American Hero-Myths Part 13

Such was its political condition at the time of the discovery. There were numerous populous cities, well built of stone and mortar, but their inhabitants were at war with each other and devoid of unity of purpose.[1]

Hence they fell a comparatively easy prey to the conquistadors.

[Footnote 1: Francisco de Montejo, who was the first to explore Yucatan (1528), has left strong testimony to the majesty of its cities and the agricultural industry of its inhabitants. He writes to the King, in the report of his expedition: "La tierra es muy poblada y de muy grandes ciudades y villas muy frescas. Todos los pueblos son una huerta de frutales." _Carta a su Magestad, 13 Abril, 1529_, in the _Coleccion de Doc.u.mentos Ineditos del Archivo de Indias_, Tom. xiii.]

Whence came this civilization? Was it an offshoot of that of the Aztecs?

Or did it produce the latter?

These interesting questions I cannot discuss in full at this time. All that concerns my present purpose is to treat of them so far as they are connected with the mythology of the race. Incidentally, however, this will throw some light on these obscure points, and at any rate enable us to dismiss certain prevalent a.s.sumptions as erroneous.

One of these is the notion that the Toltecs were the originators of Yucatan culture. I hope I have said enough in the previous chapter to exorcise permanently from ancient American history these purely imaginary beings. They have served long enough as the last refuge of ignorance.

Let us rather ask what accounts the Mayas themselves gave of the origin of their arts and their ancestors.

Most unfortunately very meagre sources of information are open to us. We have no Sahagun to report to us the traditions and prayers of this strange people. Only fragments of their legends and hints of their history have been saved, almost by accident, from the general wreck of their civilization. From these, however, it is possible to piece together enough to give us a glimpse of their original form, and we shall find it not unlike those we have already reviewed.

There appear to have been two distinct cycles of myths in Yucatan, the most ancient and general that relating to Itzamna, the second, of later date and different origin, referring to Kukulcan. It is barely possible that these may be different versions of the same; but certainly they were regarded as distinct by the natives at and long before the time of the Conquest.

This is seen in the account they gave of their origin. They did not pretend to be autochthonous, but claimed that their ancestors came from distant regions, in two bands. The largest and most ancient immigration was from the East, across, or rather through, the ocean--for the G.o.ds had opened twelve paths through it--and this was conducted by the mythical civilizer Itzamna. The second band, less in number and later in time, came in from the West, and with them was Kukulcan. The former was called the Great Arrival; the latter, the Less Arrival[1].

[Footnote 1: Cogolludo contradicts himself in describing these events; saying first that the greater band came from the West, but later in the same chapter corrects himself, and criticizes Father Lizana for having committed the same error. Cogolludo's authority was the original MSS. of Gaspar Antonio, an educated native, of royal lineage, who wrote in 1582.

_Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. iv, caps, iii, iv. Lizana gives the names of these arrivals as _Nohnial_ and _Cenial_. These words are badly mutilated.

They should read _noh emel_ (_noh_, great, _emel_, descent, arrival) and _cec, emel_ (_cec_, small). Landa supports the position of Cogolludo.

_Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 28. It is he who speaks of the "doce caminos por el mar."]

--1. _The Culture Hero, Itzamna._

To this ancient leader, Itzamna, the nation alluded as their guide, instructor and civilizer. It was he who gave names to all the rivers and divisions of land; he was their first priest, and taught them the proper rites wherewith to please the G.o.ds and appease their ill-will; he was the patron of the healers and diviners, and had disclosed to them the mysterious virtues of plants; in the month _Uo_ they a.s.sembled and made new fire and burned to him incense, and having cleansed their books with water drawn from a fountain from which no woman had ever drunk, the most learned of the sages opened the volumes to forecast the character of the coming year.

It was Itzamna who first invented the characters or letters in which the Mayas wrote their numerous books, and which they carved in such profusion on the stone and wood of their edifices. He also devised their calendar, one more perfect even than that of the Mexicans, though in a general way similar to it[1].

