Acta MesoAmericana

Acta MesoAmericana
Volume 23

Christian Isendahl and Bodil Liljefors Persson (editors)

Ecology, Power, and Religion in Maya Landscapes

11th European Maya Conference Malm University December 2006

VERLAG ANTON SAURWEIN 2011

Wayeb Advisory Editorial Board Alain Breton Andrs Ciudad Ruiz Elizabeth Graham Nikolai Grube Norman Hammond

Die Deutsche Bibliothek CIP Einheitsaufnahme Ein Titelsatz dieser Publikation ist bei Der Deutschen Bibliothek erhltlich

ISBN: 3-931419-19-X Copyright Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben, Germany, 2011 All rights reserved Layout: Daniel Karlsson, Prinfo Grafiskt Center, Malm, Sweden Printed in Germany

Contents
Introduction Christian Isendahl and Bodil Liljefors Persson Introducing Ecology, Power, and Religion in Maya Landscapes Water and Climatic Phenomena Stephen Houston and Karl Taube The Fiery Pool: Water and Sea among the Classic Maya Patrice Bonnafoux Waters, Droughts, and Early Classic Maya Worldviews Nicholas P. Dunning and Stephen Houston Chan Ik: Hurricanes as a Destabilizing Force in the Pre-Hispanic Maya Lowlands Lorraine A. Williams-Beck Rivers of Ritual and Power in the Northwestern Maya Lowlands 69 Exploring Power in the Landscape Alexandre Tokovinine People from a Place: Re-Interpreting Classic Maya Emblem Glyphs Estella Weiss-Krejci Reordering the Universe during Tikals Dark Age Laura M. Amrhein Xkeptunich: Terminal Classic Maya Cosmology, Rulership, and the World Tree 121 107 91 57 39 17 9 Ritual and Boundaries Christopher T. Morehart The Fourth Obligation: Food Offerings in Caves and the Materiality of Sacred Relationships 135 Bodil Liljefors Persson Ualhi Yax Imix Che tu Chumuk: Cosmology, Ritual and the Power of Place in Yucatec Maya (Con-)Texts Kerry Hull Ritual and Cosmological Landscapes of the Chorti Maya Andrs Dapuez Untimely Dispositions Lars Frhsorge Memory, Nature, and Religion: The Perception of Pre-Hispanic Ruins in a Highland Maya Community Valentina Vapnarsky and Olivier Le Guen The Guardians of Space and History: Understanding Ecological and Historical Relationships of the Contemporary Yucatec Maya to their Landscape Integrated Landscapes Christian Isendahl Thinking about Landscape and Religion in the Pre-Hispanic Maya Lowlands 209 Elizabeth Graham Darwin at Copan 221 167 159

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Ritual and Cosmological Landscapes of the Chorti Maya

Kerry Hull Reitaku University

Abstract
This paper explores the notion of both geophysical as well as symbolic landscapes in conjunction with Chorti Maya ritual practice. Otherworld landscapes are carefully analyzed to shed important light on modern-day ceremonial practice and conceptions of ritual space. Indeed, the recreation on earth of anthropomorphic landscapes forms the ideological backbone of many Chorti rituals today. Rituals will be shown to invoke specific symbolic landscapes in field ceremonies, healing rites, and house-dedication rituals relevant to the intended effects of each particular ritual. In addition, through an examination of ritual texts and fieldwork data, I will argue that much of the power of the practitioner lies squarely in their ability to construct parallel models of ritual space based on Otherworld patterns. This dialogic relationship between celestial and temporal landscape models informs ritual practice to a remarkable degree among the Chorti.

