The Maya Chronicles Part 11

"Those who established themselves at Chichen Itza call themselves Itzas; among these there is a tradition that there ruled a great lord called Cuculcan, and all agree that he came from the west; and the only difference among them is as to whether he came before or after or with the Itzas; but the name of the building at Chichen Itza, and what happened after the death of the lords above mentioned, show that Cuculcan ruled the country jointly with them. He was a man of good disposition, was said not to have had either wife or children, and not to have known woman; he was devoted to the interests of the people, and for this reason was regarded as a G.o.d. In order to pacify the land he agreed to found another city, where all business could be transacted. He selected for this purpose a site eight leagues further inland from where now stands the city of Merida, and fifteen leagues from the sea. There they erected a circular wall of dry stone, about a half quarter of a league in diameter, leaving in it only two gateways. They erected temples, giving to the largest the name Cuculcan, and also constructed around the wall the houses of the lords among whom Cuculcan had divided the land, giving and a.s.signing towns to each. To the city he gave the name Mayapan, which means "the Standard of the Maya," as Maya is the name of their language.

"By this means the country was quieted and they lived in peace for some years under Cuculcan, who governed with justice, until, having arranged for his departure, and recommending them to continue the wise rule he had established, he left them and returned to Mexico by the same route he had come, remaining in Champoton some time, where, in memory of his journey, he erected a building in the sea, which remains to this day."[120-1]

Bishop Landa and some other early writers also give versions of this tradition, but do not add any facts to those in the above quotations.

Evidently it was a widespread legend of the origin of the great buildings of Chichen Itza. Is it a tradition of fact or is it a myth?

I confess that to me it has a suspiciously mythical aspect. It is too similar to what I may call the standard hero-myth of the American Aborigines. Everywhere, both in North and South America, we find the myth of the four brothers who divided the land between them, one of whom is superior to the others and becomes the ruler and instructor of the ancestors of the nation. He does not die, but disappears, or goes to heaven, and is often expected to return. Just so in one of the Maya myths, Cuculcan did not return to Mexico, but rose to heaven, whence once every year he descended to his temple at Mayapan and received the gifts which from far and wide pious pilgrims had brought to his shrine (Landa, _Relacion_, p. 302). All these myths relate to the worship of the four cardinal points and to the Light-G.o.d, as I have shown in a previous work (_The Myths of the New World_, chap. III. New York, 1876).

The proper names in the legend have nothing of a Nahuatl appearance.

They are all pure Maya. The "kinsman of Moctezuma," the second reading of whose name is the correct one, is given as _tan u pol chicbul_, "in front of the head of the jay-bird," the _chicbul_ being what the Spaniards call the _mingo rey_, which I believe is a jay (Beltran, _Arte del Idioma Maya_, p. 229). The other long name is a compound of _Zuhuy kak camal cacal puc_. The historian Cogolludo informs us that _Zuhuy Kak_, literally "virgin fire," was the daughter of a king, afterwards deified as G.o.ddess of female infants (_Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. IV, cap. VIII). _Camal_ was and is a common patronymic in Yucatan; _cacalpuc_ means "mountain land,"[121-1] and thus the whole name is easily identified as Maya. Possibly the member of the family Camal who bore the name was a priest of the G.o.ddess.

It will be noticed that neither the legend nor the legal testimony speaks of these foreigners as of a different language or lineage, but leaves us to infer the contrary. Had they been of Aztec race it would certainly have been noticed, for the Mayas had frequent mercantile relations with these powerful neighbors, they borrowed many words from the Nahuatl tongue, and single chiefs in Yucatan formed alliances with the Aztec rulers, and introduced Aztec warriors even into Mayapan, as is shown by the Chronicles I publish in this work, and also by the fact that a small colony of Aztecs, descendants of these mercenaries, was living in the province of Canul, west of Merida, when the Spaniards conquered the country (Landa, _Relacion_, p. 54). Therefore the Aztecs were no strangers to the Mayas, and doubtless the learned members of the priesthood and n.o.bles in the fifteenth century were quite well aware of the existence of the powerful empire of Anahuac.

But regarding the legend I have quoted as, in part at least, based on actual history, we may accept the fact that there was an important emigration from Mexico, and yet not one of either Aztecs or "Toltecs."