[Footnote 1: The authorities on this phase of Itzamna's character are Cogolludo, _Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. iv, cap. iii; Landa, _Cosas de Yucatan_, pp. 285, 289, and Beltran de Santa Rosa Maria, _Arte del Idioma Maya_, p. 16. The latter has a particularly valuable extract from the now lost Maya Dictionary of F. Gabriel de San Buenaventura. "El primero que hallo las letras de la lengua Maya e hizo el computo de los anos, meses y edades, y lo enseno todo a los Indios de esta Provincia, fue un Indio llamado Kinchahau, y por otro nombre Tzamna. Noticia que debemos a dicho R.F. Gabriel, y trae en su Calepino, lit. K. verb. Kinchahau, fol. 390, vuelt."]

As city-builder and king, his history is intimately a.s.sociated with the n.o.ble edifices of Itzamal, which he laid out and constructed, and over which he ruled, enacting wise laws and extending the power and happiness of his people for an indefinite period.

Thus Itzamna, regarded as ruler, priest and teacher, was, no doubt, spoken of as an historical personage, and is so put down by various historians, even to the most recent[1]. But another form in which he appears proves him to have been an incarnation of deity, and carries his history from earth to heaven. This is shown in the very earliest account we have of the Maya mythology.

[Footnote 1: Crescencio Carrillo, _Historia Antigua de Yucatan_, p. 144, Merida, 1881. Though obliged to differ on many points with this indefatigable archaeologist, I must not omit to state my appreciation and respect for his earnest interest in the language and antiquities of his country. I know of no other Yucatecan who has equal enthusiasm or so just an estimate of the antiquarian riches of his native land.]

For this account we are indebted to the celebrated Las Casas, the "Apostle of the Indians." In 1545 he sent a certain priest, Francisco Hernandez by name, into the peninsula as a missionary. Hernandez had already traversed it as chaplain to Montejo's expedition, in 1528, and was to some degree familiar with the Maya tongue. After nearly a year spent among the natives he forwarded a report to Las Casas, in which, among other matters, he noted a resemblance which seemed to exist between the myths recounted by the Maya priests and the Christian dogmas. They told him that the highest deity they worshiped was Izona, who had made men and all things. To him was born a son, named Bacab or Bacabab, by a virgin, Chibilias, whose mother was Ixchel. Bacab was slain by a certain Eopuco, on the day called _hemix_, but after three days rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.

The Holy Ghost was represented by Echuac, who furnished the world with all things necessary to man's life and comfort. Asked what Bacab meant, they replied, "the Son of the Great Father," and Echuac they translated by "the merchant."[1]

[Footnote 1: Las Casas, _Historia Apologetica de las Indias Occidentales_, cap. cxxiii.]

This is the story that a modern writer says, "ought to be repudiated without question."[1] But I think not. It is not difficult to restore these names to their correct forms, and then the fancied resemblance to Christian theology disappears, while the character of the original myth becomes apparent.

[Footnote 1: John T. Short, _The North Americans of Antiquity_, p. 231.]

Cogolludo long since justly construed _Izona_ as a misreading for _Izamna_. _Bacabab_ is the plural form of _Bacab_, and shows that the sons were several. We are well acquainted with the Bacabab. Bishop Landa tells us all about them. They were four in number, four gigantic brothers, who supported the four corners of the heavens, who blew the four winds from the four cardinal points, and who presided over the four Dominical signs of the Calendar. As each year in the Calendar was supposed to be under the influence of one or the other of these brothers, one Bacab was said to die at the close of the year; and after the "nameless" or intercalary days had pa.s.sed the next Bacab would live; and as each computation of the year began on the day _Imix_, which was the third before the close of the Maya week, this was said figuratively to be the day of death of the Bacab of that year. And whereas three (or four) days later a new year began, with another Bacab, the one was said to have died and risen again.

The myth further relates that the Bacabs were sons of Ix-chel. She was the G.o.ddess of the Rainbow, which her name signifies. She was likewise believed to be the guardian of women in childbirth, and one of the patrons of the art of medicine. The early historians, Roman and Landa, also a.s.sociate her with Itzamna[1], thus verifying the legend recorded by Hernandez.