Resumen
Este artculo explora la nocin de los paisajes tantos simblicos como geofsicos en relacin con la prctica ritual de los Mayas Chorti. Los paisajes del Otro Mundo son cuidadosamente analizados para arrojar luz sobre la prctica ceremonial de hoy en da y sobre las concepciones de espacio ritual. De hecho, hoy en da la recreacin en la tierra de los paisajes antropomrficos constituye la columna vertebral ideolgica de muchos rituales de los Chortis. Los rituales se mostrarn a invocar paisajes simblicos especficos en las ceremonias de la milpa, los ritos de curacin, y los rituales para la dedicacin de la casa pertinentes a los efectos previstos de cada ritual particular. Adems, a travs de un examen de los textos rituales y los datos del trabajo de campo, voy a proponer que en gran parte el poder de la persona que hace el ritual se encuentra directamente en su capacidad de construir modelos en paralelo de un espacio ritual basado en los patrones del Otro Mundo. Esta relacin dialgica entre los modelos de los paisajes celestiales y temporales informa la prctica ritual en un grado notable entre los Chorti.

he Chorti Maya of southern Guatemala, in the Department of Chiquimula, live in a dialogic relationship with their surrounding physical environment. The various geophysical features of the Chorti landscape, far from being simply static monoliths, actively interact within the group consciousness of the Chorti people. Through an analysis of Chorti oral traditions, mythological understandings, and ritual knowledge, we can begin to unravel some of the complex channels through which the Chorti interpret their physical world. The following discussion will look more deeply into how geophysical features and ritual space fit into a composite worldview for

the Chorti. In addition, I will examine the salient role duality plays in how the Chorti view and interact with the physical realm. Finally, cosmology and anthropomorphism will be shown to lie at the heart of the Chorti interpretation of much of their surrounding environment. Mythology and Physical Space The physical landscape of the Chorti region is not a static space, but rather a collection of vivid relics of mythological origins (Figure 1). Dozens of geo-

Kerry Hull graphical features near Jocotan alone are part of the collective consciousness of the Chorti people as places relating to mythological events. For instance, a large stone outcropping near the hamlet of Las Lajas is the entrance to the inter-earthly domain of the Noj Bitor, a rich ladino supernatural being astride a horse. Also, a sacred mountain, known as Cerro Santa Mara or El Volcn de Santa Mara in Esquintla, is also thought to be alive. The Chorti say that when the neighboring volcano begins to erupt, El Volcn de Santa Mara spews out water in order to put it out. With the nearly conscious or cognitive nature of these mountains, it is no wonder that this area is considered to be a place where evil spirits come to menace those living in that region (cf. Hull 2003: 9599). struck the tower down with a lightning bolt, breaking the mountain into three major chunks (or many big pieces in some versions), which all landed in different places in Guatemala and other Central American countries. A hill in the previously mentioned hamlet El Volcn is home to a mountain known by the same name and is claimed to be one of the pieces of this mountain tower. One consultant from Pelillo Negro recounted the story this way:
Kwando ixin e senteyo najt najt tobesna ixin e syan penya. Jaxto e syan penya kocha chur e syan tun Peliyo yaja. Eso jax e bolkan xe jajcha. When the lightning bold went, a large number of huge rocks were sent flying far, far away. They are the many huge rocks like the many rocks lying about (in) Pelillo there. This was the volcano that was erected.

In this way, the physical landscape of the Chorti is readily explained through myth and tradition. The merging of mythological events with the presentday geophysical make-up of the Chorti region also works to solidify their belief that they reside on the same land where these great events of the mythological past occurred. The Sky and the Heavens The Chorti also preserve in their oral traditions certain understandings of the physical universe that have their origin in Classic period times. In the Chorti view of the universe, the heaven and the earth are connected at one edge. John Fought (1972) recorded the following version of this belief:
Because they say that where the edge of the world remains, which we live on, and at the edge, they say, there is just waterwhich is calledthe sea of tar. Because they say that it is the sea of tar because they say that therethere they join, the edge of the world and the sky (1972: 373). Because they say that there is a sealed heaven, which we call sky, and the earth. Because they say that the world and the sky are alikelikethe back of a wasp, coming together at a joint (1972: 374).

Figure 1. Map of Chorti region of southern Guatemala (map by Laura Krigstren, in Lpez Garca and Metz 2002: 20).

Perhaps one of the best examples of the interaction between tradition and physical space is to be found in the final scene of the most famous of all Chorti oral traditions, the Kumix Angel (Hull 2009a). In this story, the Older Brother Angels, or sakumbirob, were busily building a large tower made of wood, stone, and mud to get to where their parents lived in heaven. Their younger brother, Kumix Angel, warned them against building the tower, but they continued in spite of his protests. Soon, God was angered and 160

Thus, according to the above description, the sky and the earth are similar in shape and are joined by tar at one edge, similar to the attachment of the wings of a wasp to its back. This description is remarkably par-

Ritual and Cosmological Landscapes of the Chorti Maya allel to the so-called dawn glyph, which reads pas, and graphically depicts the sun wedged between the earth and the sky, where the edge of the sky and earth are joined at one point, just as the Chorti visualize them today (Figure 2). that, as one Chorti healer explained to me, one will hardly notice any difference after death. In addition to this analogous world, in Chorti mythology each benevolent divine being also has an evil counterpart. For example, the God of Fire, San Antonio, known for causing fevers and physical destruction by fire, has a good counterpart who is one of the four principal angels of God. In fact, even Jesus Christ and Mother Earth (katu rum) are said to have mischievous Otherworld counterparts. The very conception of universal order for the Chorti rests squarely on the notions of such a parallel existence and complementary genders. Indeed, such dualism forms the ideological mortar that binds together Chorti concepts relating to the physical and spiritual worlds (Hull 2009b). Ritual Recreation of Sacred Landscapes For the Chorti, the act of ritual is capable of reduplicating mythic events or sacred places. In Chorti thought, four divine beings, called angels, reside at the four corners of the world and are largely responsible for the production of the seasonal rains. The Chorti pray to these angels and offer candles on their behalf, imploring their help in bringing the rains at the desired time. Four of the main angels who are entrusted with the production of rain from January to August are known as the sakumbirob anjelob, older-brother angels. These divine beings are said to go to rest in mountains while they are not working from September to December (Hull 2000; cf. Fought 1972: 336). Since these four angels are often said to be standing or sitting at their mountain corners of the world, they analogously compared to the four supporting posts (oy) of Chorti houses. According to a Chorti consultant of Fought (1972: 378), There were some who used to tell that thecorners of the worldhad corner-posts. And they say that at those corner-posts were angels standing, holding them. In some descriptions, they are also said to have divine seats at the four corners of the world. Such seats are the antecedents for the four armchairs put around sacred tables used during the rain ceremonies, usually in late April (see Girard 1995: 146, Photo 60, 293). By setting up ritual tables with four chairs in temples, a Chorti priest creates a model of the universe with its four cornerposts and a place for the four rain-making angels to sit (Girard 1995: 149). In the summer solstice rite, these four angels occupy the chairs around the sacred table while the god of the Solstice sits in the center 161

Figure 2. Sky-Sun-Earth compound, read pas, showing the sky and earth connected at one edge (after Schele 1986: 326, Figure B4).

As this example illustrates, in various ways, the natural landscape continually interacts with the Chorti people on a narrative level as a physical manifestation of commonly held beliefs and oral traditions. Otherworld Landscapes In one tradition among the Chorti, the Otherworld itself is said to be a kind of equivalent counter-realm to our earthly landscape, although it is described as being upside down since the Chorti conceive of it as a parallel world, a mirrored existence to our own. In a healing prayer I recorded in 2001, the curer made reference to upat e glorya and upat e mar, the underside of heaven and the underside of the sea, referring to the underside of the watery surface of the Otherworld where legions of evil spirits reside. A Chorti text recorded by Fought (1972: 362, 374) also contains a reference to tupat e sielo tichan (orthography altered), on the backside of the sky above (my translation).1 Similar terminology shows up in the Ritual of the Bacabs where multiple directional locations in the Otherworld are called pach can (original orthography), the back side of the sky (Roys 1965: 64).2 For the Chorti, the spiritual counter-realm serves as the model for our physical landscape here on earth. Indeed, according to Antonio Hernndez, a Chorti consultant of Rafael Girard, Whatever is in the heavens is also on the earth (1995: 117). Accordingly, in the description obtained by Fought, upat e sielo is described as a town likejust like we see here; they say that there live all who die here and that there they go to live in that place. The temporal and the spiritual realms, therefore, are mirrored landscapes to such an extent