It must be remembered that the Huastecas, an important branch of the Maya family, occupied from time immemorial the coast of the Mexican Gulf north of Vera Cruz, and west to the mountains of Mezt.i.tlan, a province inhabited by a Nahuatl speaking race, but not subject to the dynasty of the Montezumas.

I have already referred briefly to their history, and it is possible that after their serious reverses, about 1450, they sent migratory bodies to their relatives in Yucatan. At any rate, there seems a consensus of testimony that the general trend of migration of the Maya race, was from north to south, and in Central America, from west to east.

We have in this paragraph examples of the use of three of the "numeral particles." _Cante bin ti katun_, literally, "it (_i. e._ time) went on for four katuns," and a few lines later _hunpel haab_, one year, _hunpiztun_, the first year.

The correct translation of _peten_ has been debated; it is from the root _pet_, anything round, a circle, and usually means "island." By a later use it signifies any locality with definite boundaries, hence a province, or kingdom. The following is the entry in the _Diccionario de Motul_:

"PETEN; isla, _item_ provincia, region, comarca--_uay tu petenil Yucatan_, aqui en la provincia de Yucatan."

The name of the first leader, Holon Chan Tepeuh, does not recur in the Annals. Its signification is: _holon_, a generic name for large bees and flies; _chan_, sufficient, powerful, still in use in Yucatan as a surname; _tepeuh_, ruler, from _tepeual_, to rule. This last word is marked in the _Diccionario de Motul_ as a "vocablo antiquo." It is of Aztec origin, as in the Nahuatl language _tepeuani_ means "conqueror."

The name we are considering should probably be rendered "Holon Chan, the ruler." The province ruled by the Chan family at the time of the conquest was on the eastern coast, south of that of the Cupuls.

The name _Chacnouitan_ is elsewhere, as we shall see, spelled _Chacnovitan_ and _Chacnabiton_. I am inclined to believe the last mentioned is nearest the correct form. By Pio Perez it was supposed to be an ancient name of Yucatan, and he translates the phrase, _uay ti petene Chacnouitan_, by "a esta isla de Chacnavitan (Yucatan)." Dr.

Valentini says: "the translation could as well stand for 'that distant island,'" and that "Chacnouitan was neither the whole nor the northern part of Yucatan, but a district situated in the southwest of the peninsula," (_loc. cit._ p. 38).

With this I cannot agree, as the adverb _uay_ always refers to the place (in no matter how wide an accepation) where the speaker is. Therefore I translate it "here, (_i. e._ to this general country of Yucatan, and at first) to the province Chacnouitan." The province referred to was, I doubt not, somewhere around Lake Peten. The word _chac_ is often used in local names in Yucatan, and usually means either "water" or "red," as it is a h.o.m.onym with several significations.

Several names similar to it are found in the Peten district. On Lake Yaxta, are the ruins of the very ancient city Napeten, and that lake may have once been called "Chac-napeten," "the water of Napeten." Again, on the road from Peten to Bacalar is the town Chacnabil, and the compound _Chacnabiltan_ would mean "toward or in the direction of Chacnabil" (see _Itinerarios y Leguarios que proceden de Merida, etc._, p. 15, Merida, 1851). The Itzas always remembered the Peten district, and when they met with reverses in northern Yucatan, they returned to it and established an important State there, which was not destroyed until the last decade of the seventeenth century.

3. _Hunpel haab minan ti hokal haab_, "one year lacking from five score years."

The name Ahmekat is probably an old form for _ahmeknah_ or _ahmektan_, both of which are given in the _Diccionario de Motul_ for chieftain, leader, captain.

4. _Lai tun_, the relative _lai_ with the particle _tun_, which is called by Beltran a "particula adornativa." _uchci_ is the aorist of the defective verb _uchul_, _uchi_, _uchuc_, to happen, to take place, come to pa.s.s. _Emob_ is the third plural of _emel_, to descend, to disembark, arrive. Pio Perez translates the phrase _ca emob uay lae_, "luego bajaron aqui." As this was written in the province of Mani, the "here"

now refers in a narrower sense to the vicinity of the writer. The word _chuulte_ I take to be an error of transcription for _uchci_, as it is so translated by Pio Perez. It is noteworthy that the word _chicpahci_, "discovered," conveys the sense that Chichen Itza was already in existence when the migration here recorded reached northen[TN-15]

Yucatan. It is from _chicul_, a sign or mark by which something is recognized.

