Exbalanquen, Cabrakan, Hunahpu, and Tohil, but they do not seem to have
occupied any prominent place in Cakchiquel mythology. Several minor gods
are named, as _Belehe Toh_, nine Toh, and _Hun Tihax_, one Tihax; these
appellations are taken from the calendar.
Father Pantaleon de Guzman furnishes the names of various inferior
deities, which serve to throw light on the Cakchiquel religion. Four of
these appear to be gods of diseases, _Ahal puh_, _Ahal te[t]ob_, _Ahal
xic_, and _Ahal [t]anya_; at least three of these second words are also
the designations of maladies, and _ahal_ is probably a mistake of the
copyist for _ahau_, lord. As the gods of the abode of the dead, he names
_Tatan bak_ and _Tatan holom_, Father Bones and Father Skull.
Another series of appellations which Guzman gives as of Cakchiquel gods,
show distinctly the influence of Nahuatl doctrines. There are _Mictan
ahauh_, lord of Mictlan, this being the name of the abode of darkness,
in Aztec mythology; _Caueztan ahauh_, probably _Coatlan_, lord of the
abode of serpents; _Tzitzimil_, the _tzitzimime_ of the Aztecs; and
_Colele_, probably _colotl_, the scorpion, or _tecolotl_, the owl,
which latter, under the name _tucur_, is also mentioned by Xahila.[42-1]
Father Coto refers to some of their deities of the woods and streams.
One of these, the Man of the Woods, is famous throughout Yucatan and
most of Central America. The Spaniards call him _Salonge_, the Mayas
_Che Vinic_, and the Cakchiquels _ru vinakil chee_; both these latter
meaning "the woods man." What gives this phantom especial interest in
this connection is, that Father Coto identifies the woodsman with the
_Zaki[c]oxol_, the white fire maker, encountered by the Cakchiquels in
Xahila's narrative (Sec. 21).[42-2] I have narrated the curious
folk-lore about the woodsman in another publication, and need not repeat
it here.[42-3] His second name, the White Fire Maker, perhaps refers to
the "light wood" or phosphorescence about damp and decaying trees.
To the water-sprites, the Undines of their native streams, they gave the
name _xulu_, water-flies, or _ru vinakil ya_, the water people.
As their household gods, they formed little idols of the ashes from the
funeral pyres of their great men, kneading them with clay. To these they
gave the name _vinak_, men or beings (Coto).
Representations of these divinities were carved in wood and stone, and
the words _chee abah_, "wood and stone," usually mean, when they appear
together in Xahila's narrative, "idols or images in wood and stone."
The Stone God, indeed, is a prominent figure in their mythology, as it
was in their daily life. This was the sacred _Chay Abah_, the Obsidian
Stone, which was the oracle of their nation, and which revealed the will
of the gods on all important civil and military questions. To this day,
their relatives, the Mayas of Yucatan, attach implicit faith to the
revelations of the _zaztun_, the divining stone kept by their sorcerers,
and if it decrees the death of any one, they will despatch him with
their machetes, without the slightest hesitation.[43-1] The belief was
cherished by the rulers and priests, as they alone possessed the power
to gaze on the polished surface of the sacred block of obsidian, and
read thereupon the invisible decrees of divinity. (See above, p. 25).
As the stone came from the earth, it was said to have been derived from
the under world, from _Xibalbay_, literally the unseen or invisible
place, the populous realm in Quiche myth, visited and conquered by their
culture hero, Xbalanque. Hence in Cakchiquel tale, the Chay Abah
represented the principle of life, as well as the source of
knowledge.[43-2]
The Cakchiquel _Annals_ do not pretend to deal with mythology, but from
various references and fragments inserted as history, it is plain that
they shared the same sacred legends as the Quiches, which were, in all
probability, under slightly different forms, the common property of the
Maya race. They all indicate loans from the Aztec mythology. In the
Cakchiquel _Annals_, as in the _Popol Vuh_ and the _Maya Chronicles_, we
hear of the city of the sun god, _Tulan_ or _Tonatlan_, as the place of
their origin, of the land _Zuiva_ and of the _Nonoalcos_, names
belonging to the oldest cycles of myths in the religion of the Aztecs.
