TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE MAYA NATIONS.
Ancient Civilization of Tabasco and Chiapas — The Tradition of
Votan — The First Emigrants to America — City of Nachan —
The Votanic Document — Ordoñez — Brasseur and Cabrera on the
Tzendal Document — The Empire of the Chanes — The Oldest
Civilization — The Earliest Home of the Mayas — The Quichés —
Their Origin Tradition — The Quiché Cosmogony — The Creation
of Man — The Quiché Migration — Tulan — Mt. Hacavitz — Human
Sacrifices instituted — Four Tulans — Association of the Mayas
and Nahuas — Heroic Period of the Quichés — Xibalba and its
Downfall — Exploits of the Quiché Chieftains — War of the Sects
— Xibalba and Palenque the same — Mayas of Yucatan and their
Traditions — Culture-Heroes — Zamna and Cukulcan — Christ Myth.
The most ancient civilization on this continent, judging from the
combined testimony of tradition, records, and architectural remains,
was that which grew up under the favorable climate and geographical
surroundings which the Central American Region southward of the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec afforded. The great Maya family with its
numerous branches, each in time developing its own dialect if not its
own peculiar language, at an early date fixed itself in the fertile
valley of the River Usumasinta, and produced a civilization which was
old and ripe when the Toltecs came in contact with it. Here in this
picturesque valley region in Tabasco and Chiapas we may look for the
cradle of American civilization. Under the shadow of the magnificent
and mysterious ruins of Palenque a people grew to power who spread into
Guatemala and Honduras, northward toward Anahuac and southward into
Yucatan, and for a period of probably twenty-five centuries exercised a
sway which, at one time, excited the envy and fear of its neighbors. We
are fully aware of the uncertainty which attaches itself to tradition
in general, and of the caution with which it should be accepted in
treating of the foundations of history; but still, with reference to
the origin and growth of old world nations, nothing better offers
itself in many instances than suspicious legends. The histories of the
Egyptians, the Trojans, the Greeks, and of even ancient Rome rests on
no surer footing. It is certain that while the legendary history of any
nation may be confused, exaggerated, and besides full of breaks, still
there are some main and fundamental facts out of which it has grown,
and this we think is especially true of the new world traditions.
Clavigero says: “The Chiapanese have been the first peoplers of the new
world, if we give credit to their traditions. They say that Votan, the
grandson of that respectable old man who built the great ark to save
himself and family from the deluge, and one of those who undertook the
building of that lofty edifice which was to reach up to heaven, went
by express command of the Lord to people that land. They say also that
the first people came from the quarter of the north, and that when they
arrived at Soconusco, they separated, some going to inhabit the country
of Nicaragua and others remaining in Chiapas.”[308] The tradition
of Votan, the founder of the Maya culture, though somewhat warped,
probably by having passed through priestly hands, is nevertheless one
of the most valuable pieces of information which we have concerning
the ancient Americans. Without it our knowledge of the origin of the
Mayas would be a hopeless blank, and the ruins of Palenque would be
more a mystery than ever. According to this tradition, Votan came from
the East, from Valum Chivim, by the way of Valum Votan, from across
the sea, by divine command, to apportion the land of the new continent
to seven families which he brought with him. It appears that he had
been preceded in America by two others named Igh and Imox, if the
researches of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg can be relied upon. In
the Tzendal calendar, Votan’s name appears as that of the third day,
while Igh and Imox are the first and second respectively. If, as is
supposed, the names represent the true succession of the Maya chiefs,
there is some ground for the Abbé’s view.[309] The doubtful portions of
the tradition which may be interpolations are the ambiguous assertions
that he saw the Tower of Babel, and was present at the building of
Solomon’s temple. Probably the remains only of the former structure may
be referred to.
With these contradictions we have nothing to do, as they do not in any
way affect the subsequent history of the Votanites, or interfere with
the probability of their old world origin. To attempt to designate the
point from which Votan started or the means by which he reached the new
world, would be the height of folly. Votan is said to have made four
journeys to the land of his nativity. His achievements in the new world
were, however, as great as those of any of the heroes of antiquity. His
great city was named “Nachan,” (city of the serpents), from his own
race, which was named Chan, a serpent. This Nachan is unquestionably
identified with Palenque. The date of his journey is placed at 1000
years B. C.[310] The kingdom of the serpents flourished so rapidly
that Votan founded three tributary monarchies whose capitals were
Tulan, Mayapan, and Chiquimula.[311] The former is supposed to have
been situated about two leagues east of the town of Ococingo; Mayapan
is well-known to have been the capital of Yucatan, and Chiquimula is
thought to have been Copan in Honduras.[312] One of the great works
of this hero was the excavation of a tunnel or ‘snake hole’ from
Zuqui to Tzequil. He also deposited a great treasure at Huehuetan, in
Soconusco, which he left under the vigilant care of a guard, directed
by one of the most honorable women of the land. Finally, he wrote a
book in which he recorded his deeds and offered proof of his being a
Chane (or serpent). This ancient document, which is claimed to have
been written by one of Votan’s descendants, of the eighth or ninth
generation and not by himself,[313] was in the Tzendal language, a
dialect or branch of the Maya, spoken in Chiapas and around Palenque.