Of the proper names in this section Bakhalal, "the canebrakes" (_halal_, the cane, _bak_, a roll or enclosure), is the modern province of Bacalar, on the east coast of the peninsula. _Ziyan caan_ appears to be used as a synonym of it, or else refers to a part of it. Its meaning is a picturesque reference to the view from the sea sh.o.r.e, where the horizon is clearly defined, and the sky seems to rise from the water, "the birth of the sky;" _Ziyan_, birth, _caan_, sky.

The name Chi Cheen Itza was that of one of the grandest ancient cities of Yucatan. _Cheen_ is the name applied to a tract of low-lying fertile land, especially suitable to the production of cacao (Berendt); _chi_ is edge or border. It is therefore a name referring to a locality, "on the border of the _cheen_ of the Itzas." _Cheen_ also means well or cistern, and another derivation is "at the mouth of the well," as _chi_ can also be rendered "mouth;" either of these is appropriate to the features of the locality, as it is a fertile low-lying tract with two large natural reservoirs near by.

5. _Paxi_, from _paaxal_, a neuter form of the active verb _pa_, to break in pieces; it means "to go to pieces, to fall in ruins, to be depopulated or deserted." Applied to a city it is often translated "to be destroyed," but it does not convey quite so positive a meaning.

_Kuyan uincob_, "men of G.o.d," from _Ku_ the general name for Divinity.

Chichen Itza was one of the chief centres of religious life in Yucatan, and its priests were esteemed among the most learned in the peninsula.

The name Chanputun, Champoton, or, reversed, Potonchan, is derived by Gomara from the Nahuatl _potonia_, to smell badly, and _chan_, house (in composition). Elsewhere, however, we find it in the form Chakanputun, and this is Maya. _Chakan_ is the term applied to a gra.s.sy plain, a savanna, and it was especially applied to the ancient province in which the city of Ho, now Merida, was situated, as appears from the following entry in the _Diccionario de Motul, MS._

"AHCHAKAN: el que es de Merida, o de los pueblos de aquella comarca, que se llama _Chakan_."

The correct form of the name is probably _Chakan peten_, the savanna region.

6. The only obscure expression in this section is _yalan che, yalan aban, yalan ak_. This often recurs in the ancient Maya ma.n.u.scripts, and was evidently a well-known formula, probably the refrain of one of their ancient chants. In Mr. Stephens' translation it is rendered "under the uninhabited mountains" (!) which is an attempt to render Pio Perez's words "bajo los montes despoblados," "in the uninhabited forests."

_Aban_ or _haban_ is an obsolete word, only found in compounds, as _yoxhaban_, huts made of branches. Both it and _ak_ were the names of various branches or twigs. The phrase is literally "under the trees, under the branches, under the foliage," and meant that those who thus lived were homeless and houseless. It is a striking testimony to the love of solid buildings and walled cities which characterized the Mayas.

I will add a verse from a curious prophetic chant in one of the Books of Chilan Balam, where this expression occurs, and which is an interesting example of these strange songs.

TZOLAH TI AHKIN CHILAM.

(_Recital of the priest Chilam._)

Uien, uien, a man uah; Uken, uken, a man haa; Tu kin, puz lum pach, Tu kin, tzuch lum ich, Tu kin, naclah muyal, Tu kin, naclah uitz, Tu kin, chuc lum ?iic, Tu kin, hubulhub, Tu kin, co? yol chelem, Tu kin, e?ele?, Tu kin, ox ?alab u nak yaxche, Tu kin, ox chuilab xotem, Tu kin, pan tzintzin Yetel banhob yalan che yalan haban.

_Translation._

Eat, eat, thou hast bread; Drink, drink, thou hast water; On that day, dust possesses the earth, On that day, a blight is on the face of the earth, On that day, a cloud rises, On that day, a mountain rises, On that day, a strong man seizes the land, On that day, things fall to ruin, On that day, the tender leaf is destroyed, On that day, the dying eyes are closed, On that day, three signs are on the tree, On that day, three generations hang there, On that day, the battle flag is raised, And they are scattered afar in the forests.

7. _He?ob_, from _he?_, _he?el_ or _e?_, to fix firmly, to settle, to found: _he?el ca cah uaye_, let us settle here, "poblamos aqui" (_Dicc.

de San Francisco_, MS.).

