Chilam Balam: Translation: 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
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
was their priest there in the fortress <of Mayapan>. Zulim Chan was at the west <gate>. Nauat 1 was the guardian 2 of the
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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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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
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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
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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
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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hen 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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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).
67:1 One of the first rulers of Uxmal was called Hun Uitzil-Chae (Relaciones de Yucatan, I, p. 287; Tizimin p. 13). Evidently the ruler at Uxmal still retained the title of Chac.
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).
67:3 Chemchan is a suburb of Uxmal, recently located by Frans Blom.
67:4 Possibly his head was pierced by a stake and the reference is to a tzompantli (the Aztec name of a wooden rack on which the skulls of sacrificed victims were displayed) at Uxmal.
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.
68:1 Ix Zacbeliz could be translated either as "the white woman who travels on foot," or as "the woman who travels on the white causeway."
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).
68:3 Probably a reference to Hunabku, "the only living and true god, also the greatest of the gods of the people of Yucatan" (Motul).
69:1 Nauat is still a family name in Yucatan. We may well infer that this Nauat was one of the Mexican guards of Mayapan mentioned by Landa, as it is a Mexican word.
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.
69:3 Literally, Cauich with the embroidered mantle. Cauich is still a common family name in Yucatan.
69:4 Maya, pulben. Pul means to carry, to throw, to offer and to cast a spell. Pulben is a passive verbal noun meaning that which is to be carried, thrown or offered, probably the person who was carried in the place of or thrown into the cenote for Ah Mex Cuc.
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.
70:1 The Plumeria still has a mythological significance among the Lacandones (Tozzer 1907, p. 93).
70:2 Maya, ul, "certain small mottled snails found among the bushes and rocks" (Motul). Priests wore snail-shells sewn on their robes (Relaciones de Yucatan, II, p. 27).
70:3 The homa is a long narrow gourd with a small mouth. Dr. Redfield reports that it is still exclusively used to contain balché for religious ceremonies.
70:4 Here we have the beginning of what is evidently a migration legend referring to a much earlier period than the time of the Hunac Ceel episode.
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.
70:6 This is not the Ake noted for its ruins, but no doubt the modern town of ¢onot-ake, as it is here associated with Sucopo, Kikil and other towns in that neighborhood. Aké is also a family name.
70:7 The name Tixchel probably comes from Ix Chel, the goddess of medicine and the rainbow, but a pun is made on the verbal root, chel, which means to stretch out or prolong.
70:8 Ninum may be derived from num, a wild prickly pear (Acanthocereus pentagonus Britt. & Rose), but num also means much or too much.
70:9 Chikin-¢onot means west cenote. It was probably in the neighborhood of Tizimin, and not the village of that name south of Valladolid.
70:10 Tzuc-op, the modern Sucopo, probably means a clump of Anona trees, but tzuc-ba means to remain apart, hence the pun.
70:11 X-koh-takin, literally she who wears a gold mask.
70:12 Cabilneba may be derived from cabil, sweet like honey, and neba (lit. gopher-tail) an unidentified plant. Many place-names are derived from plants.
70:13 Kikil means bloody, and Panabhaa, an artificial well.
70:14 Cucuchil-haa means very full of water and cuch can mean to settle.
71:1 Coh means dear or high priced.
71:2 Kal means to shut in.
71:3 Timaax is the modern Temax. Maax means a monkey or a rogue.
71:4 Maya, chuc lum ¢i¢i, a stock phrase. The Indians told Martin Sanchez that ¢i¢ontun was so named because they had an idol which had a jacket of green and red beads and named Ah Kin Pekual (Relaciones de Yucatan, I, p. 299).
71:5 Maya, ain, or ayin.
71:6 Zinanche, lit. scorpion tree, is the Zanthoxylum caribæum Lam.
71:7 Probably Telchac is intended.
71:8 ¢emul means little mound; ¢emlah yol means to reconcile.
71:9 Another Ixkil Itzam Pech was chief of Conkal at the time of the Spanish conquest (Brinton 1882, p. 219).
71:10 Baca, or bac-haa, means to pour water.
71:11 Cel, the last syllable in Caucel, means cold in Maya.
71:12 Ya ucu is probably an exclamation of sorrow or pain.
72:1 Maya, munhi (translated: "were soft,") is a pun on the name, Munaa, which the Indians themselves derived from muan-a, the water (or well) of the sparrow-hawk. Relaciones de Yucatan, I, p. 155.
72:2 Chac-akal, literally red pond, may be modern Yakal.
72:3 Ceh, the last syllable in Xocneceh, means deer in Maya.
72:4 Pax-ueuet is probably derived from the Maya pax, to drum with the hand, and ueuet, or huehuetl, the Nahuatl for drum.
72:5 Probably Chichican. Mani map of 1557 apud Stephens 1843, II, p. 264.
72:6 Mentioned on p. 142; evidently between Tixmeuac and Tetzal.
72:7 Located from description in Relaciones de Yucatan, I, p. 296.
72:8 Lop is probably the modern Tiholop.