Its history is, however, quite checkered, and the information which it
contained comes very indirectly. For generations the Votanic document
was scrupulously guarded by the people of Tacoaloya, in Soconusco,
but was finally discovered by Francisco Nuñez de la Vega, Bishop of
Chiapas. In the preamble of his _Constituciones_, § xxx,[314] he
claims to have read this document, but it is probable that only a
copy, still in the Tzendal language but written in Latin characters,
had come into his possession.[315] He fails to give any definite
information from the document except the most general statements with
reference to Votan’s place in the calendar, and his having seen the
Tower of Babel, at which each people was given a new language. He
states that he could have made more revelations of the history of
Votan from this document but for bringing up the old idolatry of the
people and perpetuating it. With the zeal of a true Vandal, the bishop
committed the dangerous documents, together with the treasure which he
claims Votan to have buried in the dark-house, to the flames in 1691.
There seems to have been other copies, however, of this remarkable
manuscript, for about the close of the eighteenth century, Dr. Paul
Felix Cabrera was shown a document in the possession of Don Ramon de
Ordoñez y Aguiar, a resident of Ciudad Real in Chiapas, which purported
to be the Votanic memoir.[316] Ordoñez, at the time, was engaged
upon the composition of his work on the “_History of the Heaven and
Earth_.”[317] It appears that Cabrera was admitted to the confidence
of Ordoñez, and availed himself of a few facts communicated to him by
the latter, which he supplemented by drawing from his imagination for
the rest of his account.[318] Brasseur de Bourbourg accuses Cabrera
of seriously misrepresenting Ordoñez and of warping his account.[319]
The following, which is Cabrera’s account may be of interest to the
reader: “He (Votan) states that he conducted seven families from
Valum Votan to this continent and assigned lands to them; that he is
the third of the Votans; that having determined to travel until he
arrived at the root of Heaven, in order to discover his relations,
the Culebras, and make himself known to them, he made four voyages to
Chivim (which he expressed by repeating four times from Valum Votan to
Valum Chivim, from Valum Chivim to Valum Votan); that he arrived in
Spain, and that he went to Rome; that he saw the great house of God
building; that he went by the road which his brethren, the Culebras,
had bored; that he marked it, and that he passed by the houses of
the thirteen Culebras. He relates that in returning from one of his
voyages he found seven other families of the Tzequil nation who had
joined the first inhabitants, and recognized in them the same origin as
his own, that is, of the Culebras. He speaks of the place where they
built the first town, which, from its founders, received the name of
Tzequil; he affirms the having taught them refinement of manners in
the use of the table, table-cloth, dishes, basins, cups, and napkins;
they taught him the knowledge of God and of his worship; his first
ideas of a king and of obedience to Him; that he was chosen captain
of all those united families.” It is not necessary for us to point
out the hand of the interpolator in this account; it is sufficiently
apparent. However, its obnoxious prominence need not destroy our
faith in the general facts of the account. The interpretation of the
document we submit to the reader with the simple reminder that the
symbol of life and power among the Central Americans and Mexicans has
ever been a serpent, a fact which may have derived its significance
from the meaning of the name of the Votanites together with the power
attained by Palenque.[320] Votan’s followers were called Tzequites by
their predecessors, probably by the descendants of Igh and Imox, the
signification of which term is ‘men with petticoats.’ The Tzendal
traditions refer always to the city of Nachan as the capital of the
kingdom of the Chanes or Serpents, and the most significant feature
of the traditional names of this people is the fact that the name
Culhua, applied by the Nahua nations and especially by the Toltecs
to a powerful people who had preceeded them at the south, is the
exact equivalent of Chanes; the same is true of Culhuacan.[321] The
Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg obtained a copy of the fragmentary MS. of
Ordoñez, which he informs us was written in two separate parts in
quarto, at different times. The first or mythological part exists in
a copy owned by the Abbé.[322] The second or historical part, if ever
written, has never reached the light, and from the description of its
contents found in the first part, we should think that the author
might have made a rather imaginative historian.[323] While some of
the details of the Votanic tradition are not worthy of a moment’s
consideration, it is quite certain that in the general facts we have
a key to the origin of what all Americanists agree in pronouncing the
oldest civilization on this continent, one which was gray and already
declining when the Toltecs entered Mexico. There is not the slightest
evidence that it originated in any other place than in Chiapas, where
it is found, and extended itself into Guatemala, Yucatan, and possibly
branched northward in a colony as remote as Culhuacan. Sr. Orozco y
Berra has found fifteen languages or dialects to be related to the Maya
language, a fact which indicates the age and extent of that remarkable
civilization.[324] Sr. Orozco is convinced from linguistic and other
researches, that the inhabitants of Cuba and others of the West India
Islands were Mayas, and points out the intermediate location of Cuba
between Florida and Yucatan. He thinks the earliest home of the Mayas
on this continent was on the Atlantic coast of the United States, from
whence they emigrated to Cuba and thence to Yucatan.[325] Though we
are not fully satisfied that the Mayas ever occupied Florida, it is
quite likely that the islands of the Gulf were inhabited by them at an
early day. The culture hero Votan is a mystery, and to arrive at his
true character or office is simply an impossibility. For those disposed
to speculate, there is abundant opportunity.[326] The most interesting
traditionary history which has been discovered is that of the Quichés
of Guatemala. By the name Quiché, in this immediate connection, we do
not mean to speak of that people after they became amalgamated with
the Nahua nations from Central Mexico, but as a branch of the great
Maya monarchy, in all probability located at first at Tulha or Tula,
which, it is believed, was situated near Ococingo. At first, we think,
the Quichés developed their own institutions, dialects, etc., as one
of the allied powers associated with the capital city Nachan, but
gradually assumed an individuality which became distinctive, until a
rivalry between the capital and its allied neighbor sprang up, which
ultimately ended in the overthrow of the former. Sr. Pimentel, on
the authority of an ancient author, states that the name Quiché was
applied to the first empire of Palenque and signified _many trees_. It
was employed by the “innumerable families of different nations which
composed it, to symbolize its various branches.”[327] The tradition of
their origin states that they came from the far East, across immense
tracts of land and water; that in their former home they had multiplied
considerably and lived without civilization, and with but few wants;
they paid no tribute, spoke a common language, did not bow down to wood
and stone, but lifting their eyes toward heaven, observed the will of
their Creator, they attended with respect to the rising of the sun,
and saluted with their invocations the Morning Star; with loving and
obedient hearts they addressed their prayers to Heaven for the gift
of offspring. “Hail, Creator and Maker! regard us, attend us. Heart
of Heaven, Heart of the Earth, do not forsake us, do not leave us.