8. The founding of Uxmal by Ahcuitok Tutulxiu is recorded in this paragraph; _ahcui_ is the name of a species of owl, _tok_ is the flint stone. By some old writers Uxmal is spelled Oxmal, which would give the meaning "to pa.s.s thrice," _ox_, three, _mal_, to pa.s.s. From _mal_, preterite _mani_, also was derived the name of the chief city of the Tutulxiu, with a peculiar signification explained in a note on a previous page.

Mr. Stephens has taken considerable pains to prove that Uxmal with its astonishing edifices was inhabited at and after the conquest (_Incidents of Travel in Yucatan_, Vol. II, p. 259); there may, indeed, have been an Indian village there, but the first European traveler who has left us a description of it, and who visited it in 1586, when many natives, born before the conquest, were still living, describes the ma.s.sive buildings as even then in ruins, and very large trees growing upon them. An old Indian told him that according to their traditions, these structures had at that time been built nine hundred years, and that their builders had left the country nearly that long ago. (_Relacion Breve y Verdadera de algunas cosas de las muchas qui[TN-16] sucedieron al Padre Fray Alonzo Ponce_, in the _Coleccion de Doc.u.mentos para la Historia de Espana_, vol. LVIII, p. 461.)

The phrase _u he?icab Ahcuitok Tutulxiu Uxmal_ is translated by Pio Perez "se poblo en Uxmal," [TN-17]established himself in Uxmal,"

conveying the impression that he merely moved to that city. This is, however, not the sense of the original. _He?icab_ is an active verb governing Uxmal as its direct object, and means to found firmly or promptly.

The expression _halach uinicil_, the real man, the true man, is a common idiom for governor or ruler, he being the only "real man" in an autocratic community (ante p. 26).

The name of Mayapan is given in the form Mayalpan, which I think is dialectic. It is spoken of as an established city under the joint rule of several chiefs at the date of the founding of Uxmal.

9. This paragraph describes how the ruler of the Itzas lost his share in the government of Mayapan. _Kebanthan_, literally a plot, or to plot to do some injury--"concertar de hacer algun mal, y el tal concierto,"

_Diccionario de Motul_, MS. I have followed Pio Perez in translating "against Hunac Eel," although "by Hunac Eel" seems more correct.

Elsewhere the name is Hunac Ceel. Ancona argues that he was a member of the Cocom family (_Hist. de Yucatan_, I. p. 157.)

Several of the names of the seven "men of Mayapan" have a Nahuatl appearance. Kakaltecat=Cacaltecatl, He of the Crow; Ytzcuat=Itzcoatl, Smirch-faced snake; Xuchueuet=Xochitl, the rose or flower; Pantemit=Pantenamitl, the Conqueror of the city wall. These would seem to bear out what Landa and Herrera say, to the effect that at one period the rulers of Mayapan invited Aztec warriors from the province of Tabasco to come and dwell in the city and aid them in controlling the inhabitants.

Both Dr. Valentini and Senor Pio Perez are of opinion the Katuns at the commencement of this paragraph should read the 10th, 8th and 6th, instead of the 11th, 9th and 6th, as it is necessary in order to establish consistency with what follows.

10. This is one of the most obscure sections in the chronicle. The phrase _tumenel u uahal uahob_ is rendered by Pio Perez "because he made war," while Bra.s.seur translates it "because of his great feasts." The meaning of the root _uah_ is maize cakes, or, more generally, bread. The _Diccionario de Motul_ gives: "UAHIL; banquete, convite o comida," which is in favor of Bra.s.seur's translation.

_Oxlahun uu?_, "thirteen divisions;" _uu?_ or _uuu?_ means literally a fold or double, and hence appears to have been applied to ranks of men in double rows. I do not find, however, any such meaning given in the dictionaries. As a numeral particle it is used to count whatever occurs in folds or doubles.

The number thirteen had a sacredness attached to it, from its frequent use in the calendar. It appears from a pa.s.sage in the _Popol Vuh_ that the Cakchiquels, Pokomams and Pokomchis also divided their tribes into thirteen sections (_Popol Vuh_, p. 206). In the Maya language, 13 is also used to signify a great but indefinite number: thus _oxlahun cacab_, thirteen generations, is equivalent to "forever"; _oxlahun pixan_, thirteen times happy, is to be happy in the supreme degree; more remote from customary a.n.a.logies is the phrase for "full moon," _oxlhaun caan u_, literally "the thirteen-sky moon," the moon which fills with its light the whole sky (_Diccionario de Motul_, MS.).