Pax. During this month a ceremony took place which was supposed to bring good luck in warfare. The priests and lords of the provincial towns assembled at the capital and passed five nights in prayer in the temple of the god Cit-chac-coh, together with the Nacon who was carried thither in divine state amidst clouds of incense. After this the populace at large joined in the proceedings, a fire-sacrifice, similar to that in Mac, was made, and the Nacon was carried round the temple. A dog was then sacrificed by the Chac, and its heart was offered between two plates, and after each of these officials had broken a vessel containing wine, a feast took place at which only the Nacon remained sober.
After this month no great festival was held until the new-year ceremonies, but various minor local feasts were celebrated, and a great deal of time was spent in eating and drinking.
The later Yucatec, we are told, were in the habit of setting up a “stone” to commemorate the commencement (or the end) of a katun (period of 7200 days, or 100 days less than 20 years). It is possible that this was a custom inherited from the earlier Maya, and if so it seems likely that the latter performed the ceremony every katun quarter. Certainly a large number of the stelæ, especially at Quirigua, bear initial dates of katun quarters, but there are also many to which this supposition cannot apply, and which must have served to mark some other occasion. It is certain that these stelæ were objects of worship, since in nearly every case an altar is found in front of each on which, presumably, offerings were made. Apart from the calendrical feasts, the Yucatec practised two interesting ceremonies, one of which was performed over children of about three years of age, and was known by a name signifying “to be reborn.” A lucky day was selected, and four Chac were chosen to assist the priest. The ceremony took place in a house which was purified for the occasion; the Chacs sat at each corner, holding cords enclosing the children and their fathers, the latter having fasted for three days; and the priest sat in the centre with a brazier and incense mixed with maize-meal. The boys wore a white head-ornament, and the girls a shell suspended from a girdle; each advanced in turn and offered meal and incense, receiving it from the priest. The cord, brazier and a vessel of wine were then given to a man to carry outside the village, and it was supposed that in this way evil was expelled from the house. The priest then assumed a tunic of feathers, chiefly red, with cotton streamers, and a feather head-dress (possibly similar to the costume shown on Fig. [82]; p. 344), and held in his hand a brush made of serpent-tails. The heads of the children were covered with cotton cloths, and a bone was passed nine times over the forehead of each and dipped in a vessel of water with which their brows, faces and the interstices of their fingers and toes were anointed. This water had been procured from hollow tree-stumps or mountain pools, and contained certain flowers and cacao. This part of the ceremony evidently possessed a purificatory significance, while the next act seems to signify, as far as the boys were concerned, the entry into boyhood. Their head-ornaments were removed by the priest with a stone knife, and an assistant followed with a handful of flowers and a pipe, handing them to each of the candidates in turn, the bouquet to smell and the pipe to smoke, making at the same time nine passes with them before the face of each. The mothers removed the shell ornament from the girls, who from this time were considered eligible for betrothal; and after several minor ceremonies, including the distribution of gifts among the chief actors, the function was over. The other ceremony, to which allusion is made above, consisted in the confession of sins, similar to, but less elaborate than, that practised by the Mexicans. It was believed that absolution could be given only once, and for this reason it was usually deferred until the penitent was seriously ill. The confession was made to a priest, if the services of one could be obtained, or else to a near relation, husband, wife, father or mother.
Of Kakchiquel ritual little is known; they, and also the Tzental, observed eighteen months of twenty days, and brought the year up to 365 by the addition of five extra days, just as the Maya and Mexicans. Some, at any rate, of their ceremonies appear to have been connected with the tonalamatl count, since we are told that in early times offerings of fresh incense, green branches and bark were made on each seventh and thirteenth day, and a “cat, the image of night,” was burned before the god. We are also informed that this was before the “worship of the idol of the great Chay Abah was begun.” However, various rites in connection with agriculture were practised, such as fasting before sowing, and the offering of incense at each of the corners of the fields.
In later Yucatan, pilgrimages were made from all parts of the country to important shrines, and we are told that the temple at Cozumel was one of the most celebrated at the conquest. Pilgrims were wont to stop to offer incense at deserted temples, and Cogolludo mentions the fact that he found recent offerings of copal in a temple at Uxmal. The present-day Lacandons also offer incense at the ruins, in the belief that they are haunted by the ghosts of their forefathers. Divination formed an important part of a priest’s duties, and it was principally for this purpose that the tonalamatl was employed in Yucatan. Thus at the birth of a child its horoscope was cast to determine its future profession. The Kakchiquel too practised divination, not only by means of the tonalamatl, but also with maize-grains, as the Mexicans. They also used blocks of polished obsidian for scrying, one of which was enshrined in a particularly celebrated temple, whither state messengers were sent to consult it on important occasions. Obsidian was supposed to have been produced in Xibalba at the creation, to be the “sustainer” of mankind, probably as the source from which the will of heaven could be ascertained. Maize was also employed for divination in Yucatan, and omens were taken from dreams and the voices of birds. Various minor superstitions were found, of which a few have been recorded. Thus if a man on a journey stumbled over a stone, many of which were placed at the commencement of a road, he made an offering of a green branch to it, and rubbed his knees with a pebble to prevent fatigue. If a traveller feared he might be late in arriving at his destination, he placed a stone in a tree to stay the course of the sun, or plucked out hairs from his eyebrows and blew them towards the heavens. In eclipses, dogs were pinched to make them howl, and a noise was made by striking the doors or furniture of the huts. An eclipse of the moon was supposed to betoken that the luminary was dying, or was being bitten by ants. The offering of eyebrows, and the pinching of the dogs during an eclipse, were also practised in Peru.