God of Heaven and Earth, Heart of Heaven, Heart of Earth, consider
our posterity always. Accord us repose, a glorious repose, peace and
prosperity, justice, life and our being. Grant to us, O Hurakan,
enlightened and fruitful, Thou who comprehendest all things great
and small.”[328] In the _Popol Vuh_, the sacred book of the Quichés,
we are enabled to arrive more closely at the cosmogony and worship
of that remarkable people.[329] The reader may not be prepared for
the irreconcilable contradictions and for the obscure and figurative
language in which this work abounds; but with the remembrance that
all nations of antiquity delighted in the use of figures, parabolic
disguises and personifications under which the truth was couched, we
may be able to profit by even the seeming foolishness and confusion
of the Quiché record. The strange, wild poetry of the Quichés, can
only be fully enjoyed by pursuing the unabridged accounts for which we
regret we have not space.[330] In the order of the Quiché creation, the
heavens were first formed and their boundaries fixed by the Creator
and Former, by whom all move and breathe, by whom all nations enjoy
their wisdom and civilization. At first there was no man or animal
or bird or fish or green herb—nothing but the firmament existed,
the face of the earth was not yet to be seen, only the peaceful sea
and the whole expanse of heaven. Silence pervaded all; not even the
sea murmured; there was nothing but immobility and silence in the
darkness—in the night.[331] The Creator, the Former, the Dominator—the
feathered serpent—those that engender, those that give being, moved
upon the water as a glowing light. Their name is Gucumatz, heart of
heaven—God. “Earth,” they said, and in an instant it was formed and
rose like a vapor cloud; immediately the plains and mountains arose
and the cypress and pine appeared. Then Gucumatz was filled with joy,
and cried out, “Blessed be thy coming, O Heart of Heaven, Hurakan,
thunderbolt!”[332] Animals were next formed, but because they could
not praise their Maker they were doomed to become objects of prey.
Four creations of men then followed. The first man was made of clay,
but he had no intelligence and he was consumed in the water. Upon a
second trial a man and a woman were made of a sort of pith, but they
too were unsatisfactory experiments; though they had life and peopled
the earth, they were very inferior, living like beasts and forgetting
the Heart of Heaven. The Creator then destroyed them with a flood of
resin, allowing only a few to escape, that now exist as little apes
in the woods. The persons of the Godhead, enveloped in the darkness
which enshrouded a desolated world, counseled concerning the creation
of a more perfect order, and as a result they formed four perfect men
named: Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam. These men
were miraculously formed of white and yellow maize, and the Creator
was content with his labors. “Verily, at last, were there found men
worthy of their origin and their destiny; verily, at last, did the gods
look upon beings who could see with their eyes and handle with their
hands and understand with their hearts, grand of countenance and broad
of limb, the four sires of our race stood up under the white rays of
the morning star—sole light as yet of the primeval world—stood up and
looked. Their great clear eyes swept rapidly over all; they saw the
woods and rocks, the lakes and the sea, the mountains and the valleys,
and the heavens that were above all; and they comprehended all and
admired exceedingly. Then they returned thanks to those who had made
the world and all therein was: we offer up our thanks, twice—yea,
verily, thrice; we have received life, we speak, we walk, we taste, we
hear and understand, we know both that which is near and that which
is far off, we see all things, great and small, in all the heaven and
earth. Thanks, then, Maker and Former, Father and Mother of our life,
we have been created—we are.”[333] These four creatures were considered
too perfect by the gods, and in order that their omniscience might be
destroyed, they breathed a cloud of mist over their vision. To each of
these men wives were made while they slept. A fourth creation seems to
have taken place by which the ancestors of other races were formed.
The account which the _Popol Vuh_ furnishes of the migrations of the
ancient Quichés is somewhat confused, and it is scarcely possible
to hope that the locations named should ever be fully identified.
Their worship was at first purely spiritual. “Only they gazed up into
heaven, not knowing what they had come so far to do.” In their original
home, wherever that might have been, they grew weary of this kind of
service—of watching for “the rising of the sun”—by which it seems they
meant the coming of temporal power. The four men then forsook their
abode and journeyed to Tulan-Zuiva, the seven caves or seven ravines.