In the first volume of this series I have discussed their appearance in
the legends of Central America,[44-1] and need not refer to them here
more than to say that those who have founded on these names theories of
the derivation of the Maya tribes or their ruling families from the
Toltecs, a purely imaginary people, have perpetrated the common error of
mistaking myth for history. It is this error that renders valueless much
that the Abbe Brasseur, M. Charnay and others of the French school, have
written on this subject.
Xahila gives an interesting description of some of their ancient rites
(Sec. 44). Their sacred days were the 7th and 13th of each week. White
resin was burned as incense, and green branches with the bark of
evergreen trees were brought to the temple, and burned before the idol,
together with a small animal, which he calls a cat, "as the image of
night;" but our domestic cat was unknown to them, and what animal was
originally meant by the word _mez_, I do not know.
He mentions that the priests and nobles drew blood with the spines of
the gourd tree and maguey, and elsewhere (Sec. 37) refers to the
sacrifice of infants at a certain festival. The word for the sacrificial
letting of blood was _[c,]ohb_, which, by some of the missionaries, was
claimed as the root of the word _[c]abuil_, deity.
Human sacrifice was undoubtedly frequent, although the reverse has been
asserted by various historians.[45-1] Father Varea gives some curious
particulars. The victim was immolated by fire, the proper word being
_[c]atoh_, to burn, and then cut in pieces and eaten. When it was, as
usual, a male captive, the genital organs were given to one of the old
women who were prophetesses, to be eaten by her, as a reward for her
supplications for their future success in battle.[45-2] The cutting in
pieces of Tol[c]om, in the narrative of Xahila, has reference to such a
festival.
Sanchez y Leon states that the most usual sacrifice was a child. The
heart was taken out, and the blood was sprinkled toward the four
cardinal points as an act of adoration to the four winds, copal being
burned at the same time, as an incense.[45-3]
A leading feature in their ceremonial worship was the sacred dance, or,
as the Spanish writers call it, _el baile_. The native name for it is
_xahoh_, and it is repeatedly referred to in the _Annals_. The legendary
origin of some of these dances, indeed, constitute a marked feature in
its narratives. They are mentioned by the missionaries as the favorite
pastime of the Indians; and as it was impossible to do away with them
altogether, they contented themselves with suppressing their most
objectionable features, drunkenness and debauchery, and changed them, at
least in name, from ceremonies in honor of some heathen god, to some
saint in the Roman calendar. In some of these, vast numbers of
assistants took part, as is mentioned by Xahila (Sec. 32).
Magic and divination held a very important place in Cakchiquel
superstition, as the numerous words bearing upon them testify. The form
of belief common to them and their neighbors, has received the name
_Nagualism_, from the Maya root _na_, meaning to use the senses. I have
traced its derivation and extension elsewhere,[46-1] and in this
connection will only observe that the narrative of Xahila, in repeated
passages, proves how deeply it was rooted in the Cakchiquel mind. The
expression _ru puz ru naval_, should generally be rendered "his magic
power, his sorcery," though it has a number of allied significations.
_Naval_ as a noun means magician, _naval chee_, _naval abah_, the spirit
of the tree, of the stone, or the divinity embodied in the idols of
these substances.
Another root from which a series of such words were derived, was _hal_,
to change. The power of changing or metamorphosing themselves into
tigers, serpents, birds, globes of fire, etc., was claimed by the
sorcerers, and is several times mentioned in the following texts. Hence
the sorcerer was called _haleb_, the power he possessed to effect such
transformations _halibal_, the change effected _halibeh_, etc.
Their remarkable subjection to these superstitions is illustrated by the
word _lab_, which means both to divine the future and to make war,
because, says Ximenez, "they practiced divination in order to decide
whether they should make war or not."[47-1]
These auguries were derived frequently from the flight and call of birds
(as in the _Annals_, Secs. 13, 14, etc.), but also from other sources.
The diviner who foretold by grains of maize, bore the title _malol
ixim_, the anointer or consecrator of maize (_Dicc. Anon_[TN-4]).
The priesthood was represented by two high priests, elected for life by
the ruler and council. The one who had especial custody of religious
affairs wore a flowing robe, a circlet or diadem on his head ornamented
with feathers, and carried in his hand a rod, or wand. On solemn
occasions he publicly sacrificed blood from his ears, tongue, and
genital organ.
His associate was the custodian and interpreter of the sacred books,
their calendars and myths, and decided on lucky and unlucky days, omens
and prognostics.
