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They send them. They dispatch them, as we say.
Yes!
"You tell him yourself!" Because that's the way it
is. They announce, they call out our names the way a
Ladino calls our names from a paper. They look to
see where we are about to die. Yes!
"Go tell this one, because he is dying now!" they
say. Yes!
If they arrive and cry out at our houses, they
announce our names. Yes!
If you take care of yourself still, if you hold a
curing ceremony right away, then [the sickness] will
pass. Yes!
But if you don't take it seriously you won't last
long. You will last three or four days, that's about
all. We get sick. We die. It doesn't pass. That's not
all, they say that if the great horned owl flaps over
the path, if it hoots on the path when we are
travelling on the path, on a path far [from home], we
will meet up with a highwayman. Yes!
If it crys "Hoo, hoo!" or if the great horned owl
flaps by, then we are sure to meet up with a highwayman.
We'll meet up with a highwayman just a
little bit ahead. Yes, that's what they say!
Yes, that's what they say! Yes!
The shrine of Calvary on a hill overlooking the town is
believed to be the meeting place of the Tutelary Gods. There
they sit at a table to decide the fates of the citizens of Zinacantan.
They are envisioned as old men, their heads bound in red
turbans, dressed in ceremonial robes, supernatural models for the
elders of the human community below. In Chamula, Our Lord is
attended by horned owls, screech owls, and hummingbirds. The
horned owls sit on the top of the table, and their message of
death comes true, but the screech owls are underneath the table
and so their words are lies (Gossen, T21).
The concept of owls as lying messengers is found also in the
Popol Vuh where they serve as messengers for the Lords of Hell
(Edmonson, 1971:66).
ROMIN TAN-CHAK 91
Ch7ak'van tal, li tztak ech'el xkaltik. Ji7!
"7Alo li vo7ote!" Yu7n xa yech, yu7n xa slok'es,
chapta jbitik chak k'u cha7al bu xapta jbitik jun
jkaxlan ya7el 7une, ta vun 7un, tzk'el bu xa po7ot
xichamotik chil 7une. Ji7!
"Ba 7albo H7e yu7n xa chcham!" xi la 7un. Ji7!
Va7i 7un, mi k'ot 7ok'uk ta jnatik 7une, ja7 taj
tzlok'es jbitik 7une. Ji7!
7A ti mi yu7n 7atuk'ulan to aba, 7aval aba vokol,
ta 7ora 7une ta to la x7ech' 7un. Ji7!
Yan ti mi muk' tavo7on nox 7une, mu xa la jaluk
chbat 7un, 7o la xbat 7oxib k'ak'al chanib k'ak'al ja7
xa no la te k'alal, chi7ipajotik 7un, chichamotik 7un,
mu xa x7ech' 7un, yu7un me, mo7oje, 7o la xal, 7a ti
mi 7o bu xpochpon xa ta be li 7ichine, 7o la x7ok' ta
be bu chixanavotik ta be ta nom bee, 7o la jtatik
jmak-be. Ji7 la.
Mi 7o bu "Ju ju!" xi la, 7o la xpochkinaj xa li
7ichine, yu7n la me jmak-be ta jtatik 7un bi, te xa no
la k'u snamal ta jtatik i jmak-be 7une. Ji7 la 7un, xiik!
Ji7 la xiik! Ji7!
Eva Hunt (pers. comm.) believes that the characters of this
tale have been scrambled:
In the prehispanic version the diadic opposition is between screech and
horned owl. The screech owl was the 'true' messenger of death. He was
the theriophany of Mictlantecuhtli, the god of death. The screech owl
was also the 'accompanying flier,' a 'lord of the night,' the sixth of a nine
bird sequence which had Mictlantecuhtli as Patron Lord. The horned
owl, in opposition, was the theriophany and theriomorphic volatile of
Tezcatlipoca, the Magician trickster god, who 'lied' and 'teased' man.
That is, his death calls were 'false.' He was the tenth night ruler. In the
days ruled by screech owl real death took place. In the days of horned
owl death announcements were a 'trick' played by Tezcatlipoca.