Here they found gods; to each of the four men a different deity was
assigned. To Balam-Quitzé the god Tohil was given; to Balam-Agab the
god Avilix; and to Mahucutah, the god Hacavitz; and though the fourth
man Iqi-Balam also received a god, no special account is taken of him,
since the latter of the four men left no progeny. The journey to Tulan
is said to have been a very long one. Doubtless in this account we have
an allusion to one of those modifications in religious notions which
seems to have often attended a change of residence in early times. The
abstract worship of the Creator is supplanted by the more material
and ceremonial worship of intermediate deities (demi-gods). Tulan
is described as a much colder climate than the eastern and tropical
land which they had forsaken, and the god Tohil came to their relief
by the creation of fire. But incessant rains, accompanied with hail,
extinguished all their fires, which were again kindled repeatedly
by the fire-god. Tulan was an unfavorable locality for permanent
abode—rains, extreme cold, dampness, famine prevailed, and the peculiar
misfortune of the confusion of tongues there befell them. No longer
were the brother propagators of the race able to communicate with each
other. “At Tulan there was as yet no sun,” is the significant but
perplexing language of the narrative. At last Tulan, the mysterious
land of the “seven-caves,” was forsaken, and under the leadership
of Tohil the people began a migration which was attended with
indescribable hardships and famine itself. Their way led through dense
forests, over high mountains, a long sea passage, and by a rough and
pebbly shore. We are, however, told that the sea was parted for their
passage. Their tribulations were at an end when at last they arrived at
a beautiful mountain, which they named after their god Hacavitz. Here
they were informed that the sun would appear, and, as a consequence,
the four progenitors of the race and all the people rejoiced. Here
was everything beauteous and gladdening. The morning star shed forth
a resplendent brightness, and the sun itself at last appeared, though
then it had not the warmth which it possessed at a later day. Before
the light of the sun, however, the gods Tohil, Avilix and Hacavitz,
together with the tiger and lion and reptiles, were changed into stone.
To interpret this paragraph, which is greatly condensed, is a difficult
undertaking, still there are certain facts which seem to serve as the
basis of intelligent speculation. The language is extremely figurative
throughout the entire narrative, and especially so here. Their worship
of the morning star at an early period seems to connect them with the
Mediterranean peoples of the old world. The allusions to the sun not
yet having come may be retrospective, indicating that the worship of
the sun had not been adopted at that early day, or it may indicate
that the period of national strength had not dawned. The fact that the
morning star shone more brilliantly on Mt. Hacavitz than at Tulan (the
seven caves), may mean either that the worship of the star was more
splendidly celebrated, or it may have reference to an astronomical
fact, that the star itself was more luminous, and furnish evidence in
harmony with the statements of the narrative that Mt. Hacavitz was a
more southern location than the tempestuous Tulan. The petrifaction
of the three tribal gods may have been the result of an age of peace
and prosperity which offered an opportunity for developing their
cultus; or, upon the other hand, if the coming of the sun refers to
the advent of a new religion, that which is known to have prevailed
among the Nahuas, the old gods may have been sculptured in stone,
that their national character and deeds might not be forgotten before
the increasing importance of the new faith. There they instituted
sacrifices of beasts to the three stone gods Tohil, Avilix and
Hacavitz; they even drew blood from their own bodies and offered it
to them. Finally, not content with these, the first four men, led by
Balam-Quitzé, instituted human sacrifices. Captives were taken from
neighboring tribes, kidnapping was practised extensively, until the
hostility of their neighbors broke forth into open war. The contest,
however, resulted favorably to the Quichés, and the surrounding tribes
became subject to the victorious power. In Hacavitz they composed
a national song called the Kamucu (“we see”)—a memorial of their
misfortunes in Tulan—a lament for the loss of so many of their people
in that unfortunate locality. This loss is described as occasioned by a
portion of their race being left behind, rather than as the result of
the misfortunes which attended them there. At last, at the noon-day of
their national glory, it came to pass that the ancestors of their race,
Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah and Iqi-Balam, died—the men who
came from the east, from across the sea, died—and their remains were
enveloped in a great bundle and preserved as memorials of the ancestors
of the race.[334] Then the Quichés sang the sad Kamucu, and mourned the
loss of their leaders and that portion of their race which they left
behind them in Tulan.
The definite location of Tulan is almost out of the question; it may
only be conjectured. We have already stated, on the authority of
Ordiñez, that there was a Tulan near Ococingo.[335] The Cakchiquel
MS., known only through the writings of Brasseur de Bourbourg, but
evidently a document containing the same facts as those stated in the
_Popol Vuh_, gives the following information concerning Tulan: “Four
persons came from Tulan, from the direction of the rising sun—that is
one Tulan. There is another Tulan in Xibalbay, and another where the
sun sets, and it is there that we came; and in the direction of the
setting sun there is another, where is the god; so that there are four
Tulans; and it is where the sun sets that we came to Tulan, from the
other side of the sea where this Tulan is; and it is there that we were
conceived and begotten by our mothers and our fathers.”[336] From this
it appears that two of these Tulans were not upon the continent at all;
one in the east across the sea, the birthplace of the race; another
an imaginary locality somewhere toward the region of the setting sun,
where the deity dwells; another Tulan is pretty certainly located in
Chiapas near the capital of Xibalba; with this place, however, they
do not state that they had any relationship, but another Tulan where
the sun sets is designated as the locality to which they came from
across the sea. Mr. Bancroft confounds the Tulan of their misfortunes
with that which was located near Xibalba; but this view is plainly
wrong, since the climatic surroundings of the Chiapan Tulan are quite
the opposite of those described as prevailing at that Tulan where
fire was so necessary. In the Tulan to which they journeyed they
suffered from cold, and their god Tohil, whom they received there,
gave them fire. Señor Orozco y Berra quite positively identifies this
Tulan with the Toltec capital Tollan, north of Anahuac, and certainly
with reason.[337] There their tongues were changed, there the Nahua
language was encountered. No doubt that in the first period of the
Toltec power in Tollan, the Maya-Quichés who had migrated northward
from some locality in the Usumacinta region and intermingled with the
Nahuas, sharing in their worship and appropriating certain elements of
language, migrated southward to the elevated regions of Vera-Paz and
founded a Quiché power in Guatemala.