Kerry Hull (1995: 293). The replication of the seating order is also predetermined since each angels marks a specific direction, and because this is just how they are in heaven, according to one of Girards Chorti consultants (1995: 352). The table setting for the ceremony preceding the onset of the rainy season also mirrors the five-point quincunx design (i.e., a five-point diagram consisting of four corners and a center). Five large guacales, or gourd bowls, filled with chilate are placed in the four corners of the table for the angels and one in the middle (for the god of the Center of the World), all of which represent the five enormous lakes in the heavens from which rain water is obtained (Girard 1995: 140, 149; cf. Kufer 2005: 157). The layout of the table reflects a five-point quincunx design that figures prominently in the cosmology and ritual among the Chorti. Girard refers to it as the cosmic ideogram or cosmic diagram (1995: 294).3 As recently as my last visit to the cofrada of San Francisco in Quetzaltepeque in 2006, precisely this same quincunx pattern of five chilate offerings on the sacred table was followed (cf. Dary et al. 1998: 259; Kufer 2005). When the preliminary rituals are completed by the priest and his helpers and the table is fully prepared, according to Girard, the four angels are then invited to descend from their respective corners of the universe and take their place at the sacred table (1995: 142, 173). It is here that they, in the words of one consultant of Girard, assemble in the middle of the ground, to deliberate how they are going to make the food. Its like a meeting house (Girard 1995: 160). By drinking the chilate, the angels procure the necessary liquid needed to produce rain and to have the strength to work the milpa (Kufer 2005: 159; Girard 1995: 152, 173).4 However, according to one of Foughts Chorti consultants, the angels actually only partake of the spirit [meyn] of the chilate, not the physical drink; the spirit of the chilate is sufficient for them to carry off for rain production (Fought 1972: 413, 420). By taking their places at the sacred table and partaking of the offerings, the rain-making angels are signaling that their deliberations on when and how to bring about the rains have begun. It is worth noting at this point that not only does the table represent the plane of the universe with its four posts, but also the temple housing this table is itself a representation of the universe (Girard 1995: 148149). For this reason, Chorti priests take incense to all four posts in the temple since they symbolize the four rain-producing angels. In effect, the heavenly five-point landscape is recreated on a micro level through the symbolic association with the table 162 and temple. Indeed, several of my Chorti consultants say that the universe is thought to be a large house, just like the ones they live in, with the cornerposts being the pivotal architectural feature that defines them both. This same mytho-architectonic principle applies to the four small chapels that once encircled the temple at Tan Xa (a hamlet in the Jocotan area)5 in the 1930s, which were themselves physical recreations of the four corner-posts of the world and the angels that occupied them (Girard 1995: 248). In this way, the building of a physical object or structure can thus become a small-scale sacred reproduction of a heavenly counterpart location. The four corners of the world are also codified into actual physical geographic locations in the Chorti area. According to Girard, the Chorti priest invokes each of the four corner angels by referring to three mountains in the Chorti region of Cayaguanca, Granadilla, and Calichal, with the corresponding fourth location being the lake of Tutikopot, which are all said to be the resting place[s] of the four angels (Girard 1995: 149151; cf. Hull 2000). In addition, three springs, which are themselves ritual loci for rain-making ceremonies, are also mentioned in rain-making prayers since the angels are said to pass through them to gather sufficient water to create the rains (Girard 1995: 151). Since the mountains are said to be the resting place of four of the rainmaking angels, these areas are specifically addressed during prayers for rain. In fact, the mountains corresponding to these four angels are said to be the support of the angels legs (Fought 1972: 414). From their lofty hills of repose, each of the four angels is petitioned by the Chorti priest to throw down its water to bless the people (Fought 1972: 414). In a very real sense, these mountains (or occasionally lakes or springs) are physical manifestations of the invisible rain-making deities themselves. A clear interplay between mythology and geography is created through these conceptual associations. Dual Gender and Sacred Locations Certain sacred locations can also be referred to with dual-gendered names among the Chorti. For example, the three-stone hearth found in many Chorti homes is known as chujben (Figure 3). The hearth is known as the sestiadero or residing place of San Antonio, the God of Fire. The hearth, as well as its fire, are said to be vivoaliveby the Chorti, referring in part to a spiritually active force that exists

