This Cha chac ceremony as performed by the Santa Cruz and Icaichè Indians bears a strong resemblance to certain ceremonies performed before the conquest, in honor of the Chacs, or Rain gods, and also to ceremonies carried out at the present day by the Lacandon Indians.
The names given to the modern priests were, according to Landa, all in use in his day. The Chacs were four old men chosen to assist the priests.[3] The men was an inferior priest or sorcerer, while the name Ahkin[4] was applied after the conquest, both to their own and to Christian priests by the Maya. Landa also mentions (Chap. XL, p. 260) a fiesta given to the Chacs, in conjunction with other gods, held in one of the plantations, when the offerings were consumed by the people after being first presented to the gods; these offerings consisted of turkeys and other fowls, corn cake, sikil, and posol,[5] all of which are used in the modern Maya Cha chac.
The god Yumcanchacoob (Lord of all the Chacs) of the Santa Cruz probably corresponds to Nohochyumchac (Great Lord Chac) of the Lacandones, as does the Ahcanankakabol (keeper of the woods) of the Santa Cruz, to the Kanancash of the Lacandones, whose name has practically the same significance. A belief in Xtabai, or spirits, and Ikoob, or Wind gods, seems common alike to the Santa Cruz, the Lacandones, and the Indians of Yucatan.
[PART 2. MOUND EXCAVATION IN THE EASTERN MAYA AREA]
[INTRODUCTION]
Classification of the Mounds
In the following pages is a description of the mounds opened during the last few years in that part of the Maya area now constituting British Honduras, the southern part of Yucatan, and the eastern border of Guatemala (pl. [7]). For descriptive purposes these mounds may be divided, according to their probable uses, into six main groups: