The Annals of the Cakchiquels Part 2

but that such a subdivision obtained among the Cakchiquels as well, is evident from many parts of their _Annals_. The same division also prevailed, from remote times, among the Quiches,[34-2] and hence was probably in use among all these tribes. It may have had some superst.i.tious connection with the thirteen days of their week. The _[c]hob_ may be regarded as the original gens of the tribe, and the similarity of this word to the radical syllable of the Nahuatl _calp-ulli_, may not be accidental. I have elsewhere spoken of the singular frequency with which we hear of seven ancestors, cities, caves, etc., in the most ancient legends of the American race.[34-3]

_Terms of Affinity and Salutation._

In the Cakchiquel grammar which I edited, I have given a tolerably full list of the terms of consanguinity and affinity in the tongue (pp. 28, 29). But it is essential to the correct understanding of the text in this volume, to recognize the fact that many such terms in Cakchiquel are, in the majority of cases, terms of salutation only, and do not express actual relationship.

Examples of this are the words _tata_, father, used by women to all adult males; and _tee_, mother, employed by both s.e.xes in addressing adult women. In Xahila's writings, we constantly find the words _nimal_, elder brother, and _cha[t]_, younger brother, inserted merely as friendly epithets. The term _mama_, grandfather, almost always means simply "ancestor," or, indeed, any member of an anterior generation beyond the first degree. This word must not be confounded with _mam_ (an error occurring repeatedly in Bra.s.seur's writings), as the latter means "grandchild;" and according to Father Coto, it may be applied by a grandparent of either s.e.x to a grandchild of either s.e.x.

_t.i.tles and Social Castes._

There are a number of terms of frequent recurrence in Xahila's text, expressing the different offices in the government, rank in social life and castes of the population, which offer peculiar difficulty to the translator, because we have no corresponding expressions in European tongues; while to retain them in the version, renders it less intelligible, and even somewhat repulsive to the reader. I have thought it best, generally, to give these terms an approximate English rendering in my translation, while in the present section I submit them to a critical examination.

The ordinary term for chief or ruler, in both the Cakchiquel and Maya dialects, is _ahau_. Probably this is a compound of _ah_, a common prefix in these tongues, originally signifying _person_, and hence, when attached to a verb, conveying the notion of one accustomed to exercise the action indicated; to a noun of place, a resident there; and to a common noun, a worker in or owner of the article; and _u_, a collar, especially an ornamental collar, here intended as a badge of authority.

_Ahau_ is, therefore, "the wearer of the collar;" and by this distinction equivalent to chief, ruler, captain, lord, king, or emperor, by all which words it is rendered in the lexicons. It is not a special t.i.tle, but a general term.

Scarcely less frequent is the term _ahpop_. This is a compound of the same prefix _ah_, with the word _pop_, which means a mat. To sit upon such a mat was a privilege of n.o.bility, and of such dignitaries as were ent.i.tled to be present at the national council; _ahpop_, therefore, may be considered as equivalent to the German t.i.tle _Rath_, counsellor, and appears to have been used much in the same conventional manner. In the Cakchiquel lexicons, _popoh_ is "to hold a council;" _popol_, a council; _popoltzih_, "to speak in council," etc. All these are derived from the word _pop_, mat; from the mats on which the councillors sat during their deliberations.

Personages of the highest rank, of the "blood royal," combined these t.i.tles. They were _ahau ahpop_, "lords of the council." Uniting the latter t.i.tle to the family names of the ruling house, the chief ruler was known as _Ahpo' Zotzil_, and the second in rank and heir-apparent, as _Ahpo' Xahil_. The oldest son of the former bore the t.i.tle _Ahpop-[c]amahay_, which is translated by the best authorities "messenger of the council," and ordinarily was applied to an official who communicated the decisions of the councils of one village to that of another.[37-1] Another t.i.tle, mentioned by Xahila, is _ahpop-achi_, the last word means man, _vir_.

A third article, which distinguished the higher cla.s.ses, was the seat or stool on which they sat during solemn ceremonies. This was called _[t]aalibal_, an instrumental noun from the verb _[t]al_, to be visible or prominent, persons so seated being elevated above, and thus distinguished from others, from this the verbal form, _[t]alel_, was derived, meaning "he who is prominent," etc., or, more freely, "ill.u.s.trious," "distinguished."[37-2] The t.i.tle _ahpop [t]alel_ meant, therefore, originally "he who is ent.i.tled to a mat and a stool," that is, in the council chamber of his town.

