II. The Rise of Hunac Ceel to Power
II.
(THE RISE OF HUNAC CEEL TO POWER)
Ah Itzimthul Chac 9 was their commander at Ichcanzihoo. Uayom-chich 10 was their priest at Ichcanzihoo. Canul <occupied> the jaguar-mat. 11 The
second Priest Chable was their ruler. Cabal Xiu was their priest. Uxmal Chac 1 was their commander; formerly he was their priest.
Then Hapay Can 2 was brought to Chemchan. 3 He was pierced <by an arrow> when he arrived at the bloody wall there at Uxmal. 4
Then Chac-xib-chac was despoiled of his insignia. 5 Zac-xib-chac and Ek
[paragraph continues] Yuuan Chac were also despoiled of their insignia. Ix Zacbeliz 1 was the name of the maternal grandmother of the Chacs. Ek Yuuan Chac was their father. Hun Yuuan Chac was their youngest brother; Uooh-puc was his name. There was a glyph (uooh) written on the palm of his hand. Then a glyph was written
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FIG. 2--Chac-xib-chac, the God Impersonator at Chichen Itzá. Fresco, Temple of the Warriors. Drawing by Ann Axtell Morris.
below his throat, was also written on the sole of his foot and written within the ball of the thumb of Ah Uooh-puc. 2 The Chacs were not gods. The only true God is our Lord Dios; they worshipped him according to the word and the wisdom of Mayapan. 3
Ah Kin Coba /
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FIG. 3--Mexican warrior occupying the jaguar-seat. Fresco, Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itzá. (After Ann Axtell Morris.)
The translator believes that this figure is also representative of the guardians of the gates at Mayapan mentioned in the Chumayel.
south gate. Couoh was the guardian of the east gate. Ah Ek was his companion. This was their ruler: Ah Tapay Nok Cauich 3 was the name of their head-chief; Hunac Ceel was the representative 4 of Ah Mex Cuc. 5 Then he
demanded one complete Plumeria flower. 1 Then he demanded a white mat. Then he demanded a mantle faced on two sides. Then he demanded a green turkey. Then he demanded a mottled snail. 2 Then he demanded the gourds called homa. 3
4Whereupon they departed and arrived at Ppoole, where the remainder of the Itzá were increased in number; they took the women of Ppole as their mothers. 5 Then they arrived at Ake; 6 there they were born at Ake. Ake it was called here, as they said. Then they arrived at Alaa; Alaa was its name here, they said. Then they came to Tixchel, where their words and discourse were prolonged. 7 Then they arrived at Ninum, where their words and conversations were many. 8 Then they arrived at Chikin-¢onot, 9 where their faces were turned to the west. Chikin-¢onot was its name here, so they said. Then they arrived at Tzuc-oop, where they remained apart under the Anona tree. 10 Tzuc-op was its name here, so they said. Then they arrived at Tah-cab (Tahcabo), where the Itzas stirred the honey. Then it was drunk by X-koh-takin. 11
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[paragraph continues] Kancab¢onot. They departed and arrived at ¢ula. Then they came to Pibhaal¢onot. Then they arrived at Tahaac, as it was called. Then they came to Ticooh, where they haggled for that which was dear. 1 Ticoh was its name here. Then they arrived at Tikal, where they shut themselves in. 2Tikal was its name here. Then they came to Timaax, where they made complete rogues of themselves. 3 Then they arrived at Buctzotz, where they covered the hair of their heads with a garment. Buctzotz was its name here, so they said. Then they arrived at ¢i¢ontun, where a malevolent man began to seize the land. 4 It was called ¢iholtun here. Then they arrived at Yobain, where the crocodile 5 bewitched them through their maternal grandfather, Ah Yamazi, their ruler at the seashore. Then they arrived at Zinanche, where the devil bewitched them. 6 Zinanche was its name here. Then they arrived at the town of Chac. 7 Then they arrived at ¢euc; their companions contended with one another. Then the maternal grandfather of their companions arrived to reconcile them at ¢emul, 8 as it was called here. Then they arrived at Kini at the home of Xkil Itzam Pech. 9 Their companions were at X¢euc when they /
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soft. 1 Then they went to Oxlochhok. Then they went to Chac-akal. 2 Then they went to Xocneceh; the deer was their familiar spirit 3 when they arrived. Then they went to Ppuztunich. Then they went to Pucnalchac. Then they went to Ppencuyut. Then they went to Paxueuet. 4 Then they arrived at Tixaya (Xaya). Then they arrived at Tiztiz, as it is called. Then they arrived at Chican. 5 Then they arrived at Tixmeuac. /