In addition to these, there were certain old men, of austere life, who
dwelt in the temples, and wore their hair in plaited strands around
their heads (_trenzado en circulo_), who were consulted on ordinary
occasions as diviners.[47-2]
The funeral rites of the Cakchiquels have been related at considerable
length by Fuentes, from original documents in the Pokoman[TN-5]
dialect.[48-1] The body was laid in state for two days, after which it
was placed in a large jar and interred, a mound being erected over the
remains. On the mound a statue of the deceased was placed, and the spot
was regarded as sacred. Father Coto gives somewhat the same account,
adding that these mounds were constructed either of stone or of the
adjacent soil, and were called _cakhay_ or _cubucak_.[48-2] He
positively asserts that human sacrifices accompanied the interments of
chiefs, which is denied by Fuentes, except among the Quiches. These
companions for the deceased chief on his journey to the land of souls,
were burned on his funeral pyre. A large store of charcoal was buried
with the corpse, as that was supposed to be an article of which he would
have special use on his way. Sanchez y Leon mentions that the high
priest was buried in his house, clothed and seated upon his chair. The
funeral ceremonies, in his case, lasted fifteen days.[48-3]
_The Cakchiquel Language._
The Cakchiquel tongue was reduced to writing by the Spanish
missionaries, and therefore, in this work, as in all the MSS, the
following letters are used with their Spanish values,--a, b, c, ch, c,
e, i, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, t, y.
The following are not employed:--
d, f, g, j, s, n, z.
The following are introduced, but with sounds differing from the
Spanish:--
_h._ This is always a decided rough breathing or forcible expiration,
like the Spanish j, or the strong English h; except when it follows c or
[c], when it is pronounced as in the Spanish, _cha_, _che_, etc.
_k._ This has never the sound of c, but is a rough palatal, the mouth
being opened, and the tongue placed midway, between the upper and lower
walls of the oral cavity, while the sound is forcibly expelled.
_v._ This letter, whether as a consonant (_v_) or a vowel (_u_), is
pronounced separately, except when it is doubled, as in _vuh_ (_uuh_),
book or paper, when the double vowel is very closely akin to the English
_w_.
_x._ In Cakchiquel and its associated dialects, this letter represents
the sound of _sh_ in the English words _she_, _shove_, etc.
Besides the above, there are five sounds occurring in the Cakchiquel,
Quiche and Tzutuhil, for which five special characters were invented, or
rather adopted, by the early missionary Francisco de la Parra, who died
in Guatemala, in 1560. They are the following:--
[c,] [c,]h [c] [t] [tz]
The origin and phonetic value of these, as given by the grammarian
Torresano, are as follows:[49-1]--
[t] This is called the _tresillo_, from its shape, it being an old form
of the figure three, reversed, thus, [Illustration: Reversed 3]. It is
the only true guttural in the language, being pronounced forcibly from
the throat, with a trilling sound (_castaneteando_).
[c] From its shape this is called the _cuatrillo_, Parra having adopted
for it an old form of the figure 4. It is a trilled palatal, between a
hard _c_ and _k_.
[c,] The name applied to this is, the _cuatrillo con coma_, or the 4
with a comma. It is pronounced somewhat like the _c_ with the cedilla,
c, only more quickly and with greater force--_ds_ or _dz_.
[tz] This resembles the "4 with a comma," but is described as softer,
the tongue being brought into contact with the teeth, exactly as _tz_ in
German.
[c,]h A compound sound produced by combining the cuatrillo with a
forcible aspirate, is represented by this sign.
Naturally, no description in words can convey a correct notion of these
sounds. To learn them, one must hear them spoken by those to the
manner-born.
Dr. Otto Stoll, who recently made a careful study of the Cakchiquel when
in Guatemala, says of Parra's characters:--
"The four new signs added to the European alphabet, by some of the old
writers on Cakchiquel (Parra, Flores), viz: [t], [c], [c,], [c]h, are
but phonetic modifications of four corresponding signs of the common
alphabet. So we get four pairs of sounds, namely:--
c and [c];
k and [t]
ch and [c]h
tz and [c,]
forming two series of consonants, the former of which represents the
common letters, and the latter their respective "cut letters," which may
be described as being pronounced with a shorter and more explosive sound
than the corresponding common letter, and separated by a short pause
from the preceding or following vowel."[51-1]
The late Dr. Berendt illustrated the phonetic value of such "cut"
letters, by the example of two English words where the same letter
terminates one word and begins the next, and each is clearly but rapidly
pronounced, thus, the [t] is pronounced like two gutteral[TN-6] _ks_ in
"brea_k_ _k_ettle;" the [c] like the two _cs_ in "magic candle,"[TN-7]
etc.
There would appear to have been other "cut" letters in the old dialects
of Cakchiquel, as in Guzman we find the _pp_ and _thth_, as in the Maya,
but later writers dropped them.
I may dispense with a discussion of the literature of the Cakchiquel
language, having treated that subject so lately as last year, in the
introduction to the _Grammar of the Cakchiquel_, which I then translated
and edited for the American Philosophical Society. As will be seen by
reference to that work, it is quite extensive, and much of it has been
preserved. I have examined seven dictionaries of the tongue, all quite
comprehensive; manuscript copies of all are in the United States. None
of these, however, has been published; and we must look forward to the
dictionary now preparing by Dr. Stoll, of Zurich, as probably the first
to see the light.
The Maya race, in nearly all its branches, showed its intellectual
superiority by the eagerness with which it turned to literary pursuits,
as soon as some of its members had learned the alphabet. I have brought
forward some striking testimony to this in Yucatan,[52-1] and there is
even more in Central America. The old historians frequently refer to the
histories of their own nations, written out by members of the Quiche,
Cakchiquel, Pokomam and Tzendal tribes. Vasquez, Fuentes and Juarros
quote them frequently, and with respect. They were composed in the
aboriginal tongues, for the benefit of their fellow townsmen, and as
they were never printed, most of them became lost, much to the regret of
antiquaries.
Of those preserved, the _Popol Vuh_ or National Book of the Quiches, and
the _Annals_ of the Cakchiquels, the latter published for the first time
in this volume, are the most important known.
The former, the "Sacred Book" of the Quiches, a document of the highest
merits, and which will certainly increase in importance as it is
studied, was printed at Paris in 1861, with a translation into French by
the Abbe Brasseur (de Bourbourg). He made use only of the types of the
Latin alphabet; and both in this respect and in the fidelity of his
translation, he has left much to be desired in the presentation of the
work.
The recent publication of the _Grammar_ also relieves me from the
necessity of saying much about the structure of the Cakchiquel language.
Those who wish to acquaint themselves with it, and follow the
translation given in this volume by comparing the original text, will
need to procure all the information contained in the _Grammar_. It will
be sufficient to say here that the tongue is one built up with admirable
regularity on radicals of one or two syllables. The perfection and
logical sequence of its verbal forms have excited the wonder and
applause of some of the most eminent linguists, and are considered by
them to testify to remarkable native powers of mind.[53-1]
_The Annals of Xahila._
The MS. from which I print the _Annals of the Cakchiquels_, is a folio
of 48 leaves, closely written on both sides in a very clear and regular
hand, with indigo ink. It is incomplete, the last page closing in the
middle of a sentence.
What is known of the history of this manuscript, is told us by Don Juan
Gavarrete, who, for many years, was almost the only native of Guatemala
interested in the early history of his country. He tells us in his
introduction to his translation of it, soon to be mentioned, that in
1844 he was commissioned to arrange the archives of the Convent of San
Francisco of Guatemala, by order of the Archbishop Don Francisco Garcia
Pelaez. Among the MSS. of the archives he found these sheets, written
entirely in Cakchiquel, except a few marginal glosses in Spanish, in a
later hand, and in ordinary ink. The document was submitted to several
persons acquainted with the Cakchiquel language, who gave a general
statement of its contents, but not a literal and complete
translation.[54-1]
When, in 1855, the Abbe Brasseur (de Bourbourg) visited Guatemala, Senor
Gavarrete showed him this MS., and the Abbe borrowed it for the purpose
of making a full version, doubtless availing himself of the partial
translations previously furnished. His version completed, he left a copy
of it with Senor Gavarrete, and brought the original with him to
Europe.[54-2] It remained in his possession until his death at Nice,
when, along with the rest of the Abbe's library, it passed into the
hands of M. Alphonse Pinart. This eminent ethnologist learning my desire
to include it in the present series of publications, was obliging enough
to offer me the opportunity of studying it.