Many of the rites of the present-day Lacandons are survivals of the original worship. It has already been said that they are in the habit of making pilgrimages to ruined sites for the purpose of offering incense; the censers are rude clay bowls, with a mask-like face attached, and each is reserved for a particular god whose image is usually kept within it. The images are of stone and are kept hidden, and inherited from father to son. The censers are renewed at the harvest, the old ones are considered “dead” and left in the ruins. For the manufacture of the new censers, as for the preparation of fresh idols among the early Yucatec, a special hut is built, new fire is made at which incense is kindled in them for the first time, and blood, drawn from the ears of the worshippers with a stone knife, is smeared upon the images of the gods. They also observe a “baptismal” rite, at which a priest singes the hair of the candidates with six miniature torches of pitchpine and confers a name upon them. The torches are then smeared with blood and burnt, together with incense, in the idol house. Confession is made to the cacique, or local chief, if a member of the community is seriously ill, and the penitent believes that some sin of his commission may be the cause. A lightning-god is still worshipped, and in the Uloa valley Gordon came upon the tradition of a golden dragon, believed to inhabit a particular pool, to which offerings were made in former times, but which has withdrawn itself from human view since the Spanish conquest, though it still controls the clouds and rain. It is highly probable that many other interesting and important survivals might be discovered among the present population, but owing to their extreme reticence on such subjects the task is by no means easy. However, the district offers a good field to a student of folklore who is inclined to devote considerable time to the collection of these relics of a former religion, though he must certainly be gifted with an unusual degree of perseverance and patience.
CHAPTER XI—THE MAYA: BURIAL, SOCIAL SYSTEM, TRADE AND WAR
As regards the disposal of the dead, we find the same two methods current among the historical Maya as were practised by the Aztec, viz. inhumation and cremation. The first was that most commonly observed among the generality of the inhabitants. Death was supposed to be due to some evil spirit, and the friends and relations of the deceased mourned for several days, by day in silence, at night with lamentations, and the bereaved husband or wife observed a fast. The corpse was enveloped in wrappings, the mouth filled with maize-meal and currency-stones for use in the future life, and burial took place in or behind the house. The house was usually abandoned, through fear of the dead, unless a number of individuals were living there together and consequently felt less nervous of the departed spirit. The personal idols of a man were buried with him, and, in the case of a priest, certain of his religious books also. Upon the latter fact rests the hope that more of the precious manuscripts may yet be discovered. Individuals of high rank were burned, and their ashes deposited in large urns or in cavities in the heads of wooden figures carved for the purpose. In the latter case only a portion of the ashes were so preserved, the rest being buried. It is said that it was customary to remove the heads of princes of the house of Cocom, and to attach the facial portion of the skull, made up with artificial features, to a statue which was kept in a private oratory, while the ashes of high-priests were preserved in figures of pottery. Thus it is evident that simple inhumation was characteristic of the lower orders, cremation of the superior; and it is possible that the two methods may represent two separate cultural elements, since there is reason to believe that the ruling class belonged to a later immigration and were the introducers of certain Mexican practices and beliefs into the country. It seems possible that some form of cremation was practised also by the Kakchiquel, since we are told that the “ashes” of great men were mixed with the clay from which household idols were made; but among this people also cremation may have been reserved for the ruling class, since Fuentes states that at death the body lay in state for two days and was then buried in a jar, omitting any reference to cremation. It is possible that the term “ashes” may refer only to certain portions of the body, and need not be taken to imply the practice of burning the corpse; at any rate Gagavitz, the first Kakchiquel ruler, is said to have been simply buried. Leon states that a high-priest was buried in his house, seated upon his chair. The excavatory evidence, though at present very deficient, seems to point to the conclusion that cremation was a late practice among the Maya peoples. At Copan a number of burials have been discovered, in which the position of the bones implies that the body was arranged in a contracted position, recumbent or sitting. Stone-lined cists have been found as depositories for the dead sporadically from Quen Santo, through Alta Vera Paz to Copan and Benque Viejo; but beyond, in the Uloa valley, large burial sites have been discovered in which the bodies have been simply laid in the earth. In Sacchana both extended and contracted burials have been found, and in the Quiché country bones have been discovered in such a position as to imply that the body was arranged in a seated position on a pottery dish. British Honduras shows several styles of burial, and our information is due almost solely to the excavations made by Dr. Gann. About eighty miles from the coast on the Old River, he found cist-burials, as mentioned above, urn-burials, in which the bones were partly cremated, and burials both in a recumbent and in a seated position. From the remains associated with the bones it is evident that the cist-burials, both here and elsewhere in British