Upon the downfall of the Toltec monarchy in the eleventh century, no
doubt many noble Toltec families forsook the unfortunate and fallen
capital and founded in Guatemala the Quiché-Cakchiquel monarchy,
composed of Maya and Toltec elements, which spread itself southward
in colonies and branches into various parts of Central America, and
flourished with such power and fame at the time of the Conquest. It
is not the province of this work to take up the annals of this or any
other people, but only to treat of their most primitive period. The
gap in Quiché history between that which we have been treating and the
period of the Annals is considerable, and no document has yet been
discovered which will fill it with the wanting record. Mr. Bancroft
has placed the annals within the reach of the English reader in his
fifth volume. Mt. Hacavitz was the point at which the scattered tribes
collected and formed the nucleus of the subsequently powerful monarchy
in Guatemala of which Utatlan was the capital. The two places may
have been identical. Several facts point to the early association of
the ancestors of the Quichés with the Nahuas who subsequently figure
so conspicuously as Toltecs and Aztecs. The tribes which migrated
northward were called Yaqui (according to the _Popol Vuh_), and the
name ethnographically has the same meaning as Nahuatl.[338] The Quichés
applied the name to the inhabitants of Mexico. The god Tohil was
called by the Yaqui tribes Yolcuat Quitzalcuat while the Quichés were
in Tulan. Quetzalcoatl, of whom we shall speak more fully hereafter,
was the greatest of the Nahua divinities.[339] The Aztecs and Toltecs
as well as the Quichés came from the “Seven Caves,” that Tulan which
seems to have been the early home of the two great families speaking
radically different languages—the Maya and the Nahua. The statement so
often met with that Tulan was across the sea is perplexing. Can we look
for it upon some of the islands of the Gulf or Caribbean Sea? or are
we to look upon the reference to the sea passage as an earlier event
in the history of both peoples, which because of the lack of records
has been confounded with some of the adventures of the march toward
the northern Tulan, which was undertaken at least by the Mayas and
possibly by the Nahuas from their common home in the Usumacinta valley?
We are inclined, in the light of a large margin of testimony, to accept
the latter view, and consider the Tulan of the Chiapan region to have
been the early home of both peoples—the primitive one of the Mayas
and the adopted one of the Nahuas—after leaving Hue Hue Tlappalan,
the accidental centre to which in their wanderings they converged,
and in which they met; here in an age of simpler manners they lived
in the enjoyment of peace, preserving each their own institutions and
language, though considerably influencing each other’s customs. The
Tulan of this Central American region may have been confounded in name
and characteristics with the original home of each race “across the
sea.”
The Quiché record furnishes us with the account of an epoch in the
early Quiché history which we are justified in characterizing as
their heroic period. It occupies the same place in their history as
the Trojan war in the history of Greece. The tradition of the fall of
Xibalba, the terror of its neighbors, the power which by its enemies
was called infernal, is a heroic composition founded on a combination
of events as mysterious and wonderful as those contained in the Iliad
itself. To locate the events in their proper place, to assign them
their true period, is attended with as many difficulties as attend the
Homeric history. The authorities differ as to the proper chronologic
order of the record. The _Popol Vuh_, both in the Ximinez and Brasseur
editions, give the narrative to which we have reference immediately
after the destruction of the men made of pith or wood—the result of the
first creation. Mr. Bancroft is somewhat indifferent about the order
and follows the narrative. Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, considers
that chronologically the narrative follows the third creation, that
of the four founders of the Quiché race.[340] If we look upon the
so-called creations as simply tribal origins and not as mythical
accounts of the origin of man, there is room for the heroic period
before the days of the four ancestors of the Quichés; but if, on the
contrary, the two creations preceding that of Balam-Quitzé and his
associates are mythical, are the legendary accounts of a fancied order
in creation and not the origin of tribes, the view taken by the Abbé is
the only one which can be accepted. The question cannot at present be
definitely settled. If we resort to the latter view, that of the Abbé,
it is necessary for us to suppose that the long reign of Balam-Quitzé,
Balam-Agab, Mahucutah and Iqi-Balam is that of a line, a dynasty, and
not of individuals—which is altogether probable. Brasseur supposes
the time of which the tradition speaks to have been about fifteen
centuries before the Spanish conquest, and thinks Copan was the capital
of a province called Payaqui (“in the Yaqui,” which we have seen was
the name of the Nahuas), and that this capital, otherwise known as
Chiquimula, owed its origin to a warrior known as Balam, who introduced
human sacrifices. His authority is the _Isagoge Historico MS._ cited
by Pelaez, to whose work we have already referred.[341] To attempt to
determine upon the time definitely would be a hopeless undertaking.
The mysterious tradition with its confused statements and allegorical
allusions we will attempt to condense into intelligible shape. This
has already been accomplished by Mr. Bancroft, and his version greatly
facilitates our efforts in the same direction.
The second division of the _Popol Vuh_ contains the account of two
attempts at the overthrow of the great Xibalban monarchy, founded
by Votan. The first of these proved unsuccessful and fatal to the
enemies of the great power; the second, undertaken by the descendants
of the defeated chieftains, resulted in the downfall of the empire
of the Serpents or Votanites, and in the revenge of the death of
the unsuccessful warriors. The account is provokingly figurative;
different allies of each of the powers being spoken of as owls, wild
beasts, rabbits, deer, rats, lice, ants, etc., a custom which has
always prevailed among savage and semi-civilized nations. Savages of
the forests are usually referred to as wild beasts in early tradition.
Xibalba is so hated by its enemies that its usual title is the
“infernal regions.”[342] Torquemada refers to it as _hell_, and its
king as the king of the “shades.”[343] The hatred was intense, and
the worst invectives were mild in the estimation of the enemies of
the no doubt oppressive power. We have already given the account of
creation in which Gucumatz (the Plumed Serpent) figured conspicuously.