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These are the names of whatever towns there were and the names of the wells, in order that it may be known where they passed in their march to see whether this district was good, whether it was suitable for settlement here. They set in order the names of the district according to the command of our Lord God. He it was who set the land in order. He created everything on earth. He set it in order also. But these were the people who named the district, who named the wells, who named the villages, who named the land because no one had arrived here in this neck of the land 10 when we arrived here. 11
Zubinche, Kaua, Cumcanul (Cuncunul), Tiemtun 12 (Ebtun), where the precious stones descended, Zizal, Zacii (Valladolid), Ti¢ooc (Tesoco), where the law of the katun was fulfilled, Timozon, Popola, where the mat of the katun was spread, Tipixoy (Pixoy), Uayumhaa (Uayma), Zacbacelean, Tinum where little was said to them, Timacal, Popola where they counted the mat of the katun in its order, 13 Tixmaculum where they interrupted with
words, ¢ithaaz (¢itas), Bon-kauil, Tixmex, Kochila, 1 Tix-xocen (Xocen), Chunpak, Pibahul, Tunkaaz (Tunkas), Haltunhaa, Kuxbila, ¢i¢ilche, Zitilpech, Chalamte where their anger was appeased, Itzamthulil (Izamal), Tipakab (Tepakam?) where they were united, /
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Then the rulers began to establish the country. There was the priest at Paloncab; there was the priest at Mutupul (Mutul), as it was called. The
priest at Paloncab was Ah May; 1 The priest at Mutul 2 was Ah Canul, also <entitled> Uayom Chich, 3 who spoke brokenly also; 4 also the second Chable man, 5 the man of Ichcanziho, Holtun Balam, his son. 6 Then <the province of> Chakan received the quetzal. 7 Then their associate rulers arrived. These rulers were the intimate associates of the rulers in Tun 11 Ahau. Then they established the land; then they established the country. Then they settled at Ichcanziho. Then came the people of Holtun-Ake; 8 then came the people of Zabacna. Then the rulers came, all together. The man of Zabacna was the first of the men of the Na family. Then they assembled at Ichcanziho, where the official mat was, 9 during the reign of Holtun /
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Then began the introduction of tribute to them at Chichen. At Tikuch arrived the tribute of the four men. 14 11 Ahau was the name of the katun when the tribute was handled. There at Cetelac it was assembled; there it was. Then came 15 the tribute of Holtun Zuiua, there at Cetelac, where they agreed in
their opinions. 13 Ahau was the name of the katun 1 when the head-chiefs received the tribute.
Then began their reign; then began their rule. Then they began to be served; then those who were to be thrown (into the cenote) arrived; then they began to throw them into the well that their prophecy might be heard by their rulers. Their prophecy did not come. 2 It was Cauich, Hunac Ceel, Cauich was the name of the man there, who put out his head at the opening of the well/
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went there. Then he removed the stones 1 of the land, the stones of the sowed 2 land, the place of Itzam, and they went into the water. 3 Then began the introduction of misery there at Chichen Itzá. Then he went to the east and arrived at the home of Ah Kin Coba.
Katun 8 Ahau came. 8 Ahau was the name of the katun when their government occurred. Then there was a change of the katun, then there was a change of rulers./
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blood flowed, and it was taken by the archers. 1 They were terrified . . . the time when the katun ended for them . . . / 2
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Footnotes
- 66:9 Here we have a new account of the conquest of Chichen Itzá by Hunac Ceel, the head-chief of Mayapan. Various versions of this episode will be found in Chapter: XIX, XX and XXI of the present work as well in the Mani and Tizimin chronicles (Brinton 1882, pp. 102, 146; Martinez 1927, pp. 8, 16). Cf. Appendix C.
Chac
was formerly an important title, but at the time of the Spanish conquest the term merely designated four old men who represented the rain-gods in certain religious ceremonies (Landa 1928, p. 180). Ah Itzimthul appears to be a variant of the name of the ruler of Izamal, afterward deified. He is called Itzmatul by Lizana (1893, ff. 4 and 14) and Itzmal Ulil in the Tizimin chronicle. Historical references to the ancient city of Ichcanzihoo, or Tihoo, the site of Merida, are so extremely rare that it is of especial interest to read that this city was under the command of the ruler of Izamal at this time. - 66:10 Uayom-chich: uay means a familiar spirit, and -om is an archaic suffix indicating either a participial or a future form of a verb. Chich signifies a bird. Ah uay chamac was a wizard who could turn himself into a fox, and the translator believes uayom chich indicates a similar relationship with a bird. This title may be associated with the figures of birds worn by the carved figures at Chichen Itzá.
