sugar-cane is grown,
and just as soon as the grinding machine for the cane is set up, they
will go and turn it or they will drive on the horse attached to it, to
make it trot around. They say these apparitions are of the size of a
little Indian boy of four or five, and that they appear naked, with
only a little hat on their heads. This belief is the cause of
incalculable loss to antiquarians on account of the almost daily
destruction of articles found in the ruins. The Indians will destroy
without pity or regard, notwithstanding they may be offered a good
price for them, all the images in clay and other objects found on the
hills or in subterranean passages, because they are convinced that
these objects are the ones that become alive at night and come out to
walk around. They attribute to the _alux_ or to their influence, all
the diseases they have, as they consider their touch malignant. They
say that if these apparitions find anyone asleep they will pass their
hands over his face so lightly that the sleeper does not even feel it,
but this causes him a fever which incapacitates him for a long time.
They also believe in the existence of the _Xtabay_, the _Huahuapach_,
and the _Xbolontharoch bokolhahoch_. The first of these apparitions or
ghosts may be seen, according to them, in the most isolated spots of a
village or settlement in the shape of a woman dressed as a mestizo,
combing her beautiful hair with the fruit of a plant they call _xache
xtabay_. She runs away as soon as anyone approaches. She quickens or
retards her flight, either disappearing or allowing the one who
pursues her to reach her side. This latter is the case if the one who
pursues her is some amorous fellow who thinks her to be a beautiful
maiden. But as soon as he reaches and embraces her, he finds that he
holds in his arms a bundle filled with thorns, with legs as thin as
those of a turkey, and this gives him such a terrible shock that he
has fainting spells and high delirious fevers. The _Huahuapach_ is a
giant who may be seen at midnight in certain streets, and he is so
tall that an ordinary man barely reaches to his knees. He amuses
himself by blocking the traffic, opening his limbs and placing one
foot on either side of the street. Should anyone inadvertently try to
pass between his feet, he quickly brings his legs together and so
closely presses the throat of the poor victim that he finally chokes
him. The two other specters or ghosts confine themselves to repeating
during the night the noises that have been prevalent in the daytime,
and especially the noise made by the spindle-wheel the women use. The
other one makes a subterranean noise which sounds like the
chocolate-churner, but both these noises terrorize those who hear
them.
There is no end of superstitions among the general mass of the
Indians, and the most customary form of fortune-telling is performed
by means of a piece of a certain crystal which they call _zaztun_,
which means a clear and transparent stone, and this enables them to
see hidden things and also to divine the cause of maladies. Those who
arrogate to themselves the title of a diviner are freely consulted,
and they receive presents and live a very easy and carefree life. By
means of their tricks and great cunning they make the simple and
ignorant Indians believe, when they are ill and go to consult them,
that through the _zaztun_ they (the sorcerers) have discovered that
some ill-intentioned enemy has bewitched them, and that in order to
discover the malicious spell, they will have to wake for three nights
with an abundant provision of pitarrilla, and aguardiente, food, and
lighted candles. Of course, during these three nights they give
themselves up to high living and immoderate drinking. While the
others, their patients if we may so call them, are sleeping, or off
their guard, they bury within the house or in its immediate vicinity a
little wax figure pierced by a thorn through that part of the body
where the complaint of their patient lies. When everybody is awake
after the last night of vigil, they start certain ceremonies with the
_zaztun_, and finally they go to the spot where they had buried the
figure and take it out within sight of everyone, making them believe
that that was the witchery. Then they start their treatment of the
patient with the first and any herbs they can find, and if by mere
chance these cure the ailment, they have naturally made for themselves
a great reputation among the ignorant.
They also perform a "healing" incantation by offering certain prayers
in which they mention the diseases and the different winds to the
influence of which they attribute them. They will repeat the Lord's
prayer over their patient, the Ave Maria, and the Creed, and sometimes
also the prayer to Saint Anthony which is included in the Mexican
prayer-book. On other occasions they will resort to the _kex_, which
means exchange, and consists in hanging around the house of their
patient certain food and drink for the _Yuncimil_, or Lord of Death,
and they believe that by so doing they are able to save, for the time
being, the life of the patient by barter.
To prevent bees from abandoning the hives and to make them bring home
ample honey, and also that their owners may be free from sickness,
they will hang in the beehives chocolate cups with _saca_ or
_horchata_ of corn.