He, however, is seen to have acted at the word of Hurakan (“Heart
of Heaven”). The closing paragraphs of the first division of the
_Popol Vuh_ give some of the exploits of the young heroes Hunahpu and
Xbalanque, who figure as the defendants of the worship of the Heart of
Heaven. A certain Vucub-Cakix, who assumed to be the sun and god of
the people, and who in his pride offended the Heart of Heaven, fell at
their avenging hands. His sons Zipacna and Cabrakan, whose pride was
as offensive to Hurakan as had been their father’s, shared the same
fate; though the brothers lost four hundred of their allies in the
undertaking, by Zipanca toppling over a house upon them while they were
rejoicing at his supposed death in a pit in which they had buried him.
The second division of the account reverts to events which preceded
those in the closing paragraphs of the first division by one or
more generations. The exploits of the ancestors of the brothers are
narrated. Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, grandparents of the sun and moon,
had two sons, Hunhunahpu and Vukub Hunahpu. The former of these sons
married, and to him were born also two sons, Hunbatz and Hunchouen,
who grew up to be wise and skillful and great artists. With all
these persons Hurakan, the Heart of Heaven, communicated through his
messenger Voc. At last Hunhunahpu and Vukub Hunahpu undertook a journey
toward Xibalba, playing ball as they went, by which we understand that
they set out upon a march of conquest. Upon hearing of their approach,
Hun Came and Vukub Came, kings of Xibalba, sent them a challenge to
a game of ball by four messengers who were called owls. From the
ball-ground of Nimxab Carchah (now the name of an Indian town in Vera
Paz), they followed the messengers down the steep road to Xibalba,
crossing rivers and ravines and a bloody stream. After arriving at
the royal palace, and during the process of arranging for the contest
in which their strength should be tried, they were so unfortunate as
first to be made the subjects of ridicule for the whole court, then
put to torture, and afterwards were cruelly and it seems treacherously
murdered. The head of Hunhunahpu was hung upon a tree, which at once
became overgrown with gourds so as to hide the head of the unfortunate
chief. Notwithstanding the royal decree that no one should approach
the tree, Xquiq, a virgin princess, a Xibalban, determined to taste
its forbidden fruit, and in an hour of solitude was in the act of
reaching forth to pluck it, when Hunhunahpu spat into her hand and she
immaculately conceived. Her condition was discovered by her father, who
delivered her to the owls, the royal messengers, to be put to death. By
bribing her executioners she escaped and went to the dwelling of the
old grandmother Xmucane, who upon the death of Hunhunahpu’s wife had
taken charge of his sons, the youthful Hunbatz and Hunchouen. Xquiq,
by miraculous performances, satisfied Xmucane that Hunhunahpu was the
father of her unborn children, and was received into her home. The
Xibalban virgin brought forth twin sons in the house of the enemies
of her country. These she named Hunahpu and Xbalanque. From the very
first their lot with their great-grandmother was a hard one. Their
half-brothers Hunbatz and Hunchouen treated them harshly, but in time
the twins revenged themselves by changing the former into monkeys, and
succeeding to their artistic skill and musical fame.
Various exploits of the twin brothers are narrated, chiefly—as we would
interpret the figurative language—with the more savage tribes of the
forests and mountains. From one of their captives whom they call a rat,
they learned of the expedition of their father and uncle, and were
brought into possession of their ball implements. The old ball-ground
(probably battle-ground) of their fathers was resorted to by Hunahpu
and Xbalanque, and when the Xibalban monarchs, Hun Came and Vukub Came,
heard of their purposes, they were angered and sent a challenge to
them as they had done to their ancestors. The message was delivered
at the great-grandmother’s home, and the two chieftains, upon being
acquainted with the news, returned to bid both mother and grandmother
farewell. Before taking final leave, they planted in the centre of
the house (probably the court) each a cane, which was endowed with
the singular attribute of revealing to the family the fortunes of
each of the brothers. The life and fate of each cane was inseparably
connected with that of Hunahpu and Xbalanque. On their route to Xibalba
the bloody river was passed and a stream called Papuhya; but, more
wise than their predecessors, they took cunning precautions not to be
deceived and sacrificed by the Xibalban monarchs. For this purpose, it
is said, they sent an animal called Xan before them, equipped with a
hair from Hunahpu’s leg, with which he pricked the princes and by their
exclamations learned their names. Thus they detected the artificial
wooden men whom we are told deceived their ancestors and made them the
objects of ridicule.
By this strange personification we think we may understand that the
father and the uncle of the two young heroes had treated with a couple
of irresponsible Xibalbans who had been sent out to meet them, with
the pretence that they were the kings, and when they had induced their
enemies to enter the city, the true monarchs seized them and repudiated
the action of the so-called wooden men, avowing no responsibility for
their pledges. Hunahpu and Xbalanque avoided two other artifices of
which their ancestors were the victims; one of these was a seat on a
red-hot stone under the pretence that it was the seat of honor; the
other was an ordeal in the “House of Gloom.”[344] The angry Xibalban
kings then met them in a game of ball, but suffered a defeat. Hun Came
and Vukub Came then requested the victors to give them four bouquets of
flowers, which request was granted, the fortunate brothers themselves
bearing them to the defeated kings. At their instance, however, the
guards of the royal gardens committed Hunahpu and Xbalanque to the
house of lances—the second of five ordeals common at Xibalba. Scarcely
had this been done before a swarm of ants—allies of the brothers—came
to their rescue, entered the royal gardens, bribed the lancers,
released their leaders and punished the owls—guards of the Xibalban
kings—by splitting their lips. The defeated monarchs began to realize
the seriousness of the contest which was being waged against them.