Honduras, contained the bodies of men of higher rank. At all the sites mentioned above burials were found marked by mounds, but the presence of the latter is not invariable, and it may be that as excavation proceeds many cemeteries will be found of which no indications exist upon the surface. At a site on the Rio Hondo, Dr. Gann was able to distinguish between three distinct types of burial. The poorest graves were found associated in some numbers in large flat mounds, sometimes half an acre in extent; the bodies were contracted, and the grave objects included hammer-stones, beads of clay and shell, rude weapons and unburnished pottery. A better class of interment occurred singly, in separate conical mounds of limestone blocks and dust, about 18 feet high, with finer pottery and beads of stone; in these the bodies were also contracted, and sometimes arranged head downwards. The finest graves were cist-burials, each in a separate mound from twenty to fifty feet high; in these the body lay at full length, and the associated objects included fine painted vases, beads of jadeite, pearl-shell and obsidian, and finely flaked stone implements. In Yucatan, burials have occasionally been found in the so-called “chultunes,” or stone-lined cisterns used by the former inhabitants; and human remains, some suggesting cremation, have been discovered in the caves. The evidence respecting the latter, however, seems to suggest that these caves were not inhabited at an early period, and that the human occupation did not last for any length of time; it is probable that they were used only as places of refuge. On the whole such information as we possess concerning the methods of disposal of the dead seems to imply that burial was practised by the early Maya, and that cremation was introduced by certain of those peoples who are definitely known to be immigrants into the country at a date, as I hope to show shortly, posterior to the building of the monuments (with the exception of the later constructions at Chichen Itza).
At the discovery, the rule in Yucatan was divided among a number of princely houses who constituted a sort of feudal nobility. A chief was succeeded by his son, though his brothers ranked high and possessed much influence. The rulers governed their territory through sub-chiefs appointed in the outlying villages, who consulted them on all important matters, such interviews usually taking place at night. They maintained considerable state, being accompanied by a retinue when they left their residences, and etiquette enjoined that all visitors should bring some ceremonial present when they approached their overlord. This apart from the ordinary tribute of cotton tunics, game, cacao and personal service (such as house-building) which constituted the princely revenue. The scene on the vase shown in Pl. [XXIV]; p. 310, appears to represent an interview between a chief and a subject; the former is seated on a daïs, while the latter presents to him an object which is probably a pouch containing copal. Similar pouches are seen on the reliefs and in the manuscripts. Inheritance among petty chiefs followed Mexican lines, that is to say a petty chief was succeeded by his brothers in order of age, and his sons only came to power after the death of their paternal uncles. At an earlier period the various chieftains had been subjects of an overlord at Mayapan, to whom all paid tribute. The city was founded, according to tradition, by the descendants of the Tutul Xiu, now called the Itza, whose protecting deity was Kukulkan (in his later and degraded manifestation). The family of the Cocomes, however, seem to have gained the supreme power, but in any case the government was for a time centralized. The tributary lords possessed residences at the capital which were under the charge of intendants appointed by them, and were supported by their respective provinces; the inhabitants of the actual district of Mayapan were exempt from tribute, but the members of the aristocracy served in the temples, assisting in the festivals by day and night. Eventually, however, the centrifugal tendency so characteristic of Mexican and Central American politics reasserted itself, and the “league” split up into a number of independent, and often hostile, princelings. It is probable that each important group of ruins marks the site of some former centre of power, and the buildings not definitely associated with religion may have been in part the residences of feudal lords.
But though the formation of the Mayapan “league” seems to indicate the paramountcy of the secular power, the priestly caste, as in Mexico, must always have possessed enormous influence, and the early traditions seem to imply that they were the actual directors of tribal policy. Kukulkan and Itzamna are both mentioned as leaders of migrations, and from this it is fair to infer that the latter were directed by the priests of the gods. Little indication as to the insignia of the early chiefs can be gleaned from the monuments, though the later reliefs of Chichen Itza show many figures bearing a diadem of Mexican pattern. It is, in fact, almost impossible to distinguish between priests and rulers, and this very difficulty may perhaps be taken to imply that the rule had a religious basis. Possibly some of the armed figures may be taken to represent secular chieftains, but the arms themselves seem to be rather of a ceremonial nature, and at some sites, notably Copan, armed figures do not occur at all, while at Quirigua and Palenque the only weapon is the axe, which seems to be purely a religious emblem. The presence of subsidiary figures interpreted as prisoners may be thought perhaps to indicate secular might, but these only occur in any numbers at Naranjo. On the whole it seems reasonable to conclude that the early Maya lived under the sway of rulers in whom the priestly aspect predominated, and that the election of chiefs whose power rested on a secular basis was a later development.