- 66:11 Maya, ix-pop-ti-balam. The mat (pop) was the seat of authority in a Maya council, and balam means jaguar, although it is also a term applied to the priests and officials of a village. We are reminded of the jaguar seats portrayed at Chichen Itzá (Cf. fig. 3 and Morris, Charlot and Morris 1931, pp. 368, 373). In these frescos, which are of the Toltec period, we note that such seats are occupied by warriors. It is also known that the Mexican allies of the rulers of Mayapan were called the Ah Canuls (Landa 1928, p. 86; Crónica de Calkini, p. 35). Consequently the statement that one of the Canuls occupied the jaguar-seat accords with both the archæological and historical evidence. We are reminded of the ocelo-petlatzine, or "jaguar-mat" used at Temimilzinco in Mexico. It was so named because it was woven with dark spots to imitate a jaguar skin. Here, however, it was used to sleep on (Ruíz de Alarcón 1892, p. 155).
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- 67:2 Although not mentioned in any of the chronicles, Hapay Can figures prominently in a fragmentary account of the Hunac Ceel episode in the Tizimin (pp. 23-24) and Mani (pp. 166-167) manuscripts. The name, Hapay Can, means sucking-snake. The Lacandon Indians believe in a certain evil spirit of this name "in the form of a snake who draws people to him with his breath ... At the end of the world Nohochchacyum (the head of the Lacandon Pantheon) will wear around his waist as a belt the body of Hapay Can" (Tozzer 1907, p. 94).
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- 67:5 In the Mani chronicle it is indicated that Chac-xib-chac was the governor or head-chief of Chichen Itzá. In Appendix A evidence is presented that Chac-xib-chac, said by Landa to be one of the names of the Red Bacab, was probably in reality the Red Rain-god, who lived at the east of the world. Here we have an important personage bearing the name of the rain-god, and we may infer that he figured as the representative of the god. In the Temple of the Chac Mool found in the substructure of the Temple of the Warriors at Chichen Itzá there is a fresco representing five men wearing the mask and head-dress of God B, the Maya rain-god (Morris, Charlot and Morris 1931, pp. 375 and 454 and pl. 133). These are called God Impersonators, and the translator believes that they impersonated the five Maya rain-gods who, like the five Mexican Tlaloque, were set at the four cardinal points and at the center of the heavens.
To identify the insignia of which Chac-xib-chac was "despoiled" is more difficult. It is called canhel in Maya, a word which Beltran defines as "dragon." There are reasons for believing that this canhel is the ceremonial staff carried by the God Impersonators of the fresco in the Chac Mool Temple. In the mixture of Christianity and paganism on page 110 of the present work we read of God the Father grasping in his hand his canhel, so it is evidently something that could be held in the hand. Again, the figure in Maya art most obviously suggested by Beltran's "dragon" is the snake-like head of the God K and, as Ann Axtell Morris has conclusively shown in her analysis of the fresco, this ceremonial object is a vestigial form of the Manikin Scepter with its serpent handle and surmounted by the head or entire figure of the God K. Schellhas (1904, pp. 32-33) has shown the frequent association of God K with God B, who is impersonated in this case. Consequently the ceremonial staff retained its name canhel, even though it did not always bear the head of the god. In the Chumayel text canhel is written cangel, although the g is almost never employed in writing a Maya word. Evidently the writer associated the word with the Spanish angel, and we are reminded of the so-called angel which Landa tells us was set on the back of the figure of Kan-u-uayab-haab, the spirit who ruled over the five unlucky days immediately preceding the Kan years. He says that these "angeles" were frightful in appearance, but that they presaged rain and a good year (Landa 1929, p. 22). In the picture of the New Year's ceremony on page 25 of the Dresden Codex, a human figure with an animal's head, apparently representing the last day of the old year, bears on his back the God K, quite like the angel of which Landa tells. The passage on page 110 of the Chumayel indicates that the canhel was closely connected with the winds. Solís Alcalá and Solís M. (1927, p. 245) have associated the canhel with the winds but identify it with the wheel-like object held in the left hand of the figure with the animal's head mentioned above.