Hunahpu and Xbalanque were then subjected to ordeals in the houses of
cold, of tigers, and of fire respectively, but without suffering harm.
As we proceed, the account becomes more figurative than ever. In the
next ordeal in the house of bats, we are told that Hunahpu’s head was
cut off by the ruler of the bats, who, it seems, was recognized as of
super-terrestrial origin. Strange to say, this violent proceeding did
not prove fatal to Hunahpu; the animals assembled, came to the heroes’
relief, and by the strategic skill of the turtle and rabbit, at a
great game of ball, the brothers came out of all the Xibalban ordeals
unharmed.
The next act was designed as the beginning of the end of the great
struggle. Xibalba had failed because the brutes were not its allies.
The brothers were determined to show the haughty rival their personal
greatness, and resorted to the use of their magical arts. After
proper instructions to their sorcerers, Xulu and Pacam, Hunahpu and
Xbalanque mounted a funeral pyre and endured a voluntary death. But
their ashes and bones which were thrown into a river, rose instantly
into life, assuming the shape of young men. Five days subsequent to
this wonderful event they appeared in the form of man-fishes; and on
the day following, the sorcery was complete, for the brothers now
presented themselves in the form of “ragged old men, dancing, burning
and restoring houses, killing and restoring each other to life, and
performing other wonderful things. They were induced to exhibit their
skill before the princes of Xibalba, killing and resuscitating the
king’s dog, burning and restoring the royal palace. Then a man was
made the subject of their art. Hunahpu was cut in pieces and brought
to life by Xbalanque. Finally the monarchs of Xibalba wanted to
experience personally the temporary death; Hun Came the highest was
first killed, then Vukub Came, but life was not restored to them.”[345]
The twin sons of the unfortunate Xibalban virgin, an outcast from her
home, triumphed, their father and uncle were avenged, the warlike
Xibalbans—the fierce, frightful-looking, owl-like, faithless,
hypocritical tyrants, black and white, and with painted faces, as they
are described—were overthrown forever. The ancestors of the victorious
chieftains were then deified and given places in the sun and moon;
while their allies, the enemies of Xibalba, were made stars in the
firmament.
To interpret fully this figurative account requires further knowledge,
which it is hoped ultimately may come to light. The beheading of
Hunahpu in the house of bats may signify the loss of the most important
division of his army; for when the “animals” came to his relief—by
which we understand the less civilized tribes of the country—he
obtained a victory. The closing paragraphs of the account indicate that
a long and tiresome warfare brought the brothers repeated victories,
but not the entire overthrow of Xibalba; and that stratagem was
resorted to—a stratagem no more improbable or difficult to understand
than that of the wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks
at Troy. The stratagem was at last successful, and Xibalba, of the
Votanites—we suppose the empire of the Chanes—fell. The war seems to
have been one of religion in part, for Hurakan, “Heart of Heaven,”
inspired the contest, and Gucumatz, “the Plumed Serpent,” one of
his associate though minor deities, was the god of Hunahpu and
Xbalanque. The wicked Xibalbans were puffed up against the Heart of
Heaven, would not accept the true faith, and hence their overthrow
before the advancing power of a new religion.[346] It is certain that
the conquerors of Xibalba (which was no doubt Palenque) were near
neighbors, who had been closely allied to the great power. Bancroft is
of the opinion that they were the Tzequiles, who arrived during Votan’s
absence and introduced new ideas of government and religion among his
people.[347] Garcia Pelaez, in his _Memorias_, agrees with Juarros in
calling them Carthaginians, and states that they arrived in that region
about four hundred years before Christ, founded Tulan, the present
Ococingo, and overthrew ancient Culhuacan or Palenque.[348] Brasseur
de Bourbourg says that the Nahuas, coming into Mexico by sea at the
south [_i. e._, in the south central region] slowly moved toward the
north, to the regions bordering on California, and also spreading their
civilization across the Usumacinta River, went into Yucatan and even
Guatemala. This he thinks occurred in the year 174 of our era; Xibalba
was at the height of her power, but was overthrown in the revolution
and conquest.[349] While we do not attach much certainty to the
Abbé’s date, still we think that the fall of Xibalba was due to Nahua
influences brought to bear upon the ancestors of the Quichés. The old
religion and civilization of the Votanites were compelled to yield to
the vigorous and warlike power which brought with it a religion which
has ever commended itself to the senses and impulses of semi-civilized
peoples. The worship of the sun-symbol of the Heart of Heaven was
destined to supplant all other faiths.
It will be remembered that Quetzalcoatl was the leader and deity of the
Nahuas, and that in their language his name signified “plumed serpent,”
while Gucumatz, leader and patron deity of the Xibalban conquerors
has precisely the same significance in the Quiché language. Utatlan
upon the Guatemalian highlands was doubtless the point from which the
allied forces under the brothers descended the precipitous road to
the Usumacinta region below. It is probable that the Nahuas had lived
for some time in the country, had reached it in their migrations by
water along the Gulf coast, and spread their population to quarters
both north and south of the point at which they entered. They may
have been permitted to settle in the country without molestation, and
in time to have united their forces with the rivals of Xibalba for the
overthrow of a power which was the dread of the entire Central American
region. The crumbling though wonderful ruins of Palenque are the sole
vestiges which are left to us of a grand capital and noble empire,
and these offer us nothing but the sealed histories which are graven
in hieroglyphics upon its walls. Subsequently the Maya-Quiché nations
divided and extended their language in three directions; one division
journeyed toward Guatemala, another toward Mexico, and another into
Yucatan; the latter region has ever remained a peculiarly Maya country.
