III

(A PROPHECY FOR KATUN 11 AHAU) 3

Katun 11 Ahau is set upon the mat, set upon the throne, when their ruler is set up. Yaxal Chac 4 is its face to their ruler. The heavenly fan, the heavenly wreath and the heavenly bouquet shall descend. 5 The drum and rattle of the lord of 11 Ahau shall resound, when flint knives are set into his mantle. 6 At that time there shall be the green turkey; at that time there shall be Zulim Chan; at that time there shall be Chakanputun. 7 They shall find their food among the trees; they shall find their food among the rocks, those who have lost their <usual> food 8 in katun 11 Ahau.

11 Ahau is the beginning of the count, because this was the katun when the foreigners arrived. They came from the east when they arrived. Then

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[paragraph continues] Christianity also began. The fulfilment of its prophecy is <ascribed> to the east. 1 The katun is established at Ichcaanzihoo. 2

This is a record of the things which they did. After it had all passed, they told of it in their <own> words, but its meaning is not plain. Still the course of events was as it is written. But even when everything shall be thoroughly

Click to view
FIG. 4--The drum and rattle of the katun resound. Fresco at Santa Rita, British Honduras.
(After Gann, 1900, Plate 31. Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution.)

explained, perhaps not so much is written about it, nor has very much been written of the guilt of their conspiracies with one another. So it was with the ruler of the Itzá, with the men <who were rulers> of Izamal, Ake, Uxmal, Ichcanziho <and> Citab Couoh 3 also. Very many were the /

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head-chiefs and many a conspiracy they made with one another. But they are not made known in what is <written> here; not so much will be related. Still he who comes of our lineage will know it, one of us who are Maya men. He will know how to explain these things when he reads what is here. When he sees it, then he will explain the adjustment of the intricacy of the katun by our priest, Ah Kin Xuluc; but Xuluc 4 was not his name formerly. It was only because these

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priests of ours were to come to an end when misery was introduced, when Christianity was introduced by the real Christians. Then with the true God, the true Dios, came the beginning of our misery. It was the beginning of tribute, the beginning of church dues, 1 the beginning of strife with purse-snatching, 2 the beginning of strife with blow-guns, the beginning of strife by trampling on people, the beginning of robbery with violence, the beginning of forced debts, the beginning of debts enforced by false testimony, the beginning of individual strife, a beginning of vexation, a beginning of robbery with violence. 3 This was the origin of service to the Spaniards and priests, of service to the local chiefs, 4 of service to the teachers, 5 of service to the public prosecutors by the boys, the youths of the town, while the poor people were harassed. These were the very poor people who did not depart when oppression was /

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put upon them. It was by Antichrist 6 on earth, the kinkajous of the towns, the foxes of the towns, 7 the blood-sucking insects of the town, those who drained the poverty of the working people. But it shall still come to pass that tears shall come to the eyes of our Lord God. The justice of our Lord God shall descend upon every part of the world, straight from God upon Ah Kantenal, Ix Pucyola, the avaricious hagglers 8 of the world.

Footnotes

77:3 A discussion of Maya prophecies will be found in Appendix D.

77:4 Literally, the green rain-god. Rain is green in the Maya picture-manuscripts. Cf. Appendix A.

77:5 In the Mani version of this prophecy these objects are said to be held in the hand of Yaxal Chac (Perez Codex, p. 75). We are told that the Maya "were fond of fragrant odors, and so made use of bouquets of flowers and fragrant herbs of odd designs." The bouquet was also a ceremonial object, for when children were baptised, the priest's assistant carried a bouquet of flowers. With this he made a threatening motion nine times at each child and then caused the child to smell it (Landa 1928, pp. 150 and 184).

77:6 Here the text is corrupt, it is corrected from page 133.

77:7 The green turkey (p. 70), Zulim Chan (p. 69) and Chakanputun (p. 136) are all associated with occasions when people were driven out into the forest, as many were in Katun 11 Ahau, the period of the Spanish conquest.

77:8 Alternative translation: who have lost their sowed fields, etc.

78:1 Compare with the katun-wheel on p. 132.

78:2 This is the end of the prophecy. What follows is a commentary.

78:3 The Couoh (Spider) family ruled in Champoton (Landa 1928, p. 42).

78:4 Xuluc is probably derived from the name of a fish resembling the dace, but it can also mean perishable, hence the play on words here.

79:1 Limosna in the text, but to the Indians it meant compulsory dues.

79:2 Lit. snatching the bags in which they carried the cacao used for small change.

79:3 These are stereotyped phrases usually employed to describe a riot or the plundering of a town.

79:4 Here we have a description of the oppression of the Indians during the colonial period, not only by the Spaniards but also by many of their own chiefs who held public office under the Spanish regime.

79:5 Maya, camzah, is a term also supplied to the village choirmaster, a person of considerable authority.

79:6 Called antachristoil in the text. We suspect it merely means bad Christians here.

79:7 These are terms applied in general to harsh and oppressive Maya chiefs. It is probable that they were originally honorable titles among the Itzá. Cf. Appendix F.

79:8 Maya, ¢utanil, which the Pio Perez dictionary translates as sorcerers or witches. The alternative translation, derived from ¢ut seems preferable here.