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- 68:2 This appears to have been the procedure followed by one who wished to set himself up as a leader. At the time of the fall of Mayapan, Ah Kin Chel also "wrote on the fleshy part of his left arm certain letters of great importance in order to be esteemed" (Landa 1928, p. 8; Cf. Spinden 1913, fig. 10).
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- 69:2 Maya, Ah-canul, which has been translated as guardian or care-taker (Tozzer 1921, p. 125). It is not unlikely, however, that the reference is to the people called Ah Canul, the so-called Mexican mercenaries who afterward settled in the Province of Ah Canul. Cf. p. 66, note 11.
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- 69:5 Ah Mex Cuc, literally whiskered squirrel, is said to have had the surname Chan and to have been one of the four greatest men of the Maya (Cf. p. 147, note 5). A squirrel of this description appears on one of the sculptured friezes of the Temple of the Warriors. Cf. Plate 1, b.
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- 70:5 Ppole was the port on the mainland from which travelers usually embarked for the Island of Cozumel (Aguilar 1900, p. 83). We have here a pun on the name, as ppol means to multiply or increase in numbers. The reference to taking the women of Ppole as their mothers is of interest, as it shows a recollection of the first Itzá taking the women of the country as their wives. These invaders were probably largely men.
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- 72:6 Mentioned on p. 142; evidently between Tixmeuac and Tetzal.
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- 72:11 This is the end of the first migration narrative, apparently an intrusion here, as it refers to a time when much of northern Yucatan was not settled, and the events of this chapter occurred in the time of Hunac Ceel about the end of the Twelfth Century A. D. What follows may refer to the reduction of the country after the fall of Chichen Itzá.
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- 72:13 Maya: ti u tzolahob u pop katun. Here we have an explanation of the phrase in the Tizimin Chronicle which Brinton (1882, p. 144) has translated: "then Pop (the first Maya month) was counted in order," and on which some change in the annual calendar has been predicated. It was the mat (pop) of the katun that was counted in order. The conception p. 73 is an ancient one, for the face of Stela J at Copan, containing an Initial Series inscription, is carved to represent a woven mat. No doubt the expression refers simply to the erection of the katun marker in this instance. it is of interest to note a secondary meaning also given to the word. "Num pop, num ¢am: Trabajo y miseria. Num, pop.l. num ¢am en ti numya mabal yan ten. Soy pobre miserable, no tengo tras que parar.l. ah numya pop en. Vocablos son antiguos." Motul.
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- 74:3 See p. 66, note 10.
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- 74:5 Ah Chable could mean a member of the Chable family or a man of the town of Chable. Probably the former is intended here. It is implied on page 67 that he was the chief of Ichcanziho.
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- 74:7 Maya, Yaxum, the symbol of Kukulcan, or Quetzalcoatl (Cf. p. 63, note 6). Yaxum is also the name of an unidentified tree.
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- 74:9 Ix pop ti balam. Lit. the mat for the balam. Balam means jaguar, priest, and town officials generally, including the priesthood. It seems likely that the seat of government is meant (Cf. p. 66, note 11).
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- 74:12 Ah Ppizte: cf. p. 65, note 2.
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- 75:6 See p. 69, note 4.
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- 76:2 The place of the Itzá may be meant. It is uncertain just who or what Itzam was. It is an element in the name Itzamná as well as in that of the whale or monster called Itzam-cab-ain, discussed on page 101, note 4. We find also the name Xkil Itzam Pech (p. 71, note 9).
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- 77:2 The order in which the place-names occur in the first migration narrative in this chapter indicates roughly a great eclipse which covers much of northern Yucatan, running west, south, east and north. The course of the second migration is much more irregular. Both narratives suggest that the people concerned in these movements started in the east and first traveled toward the west.
It is significant that Uxmal was the only place southwest of the puuc, or low mountain range, which was visited, for this is the district which is so thickly occupied by the imposing remains of what must have been important cities, such as Sacbé, Kabah, Sayi, Tabi, Labná and Keuic, to mention only a few of the best-known sites. Hardly a tradition has come down to us regarding this once densely populated region, although the Xius must have come through it when they settled in Uxmal. Evidently it was a country apart, and the people from the east (or southeast) with whom this chapter is concerned did not attempt to penetrate it.
Equally significant is the fact that in the area covered by these two lists of place-names we find no mention of the towns supposed to have been founded by the Cocoms after the fall of Mayapan, such as Sotuta, Tabi and Tibolon, nor of those settled by the Ah Canuls in western Yucatan, such as Calkini, Numkini and Maxcanu. These omissions are a confirmation of the historical value of these old migration narratives.