Las Casas states that some of the Guatemalians had a legend of their
origin, to the effect that a divine pair of beings had thirteen sons
(but by comparison with other authors, namely, Roman in Garcia, and
Bancroft, vol. iii, pp. 74–5, it is clear that the writer designed
to write three—_tres_—instead of thirteen—_trece_), or rather three
sons. The eldest was puffed up in his own conceit, and attempted to
create man against the will of his parents, but failed, except that
he was able to produce vessels of the meaner sort. The younger sons,
who exhibited quite a different spirit, were granted the privilege,
and after creating the sun and moon and stars, created the first man
and woman, the progenitors of the human race.[350] Las Casas adds,
“They have among them knowledge of the flood and of the end of the
world. They call it ‘butic,’ a name which signifies a flood of many
waters. They also believe that another ‘butic’ and judgment will come,
not of water but of fire. They hold that certain persons who escaped
from the flood populated their land; these were called the Great
Father and Great Mother.”[351] In Yucatan the origin traditions point
directly to an eastern and foreign source for the population. The
early writers report that the natives believed their ancestors to have
crossed the sea by a passage which was opened for them.[352] It was
also believed that part of the population came into the country from
the West. Lizana says that the smaller portion of the population, the
“little descent,” came from the East, while the greater portion, “the
great descent,” came from the West.[353] Cogolludo disagrees with this
view, and considers the eastern colony as the larger; a view which is
not likely to be true. The author himself is not quite certain as to
what he thinks upon the subject, and contradicts himself squarely on
the same page, as to the direction from which Zamna, the Yucatanic
culture-hero, is said to have come.[354] Señor Orozco y Berra, thinks
that the Yucatanic population came from the north-east (from Florida),
by way of Cuba and the islands adjacent.[355] The culture-hero, Zamna,
the author of all civilization in Yucatan, is described as the teacher
of letters and the leader of the people from their ancient home. His
relation to the people and his office of priest and deity combined—the
fact that he was the leader of a colony from the East, that he named
all the divisions of the land, all the towns, coasts, bays and
rivers—identifies him with Votan or rather with one of his disciples
or associates. Cogolludo’s statement, first that he came from the
West, may be true of the direction from which he came into Yucatan; and
the statement that he came from the East, may refer to the original
migration by which he in company with Votan reached Chiapas and from
thence entered the peninsula on the north-east. He was the founder of
the capital city of Mayapan, and after a long life died and was buried
at Izamal.[356] This became a shrine for pilgrims and was visited for
centuries afterwards by religious devotees in large numbers. Zamna is
supposed to have founded the oldest royal house in Yucatan—that of the
Cocomes.[357] The second culture-hero, of whom mention is made by all
the early writers, was Cukulcan (meaning plumed serpent, precisely
the same as Quetzalcoatl), who entered the country from the West and
settled at Chichen-Itza.[358] Landa is not certain whether he preceded
or followed the Itzas. His celibacy, general purity of morals, and the
advanced character of his teachings, seem to identify him with the
Nahua culture-hero, Quetzalcoatl, and it is believed, with reason,
that he appeared in Yucatan after his mysterious disappearance in
the province of Goazacoalco. For some unknown reason, Cukulcan left
Chichen-Itza after a residence there of ten years. Herrera states that
he had two brothers who remained in Chichen-Itza, while Cukulcan went
to Mayapan. He describes all as practising the purest asceticism. After
the disappearance of Cukulcan, temples were erected to his memory and
he was worshiped as a god.[359] The date of his residence in Yucatan
is a matter of considerable dispute, Cogolludo placing it in the
twelfth century, Herrera in the ninth, Brasseur de Bourbourg in the
eleventh, and Bancroft in the second. To fix dates on no better data
than such legends is folly. It is probable, however, that Cukulcan
was the culture-hero Quetzalcoatl, who was the teacher of the Nahua
nations and figured as the introducer of the fine arts, of purity of
morals, of confessional ceremonies and a humane and enlightened system
of religion at Cholula, and afterwards disappeared toward the East
upon the waters of the Gulf. With the rule of the Cocomes and the
annals of that remarkable branch of the Chiapan family, composed of
Maya and Nahua elements known as the Tutul Xius, we have nothing to do
in this work.[360] Las Casas, in examining the doctrine of Hunab Ku,
“the only God” among the Yucatecoes, who is described as the father
of Zamna, discovered a most striking Christ myth; one which conforms
so closely to the gospel account of Christ’s birth and ministry that
we must conclude that either some foreigner must have been cast upon
the coast after the Christian era began, bringing the gospel with him,
or that one of two views is true, namely, that the Fathers fabricated
the story, or that the natives, expecting favor of their conquerors,
endeavored to harmonize their belief with that which was being taught
them. Las Casas tells us of their belief in a Trinity consisting of
Izona, the Father; Bacab, the Son, and Echuah, the Holy Ghost.[361]
The Son was born of the Virgin Chibirias, and was rejected of men, was
scourged and crucified on a tree with cross-arms; he descended into
the regions of the dead, but rose again on the third day, and finally
ascended to heaven. In fact the story is the Apostles’ Creed without
the “Credo,” and is probably as much the work of the credulous and
imaginative Spanish Fathers as of the designing natives. The story
ought to be repudiated without question. It only remains for us to
submit the question to the reader, whether the Maya peoples are not of
transatlantic origin, as we believe the facts in this chapter indicate.