Like the Mexicans the Mayas had a great predilection for entertaining each other at banquets, and it is related of them that they often spent on one such occasion a sum that it had taken them many months to earn. Seasons of betrothal and marriage were always enlivened by sumptuous feasts. Whenever any contract had to be arranged, a feast was given and the act of eating and drinking together in public and before witnesses sufficed to make such contract valid.[1050] The lords and principal men gave feasts to each other, and as it was incumbent upon all the guests to return the compliment, there must have been a continual round of feasting. Cogolludo states that meat was eaten at banquets only, and this may in some measure account for the frequency with which they occurred, and the etiquette that required the invitation to be returned.
They observed a certain formality at their entertainments, seating themselves either in twos or fours. Each of the guests received a roasted fowl, some bread, and an abundance of cacao. When the meal was finished, presents were distributed to the guests, each being presented with a mantle, a small stool, and a handsome cup. Beautiful women acted as cup-bearers, and when one of these presented a cup of wine to a guest, she turned her back to him while he drank. The feast lasted until all were intoxicated, and then the wives led their drunken husbands home. When a marriage banquet, or one in commemoration of the deeds of their ancestors, was given, no return invitation was expected.[1051] Their entertainments were usually enlivened by a company of dancers and musicians, who performed dramatic representations under the leadership of one who was called holpop, or master of the ceremonies; he gave instructions to the actors, directed the singers and musicians, and from him all had to take their cue. The actors were called balzam, a name corresponding to jester or mimic. As women were not permitted to take part in the mummeries, their places were supplied by men. Their movements during the play were grave and monotonous, yet they were clever in mimicry and caricature, which they frequently made use of as a means of reproving their chief men.[1052] The plays were generally of a historical character, having for their subject the great deeds of their ancestors; their songs consisted of ballads founded upon local traditions and legendary tales.[1053]
MUSIC AND DANCES.
A favorite dance of the Mayas was one called colomche; a large number of men took part in it, sometimes as many as eight hundred. These formed a ring, and were accompanied during their movements by a number of musicians. When the dancing began, two of the actors, still keeping step with the rest, came out from the ring, one holding in his hand a bunch of wands and dancing upright, while the other cowered down, still dancing. Then he who had the wands threw them with all his force at his companion, who with great dexterity parried them with a short stick. When the two had finished, they returned to their former position in the circle, and two others took their place and went through the same performance, the rest following in their turn. They had also war dances, in which large numbers joined, the performers holding small flags in their hands.[1054]
They had a variety of musical instruments, prominent among which was the tunkul, which was almost the same thing as the teponaztli of the Mexicans.[1055] They had other drums made of a hollow trunk and covered at one end with deer-skin, tortoise shells that they struck with deer's horns, trumpets,—some of marine shells and others of hollow canes with a calabash at the end,—whistles and flutes made from bone and cane, besides various kinds of rattles.[1056] Landa says that in every village there was a large house or rather shed, for it was open on all sides, in which the young men met for amusement.[1057] Oviedo, who witnessed some dances and games among the Nicaraguans, thus describes one he saw at Tecoatega after the harvesting of the cacao. As many as sixty persons, all men, though a number of them represented women, took part in a dance. They were painted of various colors and patterns, and wore upon their heads beautiful tufts of feathers, and about their persons divers ornaments, while some wore masks like birds' heads. They performed the dance going in couples and keeping at a distance of three or four steps between pair and pair. In the centre of a square was a high pole of more than sixty feet in height driven firmly into the ground; on the top was seated a gaudily painted idol which they called the god of the cacaguat, or cacao; round the top were fixed four other poles in the form of a square, and rolled upon it was a thick grass rope at the ends of which were bound two boys of seven or eight years of age. One of them had in one hand a bow and in the other a bunch of arrows; the other boy carried a beautiful feather fan and a mirror. At a certain step of the dance the boys came out from the square and the rope began to unroll; they went round and round in the air, always going further out and counterbalancing one another, the rope still unrolling. While they were descending, the sixty men proceeded with their dance to the sound of singers beating drums and tabors. The boys passed through the air with much velocity, moving their arms and legs to present the appearance of flying. When they reached the ground the dancers and singers gave some loud cheers and the festival was concluded.[1058] Another favorite amusement was a performance on a swinging bar. For this two tall forked posts were firmly planted in the ground; across them and resting in the forks a pole was strongly bound. This pole passed at right angles through a hole in the centre of a thick bar, made to revolve upon it and of very light wood; near the end of the bar were cross sticks for the performers to take hold of. A man placed himself at each end, and when the bar was set in motion they went tumbling round and round, to the delight of the spectators.[1059]
CHAPTER XXIII.
FOOD, DRESS, COMMERCE, AND WAR CUSTOMS OF THE MAYAS.
Introduction of Agriculture—Quiché Tradition of the Discovery of Maize—Maize Culture—Superstitions of Farmers—Hunting and Fishing—Domestic Animals, Fowl, and Bees—Preservation and Cooking of Food—Meals—Drinks and Drinking-Habits—Cannibalism—Dress of the Mayas—Maxtlis, Mantles, and Sandals—Dress of Kings and Priests—Women's Dress—Hair and Beard—Personal Decoration—Head-Flattening, Perforation, Tattooing, and Painting—Personal Habits—Commerce—Currency—Markets—Superstitions of Travelers—Canoes and Balsas—War—Military Leaders—Insignia—Armor—Weapons—Fortifications—Battles—Treatment of Captives.
The tierra caliente and the low forest-clad foothills of the Usumacinta region on the confines of Yucatan, Guatemala, Chiapas, and Tabasco, present claims as strong at least as those of any other locality to be considered the birth-place of American civilization. Here apparently Votan and Gucumatz, demi-gods or civilizers, won their first triumphs over the powers of barbarism. In the most remote times to which we are carried by vague tradition and mythic fable, gods with strangely human attributes, or men of wonderful supernatural powers, newly arrived in this land, took counsel one with another how they might subject to their power and reclaim from barbarism the native bands of savages, or 'animals,' who roamed naked through the forests, and subsisted on roots and wild fruits. The discussion of the tradition with reference to its historic signification, is foreign to my present purpose, but as the story includes the traditional origin of agriculture and the discovery of maize under the form of a new creation, it is an appropriate introduction to the present chapter on the food, dress, and commerce of the Maya nations. The story runs as follows in the aboriginal Quiché annals:[1060]
Behold how they began to think of man, and to seek what must enter into the flesh of man. Then spake he who begets, and he who gives being, Tepeuh, Gucumatz, the creator and the former, and said: "Already the dawn is nigh; the work is finished; behold the support, the foster-father, is ennobled; the son of civilization, man, is honored, and humanity on the face of the earth." They came, and in great numbers they assembled; in the shadows of the night they joined their wise counsel. Then sought they and consulted in sadness, meditating; and thus the wisdom of these men was manifest; they found and were made to see what must enter into the flesh of man; and the dawn was near.