Popol Vuh: Sacred Book of the Quiché Maya - Mesoweb

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(ca. 1575), Fr. Antonio de Ciudad Real (ca. 1590), Fr. Thomás de Coto (ca. 1656), Fr. Bartolomé de Anléo (ca. 1660), Fr. Tomás de Santo Domingo (ca. 1690), Fr. Benito de Villacañas (1692), Fr. Domingo de Basseta (ca. 1698), Fr. Francisco de Vare[l]a (1699), Fr. Francisco Ximénez (ca. 1701-4), Fr. Pantaleón de Guzmán (1704), Fr. Damián Delgado (1725), Fr. Francisco Herrera (1745), and Fr. Angel (ca. 1775). Translation is an art whose cloth is woven from a variety of threads. Any defects are solely the fault of the weaver. Its beauty is solely dependent on the threads themselves. Quiché History: INTRODUCTION Allen J. Christenson Provo, December 27, 2002 The Popol Vuh was written by anonymous members of the Quiché-Maya nobility, a branch of the Maya that dominated the highlands of western Guatemala prior to the arrival of Spanish conquerors in 1524. Their present population is something over half a million, spread thinly through a series of market towns and smaller agricultural villages in the modern Guatemalan states of Quiché, Totonicapán, and Quetzaltenango. Their homeland is some of the most beautiful country in the world, dominated by a range of high mountains, volcanoes, and steep-walled plateaus, wrapped in green pine forest, and watered by numerous rivers and waterfalls. Its high elevation keeps the climate comfortably cool in the summer, while its location in the tropics prevents the extreme cold temperatures usually associated with mountainous environments. Guatemala’s boast of being the “Land of Eternal Spring” is no exaggeration. Although the highland Maya have lived in this area for more than two thousand years, the Popol Vuh suggests that they came to be dominated by a militaristic group of relative 16
newcomers, led by the Cavec-Quiché lineage, who claimed to have come from somewhere in the East where the sun rises (Popol Vuh, pp. 204-205), likely the Maya lowlands during the early Postclassic phase (ca. AD 900-1200). During this period of history, many of the most important Maya ruling lineages throughout the region were multilingual and heavily influenced by ideas from beyond their borders, particularly from Nahua speakers, the language of central Mexico. According to Bernardino de Sahagún, a Spanish priest who worked among the Aztecs soon after the Spanish conquest, the lowland Maya area was known as Nonoualcat (land of the dumb) because it was occupied by non-Nahua speakers, although he asserted that many could speak Nahua as a second language (Sahagún 1959-63, Book X, 170; cf. Carmack 1981, 46). Nahua, the language of the Toltecs and later Aztecs, had become a kind of lingua franca among elite groups throughout Mesoamerica by the last centuries prior to the Spanish conquest. The highland Maya in particular remembered the legendary Toltecs, the ruling class of central Mexico in the early Postclassic period, as the greatest of artists and sages (Popol Vuh, p. 80n.102) and adopted many Nahua words that reflect political as well as esoteric ceremonial concepts. In the Terminal Classic (AD 800-900) and Early Postclassic (AD 900-1200) phases, central Mexican influence spread rapidly through much of Mesoamerica (Thompson 1970, 18-21; Fox 1978, 274). The most impressive center of Mexican influence in the Maya world during this time was Chichen Itza, located in the northern region of the Yucatán Peninsula. Diego de Landa, one of the first Spanish priests to work among the Maya of Yucatán, was told that the city was visited by a non-Maya priest-ruler who came from across the Gulf of Mexico named Kukulcan (Yucatec: “Feathered Serpent”). This legend dovetails well with similar myths recorded in Aztec sources concerning the Toltec priest-ruler Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl who sailed across the Gulf of Mexico toward Yucatán at approximately the same time (ca. AD 978 according to Aztec chronicles) (Landa 1941, 20-23; Coe 1987, 132). Yet central Mexican influences at Chichen Itza are much older than this legendary visit by 17
Page 1 and 2: Mesoweb Publications POPOL VUH Sacr
Page 3 and 4: modern usage were invaluable. I pur
Page 5 and 6: aqän us (mosquito legs) who was vi
Page 7 and 8: The word he used was k'astajisaj, m
Page 9 and 10: origin, transforming the poet into
Page 11 and 12: the Indians from their former relig
Page 13 and 14: Maya such that few are literate in
Page 15: text that have been published. In t
Page 19 and 20: Cavec Quiché lineage that produced
Page 21 and 22: As outlined in the text, the Quich
Page 23 and 24: Precolumbian Popol Vuh: In the prea
Page 25 and 26: Popol Vuh was based as an ilb'al, m
Page 27 and 28: missionaries. During the early deca
Page 29 and 30: History of the Popol Vuh Manuscript
Page 31 and 32: had long since eclipsed Santa Cruz
Page 33 and 34: script arranged in two columns, Qui
Page 35 and 36: properly read apart from the litera
Page 37 and 38: 7. Epithetic Parallelism: The assoc
Page 39 and 40: Masker, K'ojaj, Sun Lord, K'enech A
Page 41 and 42: Merely shaped they are called. Xa b
Page 43 and 44: Come here then my work, Sa'j la rec
Page 45 and 46: Orthography: The Quiché version of
Page 47 and 48: Since the sixteenth century, a numb
Page 49 and 50: throat is closed and air forcefully
Page 51 and 52: Here we shall gather the manifestat
Page 53 and 54: These collectively are evoked and g
Page 55 and 56: Shelterer, 29 Twice Midwife and Twi
Page 57 and 58: sides, 40 as it is said, by the Fra
Page 59 and 60: Quetzal Serpent. In their essence,
Page 61 and 62: “How shall it be sown? When shall
Page 63 and 64: sky was set apart. The earth also w
Page 65 and 66: Heart of Sky and Heart of Earth, Fr
Page 67 and 68:
Then was the framing, the making of
Page 69 and 70:
it be sown. May it dawn so that we
Page 71 and 72:
If this is to be the provider and t
Page 73 and 74:
who had given them birth and given
Page 75 and 76:
Thus they caused the face of the ea
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Then spoke also their griddles and
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“I am great. I dwell above the he
Page 81 and 82:
161 Yiqoxik is literally “to be s
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Zipacna was he that sustained the g
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pellet straight from his blowgun in
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“They are not, thou lord. These a
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THE DEEDS OF ZIPACNA AND THE FOUR H
Page 91 and 92:
“How far are you into it?” he w
Page 93 and 94:
On the third day, they started in o
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“Please take pity on me. I will n
Page 97 and 98:
It was simply because of Hunahpu an
Page 99 and 100:
Then the boys used a twist drill to
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and Xbalanque. But we shall tell on
Page 103 and 104:
Now it was on the path leading to X
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These, then, are they whose names a
Page 107 and 108:
These messengers were the owls 249
Page 109 and 110:
THE DESCENT OF ONE HUNAHPU AND SEVE
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Thus the Xibalbans laughed again. T
Page 113 and 114:
Thus there are many trials in Xibal
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Thus they restricted themselves. Al
Page 117 and 118:
“Thus may it be so, as I have don
Page 119 and 120:
man.” 283 “Who is responsible f
Page 121 and 122:
Thus she collected the sap, the sec
Page 123 and 124:
“From where have you come? Do my
Page 125 and 126:
Thus she called upon the guardians
Page 127 and 128:
Thus she went to see the maize plan
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Thus they were ignored 327 by Hunah
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“Our birds do not fall down here.
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THE FALL OF ONE BATZ AND ONE CHOUEN
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“We tried, our grandmother, and a
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Then they gave instructions to an a
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The first of these were the puma an
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Straightaway you will go up to wher
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Immediately then they sealed it, an
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“Very well then, but I see that y
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“Tell it then,” they said to th
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Thus Hunahpu planted one, and Xbala
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“What, Skull Staff? What is it?
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Thus they entered first into the Ho
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Thus the Xibalbans threw down their
Page 157 and 158:
“Look after our flowers with all
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HUNAHPU AND XBALANQUE IN THE HOUSE
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Thus they pleaded for wisdom all th
Page 163 and 164:
“Fine,” replied the Grandfather
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Thus the twins were able to retriev
Page 167 and 168:
“You will then reply, ‘Certainl
Page 169 and 170:
THE RESURRECTION OF HUNAHPU AND XBA
Page 171 and 172:
to be prodded because they just wal
Page 173 and 174:
“Now kill a person. Sacrifice him
Page 175 and 176:
And then they declared their names.
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called masters of harm 441 and vexa
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then little more was said. He did n
Page 181 and 182:
THESE were the names of the animals
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called Paxil and Cayala came the sw
Page 185 and 186:
THE MIRACULOUS VISION OF THE FIRST
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to move about. We know much, for we
Page 189 and 190:
eginning. 495 Thus were the framing
Page 191 and 192:
The beginning of the Tamub and the
Page 193 and 194:
Uchabahas 517 and the Ah Chumilahas
Page 195 and 196:
of Sky, Heart of Earth. May our sig
Page 197 and 198:
THE ARRIVAL AT TULAN 546 THIS, then
Page 199 and 200:
Nicacah Tacah 554 was the name of t
Page 201 and 202:
their fire came to nought. Then Bal
Page 203 and 204:
THE NATIONS ARE DECEIVED INTO OFFER
Page 205 and 206:
Now when they came from Tulan Zuyva
Page 207 and 208:
mountain today is called Chi Pixab.
Page 209 and 210:
Mahucutah, who observed a great fas
Page 211 and 212:
came to be. Hacavitz it was called.
Page 213 and 214:
But these, the gods, were comforted
Page 215 and 216:
the Cakchiquels, the Ah Tziquinahas
Page 217 and 218:
This they sang concerning the blood
Page 219 and 220:
them. They gave thanks before them
Page 221 and 222:
They did the same before the deersk
Page 223 and 224:
“Conquer many lands. This is your
Page 225 and 226:
There was a river where they would
Page 227 and 228:
our hearts that they have come unto
Page 229 and 230:
of Tohil. Thus said Tohil, Auilix,
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For the lords felt it was the sign
Page 233 and 234:
THE NATIONS ARE HUMILIATED 656 THUS
Page 235 and 236:
mere carved wood with the precious
Page 237 and 238:
Thus they became disoriented 668 be
Page 239 and 240:
Balam Acab of the Nihaibs also had
Page 241 and 242:
disappearance clear when they vanis
Page 243 and 244:
their lordship. Thus they received
Page 245 and 246:
THE MIGRATIONS OF THE QUICHÉS 705
Page 247 and 248:
Then they investigated the mountain
Page 249 and 250:
There were only two swollen 722 gre
Page 251 and 252:
And yet again they began to feast a
Page 253 and 254:
with one another and split apart. T
Page 255 and 256:
Councilor of the Stacks; 744 Emissa
Page 257 and 258:
Lord Emissary; 760 Great Lord Stewa
Page 259 and 260:
Cucumatz became a truly enchanted l
Page 261 and 262:
name of the other. These accomplish
Page 263 and 264:
arrows that were the means of shatt
Page 265 and 266:
Along with Ah Cabracan, 797 Chabi C
Page 267 and 268:
united. 811 The Tamub and the Iloca
Page 269 and 270:
Nihaibs. 822 Auilix was the name of
Page 271 and 272:
of Tohil, as well as before the fac
Page 273 and 274:
you place them on green roads and o
Page 275 and 276:
Nor was it merely a few of the nati
Page 277 and 278:
Tecum 851 and Tepepul were the nint
Page 279 and 280:
Tecum 860 and Tepepul 861 paid trib
Page 281 and 282:
THE GREAT HOUSES OF THE CAVEC LORDS
Page 283 and 284:
THE DYNASTY OF NIHAIB LORDS 869 THE
Page 285 and 286:
THE DYNASTY OF AHAU QUICHÉ LORDS 8
Page 287:
But this is the essence of the Quic
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Popol Vuh: Sacred Book of the Quiché Maya - Mesoweb

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