They also perform the _misa milpera_ (mass on the cornfield), which
they call _tich_, which means offering or sacrifice, and which is
celebrated in the following manner: On a barbecue or roast made with
little sticks of equal length they place a turkey, and the one who
officiates as priest opens the bird's beak and pours pitarrilla down
its throat. Then they kill it, and the assistants carry it off to
season it. In the meantime they have been cooking in the earth some
large loaves of corn-bread which they call _canlahuntaz_, which is
made of fourteen tortillas or broken bread filled with beans. When all
is well flavored and cooked, they place it on the barbecue with
several cups filled with pitarrilla. Now again the one acting the part
of priest begins to incense it with copal, invoking the Holy Trinity;
he repeats the Creed, and, taking some pitarrilla with a holy-water
sprinkler, he flings it to the four winds, invoking the four
_Pahahtunes_, lords or custodians of rain. He then returns to the
table, and, raising one of the jicaras aloft while those surrounding
him kneel, he places the jicara to each one's mouth for a sip. The
feast then proceeds and terminates by general eating and drinking,
most of all by the one who "officiated," who furthermore takes home
with him a goodly supply. They say that the red _Pahahtun_, who is
seated in the east, is Saint Dominick (_Santo Domingo_); the white one
in the north is Saint Gabriel; the black one in the west is Saint
James; the yellow _Pahahtun_, said to be female and called by them
_Xanleox_, is seated in the south, and is Mary Magdalen.
They very readily take their new-born babies to the baptismal font,
and they never refuse to bury their dead in the cemetery.
WOMEN
It is quite astounding how in this climate woman in general passes
very rapidly from childhood into womanhood, but this development is
still more remarkable in the case of the native Indian woman, prompted
no doubt by their mode of life and native customs. It is quite usual
to see a little Indian girl of three trot daily to the woods with her
parents to help cultivate the fields; very often her excursions extend
to neighboring villages, and she seems to make those trips of four and
even six leagues with the greatest ease, on foot; and after she has
reached five or six years, she even carries her little bundle tied on
her back.
They also journey day after day out into the fields in search of
firewood, small sticks perhaps not thicker than an inch or a little
more, which they call _moloch_. They search for the wood themselves;
they cut it and tie it with two reed or rattan rings, so that they can
carry it on their backs. Then they go for water in the morning and
again in the evening, having to draw it from wells forty and sixty
yards deep, in buckets made of tree-bark. After they have reached the
age of eleven or twelve years, they always present themselves for this
particular errand, as clean as possible. They take great care to be
well-washed and their hair carefully combed, almost as if they were
going for a pleasure walk or to some meeting. This is particularly the
case on the ranches and farms, and in almost all the villages where
they have to provide themselves with water from the communal wells.
Between the ages of six and eleven years the little Indian maiden
attends, either at the church door or, on big haciendas, in the main
building, to the teaching of our Christian religion. She goes there
with bare head and with her hair hanging loose over her shoulders.
All a mother teaches her daughters is how to cook, grind the corn, and
shape the tortillas; to make _atole_ and _pozole_; to wash
clothes,--and this very poorly,--at all events. Or rather the girls
learn all those things by themselves through mere observation and by
helping their mothers in their daily tasks. Some mothers, however,
will teach them to spin and weave their rough cotton cloth, to sew
their garments, and sometimes even to embroider in a very primitive
way.
They are usually accompanied by a _criada_, or housemaid, who is a
kind of guardian angel and remains by their side wherever they go.
When they meet the man they love, they bow their heads and look down;
when speaking of their love, with the big toe of one foot they will
draw lines on the ground.
While they are within their homes they wear only a skirt or petticoat
of white cotton cloth, which covers them from the waist down to their
knees, and in this way they will also present themselves to visitors,
unless it is someone absolutely unknown to them, in which case they
cross their arms over their breasts to hide them from the stranger. If
one meets them in the fields or lies in wait for them over the walls
of unmortared stones, they hide immediately, apparently to run away
from the presence of a wayfarer, notwithstanding they are all
exceedingly curious, and the love of gossip is one of their main
characteristics. They are tender-hearted and desirous of pleasing, but
rather in an uncouth manner, in keeping with what little education
they have received. Anyone who asks them something in the name of God
is welcome to their compassion and to whatever they can afford to
give.
Their bodily cleanliness almost borders on superstition, for they
consider a person who does not wash her body everyday as not quite
sane or reasonable. For their daily bath they heat a stone they call
_sintun_ in the fire, and when it is well heated they throw it into
the water they have prepared for their bath.
It is very seldom that they are happy in their love affairs, because
it is generally their parents who choose their husbands. After the
choice is once made, the parents of the prospective husband come to
ask for the girl's hand, and if accepted they present an offering of
two pesetas, which is known under the name of _pochat tancab_ or
_buhul_. One peseta is for the bride-to-be, the other for her mother.