[Footnote 1: Fray Hieronimo Roman, _De la Republica de las Indias Occidentales_, Lib. ii, cap. xv; Diego de Landa, _Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 288. Cogolludo also mentions _Ix chel_, _Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. iv, cap. vi. The word in Maya for rainbow is _chel_ or _cheel_; _ix_ is the feminine prefix, which also changes the noun from the inanimate to the animate sense.]

That the Rainbow should be personified as wife of the Light-G.o.d and mother of the rain-G.o.ds, is an idea strictly in accordance with the course of mythological thought in the red race, and is founded on natural relations too evident to be misconstrued. The rainbow is never seen but during a shower, and while the sun is shining; hence it is always a.s.sociated with these two meteorological phenomena.

I may quote in comparison the rainbow myth of the Moxos of South America.

They held it to be the wife of Arama, their G.o.d of light, and her duty was to pour the refreshing rains on the soil parched by the glaring eye of her mighty spouse. Hence they looked upon her as G.o.ddess of waters, of trees and plants, and of fertility in general.[1]

[Footnote 1: "Fabula, ridicula adspersam superst.i.tione, habebant de iride.

Ajebant illam esse Aramam feminam, solis conjugem, cujus officium sit terras a viro exustas imbrium beneficio recreare. c.u.m enim viderent arc.u.m illum non nisi pluvio tempore in conspectu venire, et tunc arborum cac.u.minibus velut insidere, persuadebant sibi aquarum illum esse Praesidem, arboresque proceras omnes sua in tutela habere." Franc. Xav., Eder, _Descriptio Provinciae Moxitarum in Regno Peruano_ p. 249 (Budae, 1791).]

Or we may take the Muyscas, a cultivated and interesting nation who dwelt on the lofty plateau where Bogota is situated. They worshiped the Rainbow under the name _Cuchaviva_ and personified it as a G.o.ddess, who took particular care of those sick with fevers and of women in childbirth. She was also closely a.s.sociated in their myth with their culture-hero Bochica, the story being that on one occasion, when an ill-natured divinity had inundated the plain of Bogota, Bochica appeared to the distressed inhabitants in company with Cuchaviva, and cleaving the mountains with a blow of his golden sceptre, opened a pa.s.sage for the waters into the valley below.[1]

[Footnote 1: E. Uricoechea, _Gramatica de la Lengua Chibcha_, Introd., p.

xx. The similarity of these to the Biblical account is not to be attributed to borrowing from the latter, but simply that it, as they, are both the mythological expressions of the same natural phenomenon. In Norse mythology, Freya is the rainbow G.o.ddess. She wears the bow as a necklace or girdle. It was hammered out for her by four dwarfs, the four winds from the cardinal points, and Odin seeks to get it from her. Schwartz, _Ursprung der Mythologie_, S. 117.]

As G.o.ddess of the fertilizing showers, of growth and life, it is easily seen how Ixchel came to be the deity both of women in childbirth and of the medical art, a Juno Sospita as well as a Juno Lucina.

The statement is also significant, that the Bacabs were supposed to be the victims of Ah-puchah, the Despoiler or Destroyer,[1] though the precise import of that character in the mythical drama is left uncertain.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Eopuco_ I take to be from the verb _puch_ or _puk_, to melt, to dissolve, to sh.e.l.l corn from the cob, to spoil; hence _puk_, spoiled, rotten, _podrida_, and possibly _ppuch_, to flog, to beat. The prefix _ah_, signifies one who practices or is skilled in the action which the verb denotes.]

[Footnote 2: The mother of the Bacabs is given in the myth as _Chibilias_ (or _Chibirias_, but there is no _r_ in the Maya alphabet). Cogolludo mentions a G.o.ddess _Ix chebel yax_, one of whose functions was to preside over drawing and painting. The name is from _chebel_, the brush used in these arts. But the connection is obscure.]