Ritual and Cosmological Landscapes of the Chorti Maya in certain places.6 Thus, children who get to close to the hearth may be given a fever by San Antonio (Hull 2003: 145). In ritual texts, the hearth has a special name that is dual-gendered and expressed as a couplet (Hull 2009b:192): 1. Ajsaktamenjortu Ajsaktamenjortata 2. Ajtinijortu Ajtinijortata The White ? Head Mother, The White ? Head Father The ? Head Mother, The ? Head Father there is a covenant between humans and the earth that requires a payment to the gods before one can plant the first seed. Through these covenant rituals the Chorti farmer fulfils his part of his obligation to Mother Earth and secures protection and a bountiful harvest for the milpa. One of the most crucial of these covenant processes is known as the limosna, or Payment to the Earth-ceremony that is usually performed on an individual basis by farmers on or before April 25th at midnight. In this ceremony the farmer takes the cooked meat of a chicken, a turkey, and chilate to the milpa as offerings. Often a ritual priest is sought who knows how to perform the prayer if the person does not know himself. The next step is to complete a ritual circuit around the milpa while censing with copal. During the ritual circuit, the actor petitions Mother Earth in prayer by saying, We have now come here to plant under the skirt of your feet. This metaphoric imagery stems from the belief that Mother Earth (today equated with the Virgin Mary) will come and stand over their milpa, and that the hem of her skirt will act as a protective barrier against malevolent spirits and the harmful natural elements. The description of the skirt barrier of Mother Earth brings to light the Chorti conception of the milpa as an anthropomorphic space. Indeed, the Chorti regularly use anthropomorphic terminology to describe a milpa. First, the top of the field in Chorti is called ujor e chor, the head of the milpa. In addition, the bottom is referred to as uyok e chor, the foot of the milpa. In English we also use such anthropomorphic terminology to describe the head or foot of the bed, table, etc., but for the Chorti, the representation is deeply meaningful, since they literally conceive of the field in anthropomorphic terms. The anthropomorphic nature of the milpa is best understood by their use of the term umujk e rum, the navel of the earth, to describe the center of the milpa. The concept of an umbilicus at the center of the field is related to a Chorti concept of a celestial cord, referred to as a sonda in Spanish, which, according to one of my consultants, is hollow like an intravenous tube used in hospitals (Hull 2000). This same cord, according the same consultant, was also used to measure the heavens during the creation, which immediately recalls the cord mentioned in the Popol Vuh, where in the first creation the universe was established by the fourfold siding, fourfold cornering, measuring, fourfold staking of a cord (Tedlock 1985: 72). In addition, this strongly resembles the kuxaan sum, or celestial cord that is also said to connect the earth to the heavens and that was a 163

In both examples, the morphemes -tu, mother, and -tata, father, are paired in the couplet halves, showing the dual-gendered nature of the household hearth. As I have noted elsewhere, objects and sacred locations can also be ascribed dual gender underscores the degree to which this concept pervades ritual and Otherworld thinking among the Maya (Hull 2009b:192).

Figure 3. Cooking hearth (chujben) in a Chorti home in Las Lajas, Guatemala (photo by Kerry Hull).

Anthropomorphism and the Milpa Arguably the most important space for many Maya groups is often the cornfield, or milpa. This physical location represents both the temporal means of daily subsistence as well as a metaphor of the lifecycle itself. What is more, the milpa is at its heart a ritual space. While it is most commonly thought of as place of physical labor, it is also a space of ritual activity and multilayered cultural understandings. In the past and still to a certain extent today, ceremonies to bring the rain have been central to the very existence of the Chorti. The Chorti believe that