From the day following this ceremony the bridegroom-elect has to
furnish daily a fagot of firewood to the house of his future
parents-in-law. On her wedding day the bride is dressed in a _hipil_
or loose garment over a petticoat or skirt, the border of which is
adorned with ribbons of deep purple; while another wide ribbon of the
same shade is tied around her hair. Her head is covered with a cloth
of white muslin. She also has to wear shoes, a rosary around her
neck, earrings and finger-rings with big cheap stones. All this jewelry
may be borrowed from someone. Once the religious ceremonies over, they
all proceed to the banquet, at which the newly married couple and
their godfathers (sponsors) are assigned a prominent place. If the
girl is not to continue living with her parents, she returns there,
nevertheless, and remains for eight days, after which time the
godparents come to get her and turn her over to her husband.
The husband is the recipient of all the attention and care of his
wife. She sews, she washes, and she grinds the corn and makes the
tortillas, the _pozole_, the _atole_, and all the rest of his food
with her own hands. She does all the work of her household; she has to
prepare his bath when he comes home from work in the evening. These
are her daily duties. In the evening, by the light of the home fire or
in the pale light of a tropical moon, she sews or mends his clothes
and hers and those of her children. Whenever the husband leaves home
to go on a journey to some neighboring town or hacienda, the wife has
to follow him; she is never allowed, however, to walk by his side, but
behind, in his footsteps so to speak. If this husband gets drunk,
which occurs rather frequently, and he should fall by the roadside, it
is the wife's duty to remain by his side and take care of him until he
is able to continue on his way. Neither the scorching sun, nor heavy
rains, nor thunderstorms, nor any other danger of the road has power
enough to take her away from his side.
Even the fact that a woman has just been delivered of a child does not
serve as an impediment to her going with the husband; she simply
carries the new-born baby with her, either in a piece of cloth on her
back or else mounted on one of her hips.
If the husband, for one reason or another, is called before a court of
justice, he appears accompanied by his wife, simply because it is her
duty to go with him and to act as his defender. She does this
wonderfully well; she speaks with such warmth and so fluently, with
such courage and enthusiasm, absolutely free from her usual bashful
shyness, that one cannot help but admire her. And this absolute
devotion on her part to the service of her consort does not weaken
even with the ill-treatment she receives at his hands in return, for
whenever he is intoxicated he treats her to a liberal whipping--he
beats her with his bare hands even, or with a stick.
Under such circumstances marital fidelity on the part of the women is
not, nor can it be, very deep-rooted, and frequently her seducers
triumph over her virtue. However, if the husband surprises them and
the woman succeeds in escaping him, he denounces her to the next court
of justice and demands that she be given a certain number of blows.
She invariably receives them quite resignedly, and after the ordeal
returns peacefully to her domestic duties. If the woman is the
offended one, she also goes before the judge and demands that her
rival be treated to the same punishment. Any sickness that might
befall them after this misadventure, they unfailingly attribute to
witchcraft instigated by their offenders. Witchcraft enjoys such wide
popularity among Indian women that there is hardly one among them who
cannot relate one and even many cases of the black art in her family.
To their minds superstition and credulity go hand in hand, and if one
tells them of some strange occurrence ascribed to enchantment, they
believe it as readily and as firmly as if it had happened to
themselves or as if they had witnessed it. And if one immediately
afterward asks them whether it is day or night, they will answer
doubtfully, even after having looked at the sun--so wrapped up in the
tale have they become.
They are very fond of dancing and of music, but they do not perform
the former either gracefully or freely, nor have they any variety or
art in its execution. They have no talent or gift for playing an
instrument either. They are wont to sing in their idle moments or
even while at work, but sadly and in a monotone.
The woman who finds herself pregnant works until the very last moment
before the child is born, and resumes her tasks immediately afterward,
as soon as the baby is attended to. They leave their children so much
to themselves, and give them so little care, that they are forever
creeping around on the floor in all the mire and dirt, and always
completely naked. A diaper and a tiny _hipil_ are all they get for the
first few days of their life. Around wrists and ankles they
occasionally will tie tiny cords made of blue cotton to protect them,
so they say, from epilepsy. Those who can afford to do so will hang a
little rosary of beads interspersed with wooden honey-berries around
their necks and put tiny earrings in their ears.
A pregnant Indian woman will not go outdoors during an eclipse, in
order to avoid her child being born with spots or ugly birthmarks on
its body; nor do they visit women who have just given birth to a
child, because it is their belief that the babies would become ill
with pains in their bowels.
As soon as the child is six months old they name a godfather and a
godmother for the ceremony of opening the baby's limbs for the first
time. To this end they set a table with some kind of pottage, and the
godfather makes nine rounds of the table, with the baby placed astride
one of his hips, which is the way in which it will be carried
thereafter by its mother. Then they place in the child's hands, if it
is a girl, a needle, a spindle, and the implements with which they
weave their cloth; if it is a boy, he is given a hatchet, a machete,
and other implements he is expected to use when grown up. These
godparents enjoy the same distinction as those at the christening.