The supposed Holy Ghost, Echuac, properly Ah-Kiuic, Master of the Market, was the G.o.d of the merchants and the cacao plantations. He formed a triad with two other G.o.ds, Chac, one of the rain G.o.ds, and Hobnel, also a G.o.d of the food supply. To this triad travelers, on stopping for the night, set on end three stones and placed in front of them three flat stones, on which incense was burned. At their festival in the month _Muan_ precisely three cups of native wine (mead) were drained by each person present.[1]

[Footnote 1: Landa, _Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan_, pp. 156, 260.]

The description of some such rites as these is, no doubt, what led the worthy Hernandez to suppose that the Mayas had Trinitarian doctrines.

When they said that the G.o.d of the merchants and planters supplied the wants of men and furnished the world with desirable things, it was but a slightly figurative way of stating a simple truth.

The four Bacabs are called by Cogolludo "the G.o.ds of the winds." Each was identified with a particular color and a certain cardinal point. The first was that of the South. He was called Hobnil, the Belly; his color was yellow, which, as that of the ripe ears, was regarded as a favorable and promising hue; the augury of his year was propitious, and it was said of him, referring to some myth now lost, that he had never sinned as had his brothers. He answered to the day _Kan_. which was the first of the Maya week of thirteen days.[1] The remaining Bacabs were the Red, a.s.signed to the East, the White, to the North, and the Black, to the West, and the winds and rains from those directions were believed to be under the charge of these giant caryatides.

[Footnote 1: Landa, _Relacion_, pp. 208,-211, etc. _Hobnil_ is the ordinary word for belly, stomach, from _hobol_, hollow. Figuratively, in these dialects it meant subsistence, life, as we use in both these senses the word "vitals." Among the Kiches of Guatemala, a tribe of Maya stock, we find, as terms applied to their highest divinity, _u pam uleu, u pam cah_, literally Belly of the Earth, Belly of the Sky, meaning that by which earth and sky exist. _Popol Vuh_, p. 332.]

Their close relation with Itzamna is evidenced, not only in the fragmentary myth preserved by Hernandez, but quite amply in the descriptions of the rites at the close of each year and in the various festivals during the year, as narrated by Bishop Landa. Thus at the termination of the year, along with the sacrifices to the Bacab of the year were others to Itzamna, either under his surname _Canil_, which has various meanings,[1] or as _Kinich-ahau_, Lord of the Eye of the Day,[2]

or _Yax-coc-ahmut_, the first to know and hear of events,[3] or finally as _Uac-metun-ahau_, Lord of the Wheel of the Months.[4]

[Footnote 1: _Can_, of which the "determinative" form is _canil_, may mean a serpent, or the yellow one, or the strong one, or he who gives gifts, or the converser.]

[Footnote 2: _Kin_, the day; _ich_, eye; _ahau_, lord.]

[Footnote 3: _Yax_, first; _coc_, which means literally deaf, and hence to listen attentively (whence the name Cocomes, for the ancient royal family of Chichen Itza, an appellation correctly translated "escuchadores") and _ah-mut_, master of the news, _mut_ meaning news, good or bad.]

[Footnote 4: _Uac_, the months, is a rare and now obsolete form of the plural of _u_, month, "_Uac_, i.e. _u_, por meses y habla de tiempo pasado." _Diccionario Maya-Espanol del Convento de Motul_, MS. _Metun_ (Landa, _mitun_) is from _met_, a wheel. The calendars, both in Yucatan and Mexico, were represented as a wheel.]

The word _bacab_ means "erected," "set up."[1] It was applied to the Bacabs because they were imagined to be enormous giants, standing like pillars at the four corners of the earth, supporting the heavens. In this sense they were also called _chac_, the giants, as the rain senders. They were also the G.o.ds of fertility and abundance, who watered the crops, and on whose favor depended the return of the harvests. They presided over the streams and wells, and were the divinities whose might is manifested in the thunder and lightning, G.o.ds of the storms, as well as of the gentle showers.[2] The festival to these G.o.ds of the harvest was in the month _Mac_, which occurred in the early spring. In this ceremony, Itzamna was also worshiped as the leader of the Bacabs, and an important rite called "the extinction of the fire" was performed. "The object of these sacrifices and this festival," writes Bishop Landa, "was to secure an abundance of water for their crops."[3]