Previous to its discovery in Guatemala, in 1844, we have no record of it
whatsoever, and must turn to the document itself for information.
The title given it by Brasseur, and adopted by Gavarrete, _Memorial de
Tecpan Atitlan_, was purely factitious, and, moreover, is misleading. It
was, indeed, written at the town of Tzolola or Atitlan, on the lake of
that name, the chief city of the Tzutuhils; but its authors were
Cakchiquels; its chief theme is the history of their tribe, and it is
only by the accident of their removal to Atitlan, years after the
Conquest, that its composition occurred there. I have, therefore,
adopted for it, or at least that portion of it which I print, the much
more appropriate name, _The Annals of the Cakchiquels_.
I say "for that portion of it," because I print but 48 out of the 96
pages of the original. These contain, however, all that is of general
interest; all that pertains to the ancient history of the nation. The
remainder is made up of an uninteresting record of village and family
incidents, and of a catalogue of births, baptisms and marriages. The
beginning of the text as printed in this volume, starts abruptly in the
MS. after seventeen pages of such trivialities, and has no separate
title or heading.
The caption of the first page of the MS. explains the purpose of this
miscellaneous collection of family documents. That caption is
[Illustration: Cross]
VAE MEMORIA CHIRE [C]HAOH.
THIS IS THE RECORD FOR THE PROCESS.
The word _memoria_ is the Spanish for a record, memoir or brief, and the
Cakchiquel _[c]haoh_, originally contention, revolt, was, after the
Conquest, the technical term for a legal process or lawsuit. These
papers, therefore, form part of the record in one of those interminable
legal cases in which the Spanish law delighted. The plaintiffs in the
case seem to have been the Xahila family, who brought the action to
recover some of their ancient possessions or privileges, as one of the
two ruling families of the Cakchiquel nation; and in order to establish
this point, they filed in their plea the full history of their tribe and
genealogy of their family, so far as was known to them by tradition or
written record. It belongs to the class of legal instruments, called in
Spanish law _Titulos_, family titles. A number of such, setting forth
the descent and rights of the native princes in Central America, are in
existence, as the _Titulo de Totonicapan_, etc.
The date of the present rescript is not accurately fixed. As it includes
the years 1619-20, it must have been later than those dates. From the
character of the paper and writing, I should place it somewhere between
1620 and 1650.
In his _Advertencia_ to his translation of it, Senor Gavarrete asserts
that the document is in the handwriting of one of the native authors.
This is not my opinion. It is in the small, regular, perfectly legible
hand of a professional scribe, a notarial clerk, no doubt, thoroughly at
home in the Cakchiquel language, and trained in the phonetic characters,
introduced with such success by Father Parra, as I have already
mentioned. The centre lines and catch-words are in large, clear letters,
so as to attract the eye of the barrister, as
VAE MEMORIA CHIRE VINAK CHIJ.
THIS IS THE STATEMENT OF THE TORTS.
or,
VAE MEMORIA [T]ANAVINAKIL.
THIS IS A RECORD OF THE WITNESSES.
The document is made up of the depositions and statements of a number of
members of the Xahila family, but that around which the chief interest
centres, and that which alone is printed in this volume, is the history
of his nation as written out by one of them who had already reached
adult years, at the epoch of the first arrival of the Spaniards, in
1524. Unfortunately, his simple-hearted modesty led him to make few
personal allusions, and we can glean little information about his own
history. The writer first names himself, in the year 1582, where he
speaks of "me, Francisco Ernantez Arana."[57-1] The greater part of the
manuscript, however, was composed many years before this. Its author
says that his grandfather, the king Hun Yg, and his father, Balam, both
died in 1521, and his own marriage took place in 1522. As it was the
custom of his nation to marry young, he was probably, at the time, not
over 15 years of age.[57-2]
That Francisco Ernantez was not the author of the first part of the
document seems evident. Under the year 1560 occurs the following
entry:--
"Twenty days before the Feast of the Nativity my mother died; soon
after, my late father was carried off (xchaptah) while they were burying
my mother; my father took medicine but once before we buried him. The
pest continued to rage for seven days after Easter; my mother, my
father, my brother and my sister died this year."
It could not, of course, be the son of Balam, who died in 1521, who
wrote this.
Under 1563 the writer mentions:--
"At this time my second son Raphael was born, at the close of the fourth
year of the fourth cycle after the revolt."