Another official connected with the council was the orator appointed to bring before it the business of the day. His t.i.tle was _ah uchan_, from _ucheex_, to speak, and it is translated by Spanish writers, the "rhetorician, orator."[37-3] A similar personage, the _ah tzih vinak_, "the man of words,"[37-4] was in attendance on the king, and, apparently, was the official mouth-piece of the royal will. Still a third, known as the _lol-may_, which apparently means "silence-breaker,"

was, according to the dictionaries, "an envoy dispatched by the rulers to transact business or to collect tributes."[38-1]

Very nearly or quite the same organization prevailed in the courts of Quiche and At.i.tlan. The chiefs of the latter province forwarded, in 1571, a pet.i.tion to Philip II, in which they gave some interesting particulars of their former government. They say: "The supreme ruler was called _Atziquinihai_, and the chiefs who shared the authority with him, _Amac Tzutuhil_. These latter were sovereigns, and acknowledged no superiors.... The sovereign, or king, did not recognize any authority above himself. The persons or officers who attended at his court were called _Lolmay_, _Atzivinac_, _Galel_, _Ah-uchan_. They were factors, auditors and treasurers. Our t.i.tles correspond to yours."[38-2]

The name here applied to the ruler of the Tzutuhils, _Atziquinahay_, recurs in Xahila's _Annals_. It was his family name, and in its proper form, _Ah [c,]iquin-i-hay_, means "he who is a member of the bird family;"[38-3] the bird being the totemic symbol of the ruling house.

While the n.o.bles were distinguished by t.i.tles such as these, the ma.s.s of the people were divided into well defined cla.s.ses or castes. The warriors were called _ah-labal_, from _labal_, war; and they were distinguished from the general male population, who were known as _achi_, men, _viri_. These were independent freemen, engaged in peaceful avocations, but, of course, ready to take up arms on occasion. They were broadly distinguished from the tributaries, called _ah-patan_; the latter word meaning tax or tribute; and still more sharply from the slaves, known as _vinakitz_, "mean men," or by the still more significant word _mun_, hungry (Guzman, _Compendio_). The less cultivated tribes speaking other tongues, adjoining the Cakchiquels, were promiscuously stigmatized with the name _chicop_, brutes or beasts.

A well developed system of tribute seems to have prevailed, and it is often referred to by Xahila. The articles delivered to the collectors were gold, silver, plain and worked, feathers, cacao, engraved stones, and what appear as singular, garlands (_[c]ubul_) and songs, painted apparently on skins or paper.

_Religious Notions._

The deities worshiped by these nations, the meaning and origin of their t.i.tles, and the myths connected with them, have been the subject of an examination by me in an earlier work.[39-1] Here, therefore, it will be needless to repeat what I have there said, further than to add a few remarks explanatory of the Cakchiquel religion in particular.

According to the _Popol Vuh_, "the chief G.o.d of the Cakchiquels was _Chamalcan_, and his image was a bat."[40-1] Bra.s.seur endeavored to trace this to a Nahuatl etymology,[40-2] but there is little doubt it refers, as do so many of the Cakchiquel proper names, to their calendar.

_Can_ is the fifth day of their week, and its sign was a serpent;[40-3]

_chamal_ is a slightly abbreviated form of _chaomal_, which the lexicons translate "beauty" and "fruitfulness," connected with _chaomar_, to yield abundantly. He was the serpent G.o.d of fruitfulness, and by this type suggests relations to the lightning and the showers. The bat, _Zotz_, was the totem of the Zotzils, the ruling family of the Cakchiquels; and from the extract quoted, they seem to have set it up as the image of Chamalcan.

The generic term for their divinities, employed by Xahila, and also frequently in the _Popol Vuh_, is _[c]abuyl_, which I have elsewhere derived from the Maya _chab_, to create, to form. It is closely allied to the epithets applied in both works to the Deity, _[c,]akol_, the maker, especially he who makes something from earth or clay; _bitol_, the former, or fashioner; _[c]aholom_, the begetter of sons; _alom_, the bearer of children; these latter words intimating the bi-s.e.xual nature of the princ.i.p.al divinity, as we also find in the Aztec mythology and elsewhere. The name _[c]axto[c]_, the liar, from the verb _[c]axto[c]oh_, to lie, also frequently used by Xahila with reference to the chief G.o.d of his nation in its heathendom, may possibly have arisen after their conversion to Christianity; but from the coincidence that the Algonkin tribes constantly applied such seemingly opprobrious terms to their princ.i.p.al deity, it may have arisen from a similar cycle of myths as did theirs.[41-1]

There are references in Xahila's _Annals_ to the Quiche deities, Exbalanquen, Cabrakan, Hunahpu, and Tohil, but they do not seem to have occupied any prominent place in Cakchiquel mythology. Several minor G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds, 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 phosph.o.r.escence 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.d, _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 Bra.s.seur, 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 n.o.bles 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 a.s.serted 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, const.i.tute 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 G.o.d, to some saint in the Roman calendar. In some of these, vast numbers of a.s.sistants took part, as is mentioned by Xahila (Sec. 32).

Magic and divination held a very important place in Cakchiquel superst.i.tion, 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 pa.s.sages, 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 superst.i.tions is ill.u.s.trated 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 t.i.tle _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 a.s.sociate 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 doc.u.ments 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 a.s.serts 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.