Kerry Hull source of divine nourishment for the ancient Maya rulers (Tozzer 1907: 153154). Viewing the center of the milpa as the navel, therefore, further strengthens the anthropomorphic symbolism associated with this sacred space. Furthermore, it draws upon the ancient belief that the gods could provide their fields with fecundity through this central axis point of the quincunx just as a mother nourishes a child through the umbilicus while in the womb (cf. Freidel et al. 1993: 127130). Conclusion The physical world is alive and interactive in the mind of the Chorti people. Everyday locations are often attributed mythological origins to explain their existence or specific characteristics. Moreover, landscapes are interactive; they are can be imbued with almost conscious, human-like qualities, such as volcanoes which can react to each other actions. In many cases, local interpretation of mythology will map the same event on several different areas, often based on shared geographical features with the particular story. In addition, the physicality of points on their immediate landscape is indexical; they serve as visible reminders of events in the mythological past and provide a tangible context for their current belief system. Indeed, their ability to explain and understand their geophysical environment through oral traditions and mythological notions of cause and effect serves to reinforce the validity of both in the Chorti collective consciousness. Notes of the ceremonial table explained to me that the table must remain prepared throughout the spring season so that the angels can come and partake of their chilate whenever they choose. Their coming is highly anticipated since rain production is not possible without first filling themselves with this libation. According to my Chorti consultants, the main temple at Tan Xa fell into disuse in the 1940s. Today nothing remains of the main temple or the smaller chapels. I have elsewhere discussed the notion of vivo in some detail (Hull 2003: 9597). I quote a section of that discussion here: For the Chorti certain items are imbued with a sacred, living force that make them dangerous to humans. Such objects are termed vivo (alive), which refers to 1), their infusion with a harmful spiritual energy that emanates from malevolent spirits playing there or 2), a spiritually active place where otherworld beings or their influence can exist. In most cases, being vivo relates to the fact that one can get infected (tensan) by an evil spirit through contact with or close proximity to these objects. While in most instances the object is viewed as inherently vivo, it is also possible for a place to become infected with this type of spiritual energy (Hull 2003:97). References
Dary, Claudia, Silvel Elias, and Violeta Reyna 1998 Estrategias de sobrevivencia campesina en ecosistemas fragiles: Los chorti en las laderas secas del oriente de Guatemala. Guatemala City: Fundacin Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO). Fought, John G. 1972 Chorti (Mayan) Texts 1. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Freidel, David, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker 1993 Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shamans Path. New York: William Morrow. Hull, Kerry 2000 Cosmological and Ritual Language in Chorti. Report submitted to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI). URL: http://www. famsi.org/reports/hull/hull.htm

Note that Fought opts to translate tupat e sielo tichan as beyond the heavens above rather than the more literal on the back of the sky above. Numerous additional references exist in the Ritual of the Bacabs (Roys 1965: 6, 19, 64, 74), for example, Y lubul bin pach nohol ycnal uuc chan, He would fall behind the south [sky] to the place of Uuc-Chan-Chuc (Roys 1965: 74). This five-point system is also found on the altars of the Chorti fraternities, where five globes in the quincunx pattern hang above the altar, which, according to Girard (1995: 351), represent the five cosmic suns. In a visit to the cofrada of San Francisco in Quetzaltepeque in 2006, the Chorti priest in charge

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2003 Verbal Art and Performance in Chorti and Maya Hieroglyphic Writing. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Austin: University of Texas. 2009a The Grand Chorti Epic: The Story of the Kumix Angel. In: The Maya and their Sacred Narratives: Text and Context in Maya Mythologies (Acta Mesoamericana, Vol. 20), edited by Genevive Le Fort, Raphl Gardiol, Sebastian Matteo, and Christophe Helmke: 131140. Mckmhl: Anton Saurwein Verlag. 2009b Dualism and Worldview of the Chorti Maya. In: The Chorti Area: Past and Present on the Southeastern Maya Periphery, edited by Brent Metz, Cameron L. McNeil, and Kerry Hull: 187197. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Lpez Garca, Julin and Brent Metz 2002 Primer Dios: Etnografa y cambio social entre los mayas chortis del oriente de Guatemala. Guatemala City: Fundacin Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO). Roys, Ralph L. 1965 Ritual of the Bacabs: A Book of Maya Encantations. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press Schele, Linda and Mary Ellen Miller 1986 The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. New York: George Braziller. Tedlock, Dennis 1985 Popol Vuh. New York: Simon & Schuster. Tozzer, Alfred M. 1907 A Comparative Study of the Mayas and the Lacandones. New York: The Macmillan Company.

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