72:9 Cetelac is the name of a hacienda close to the ruined city now named for the neighboring town of Yaxuná. These ruins are, at the western end of the ancient causeway which extends to Cobá.
72:10 Maya, u cal peten, in imitation of the Spanish name, Yucatan.
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.
72:12 Instead of precious stones (tun) this may refer to the descent or arrival of the Tun family who are very numerous in this neighborhood (Titulos de Ebtun). The modern name, Ebtun, means a stone stairway.
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
73:1 Kochila is just north of the causeway from Cobá to Yaxuná. Tit. Ebtun, pp. 284 and 320.
73:2 Maya: ti che choc ¢ii¢. ¢i¢ is defined as hoof, left hand and to conquer in a dispute. Che choc may be intended for chochoc, which would mean loosely tied.
73:3 Pacaxua is on the border of the Province of Mani between Chumayel and Sotuta. Mani map of 1557 (Stephens 1843, 11, p. 264).
73:4 Ppuppulni-huh: lit. the iguana was swollen.
74:1 The chief priest of Yucatan was called Ah Kin May (Landa 1928, p. 72). May is still a common family name in Yucatan.
74:2 A brief summary of the history of Motul is found in Relaciones de Yucatan, I, p. 77.
74:4 Nun, or ah-nun means a newcomer who does not know the language of the country; a stammerer; a stupid unteachable person.
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.
74:6 Cf. p. 147.
74:7 Maya, Yaxum, the symbol of Kukulcan, or Quetzalcoatl (Cf. p. 63, note 6). Yaxum is also the name of an unidentified tree.
74:8 Probably Ake, noted for the unique character of its ruins.
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).
74:10 Lit. "he who tramples on the conquered women." (Cf. Naranjo, Stelæ 14, 21, and 24. Maler 1908 b, Pl. 33, 35 and 39).
74:11 Place-names in Yucatan are often derived from trees. Chacte is the Brazil tree, but if it were changed to chacet, the passage would read: Great was the ruler, great the land where their rulers arrived.
74:12 Ah Ppizte: cf. p. 65, note 2.
74:13 A play on words: Ah May---amay (corner).
74:14 Apparently a reference to the four main divisions of the typical Nahua tribe or nation.
74:15 Lit. descended.
75:1 As we know that the Hunac Ceel episode occurred in Katun 8 Ahau, either this passage is an intrusion, or else Tun 13 Ahau of Katun 8 Ahau is intended. The same applies to the mention of Katun 11 Ahau a few lines above.
75:2 It was a serious matter if none of those thrown into the cenote returned to declare the prophecy. See Appendix B.
75:3 The stone platform from which victims were flung into the cenote is still to be seen on the south side.
75:4 Maya, ca bini chabil; from the verb, cha, to take. Chabil usually a passive form, is here employed as an active verb. Cf. "Xiic pulbil huun Cumkal, let them go carry the letter to Cumkal." Motul.
75:5 Maya, than. Literally, the word. One secondary meaning is "law," and in the Chumayel it is frequently employed in contexts which plainly call for the meaning, prophecy.
75:7 Probably Tun 13 Ahau is meant, as it is known that Hunac Ceel lived in a Katun 8 Ahau. Why it is the sixth reign is not clear.
75:8 Maya, kin. Besides meaning news, this word could also mean reign, sun, time, day and festival.
75:9 Maya, ua, as in ua-cunah, to set up or erect something.
75:10 Baca is a town a few miles west of Motul.
75:11 Here the page has crumbled and Berendt's copy has been followed. He gives this word as yancuntabi, and it is so translated. Yacuntabi would mean loved or guarded. It might be ye¢euntabi, established.
75:12 Maya, yumintabali. This could also mean "treated as a father."
75:13 Maya, tzicile. It means to honor or respect as well as obey.
76:1 Maya, tunil. This usually means precious stones, unless the word occurs in a compound, when it can mean an ordinary stone. While it is true that many precious stones were thrown into the water at Chichen Itzá, the context indicates that landmarks are meant here.
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).
76:3 We are reminded of the great stones which they threw into the Sacred Cenote when none of the victims returned with the prophecy. Appendix B.
76:4 "During lunar eclipses ... They say that the moon is dying, or that it is being bitten by a certain kind of ant (Aguilar 1921, p. 204). A similar belief was held of solar eclipses.
76:5 An alternative translation would be: "They began to imagine the reverse side of the sun."
76:6 Tziu is a family name, and nen means mirror. Here it may be feminine.
76:7 u mun nal cab might also mean: "the tender green corn of the land."
76:8 Than has many meanings in Maya. The than of the katun is interpreted as "ordenansas" by the Kaua MS, p. 171 (Gates Reproduction).
76:9 Maya, chulul. This word has a number of meanings. In the Maya texts it usually signifies either a bow or the chulul-tree from which bows were made (Apoplanesia paniculata Presl.)
76:10 Literally, Chan of the three arrows. Chan is a common family name.
77:1 Maya, ah-cehob. The term implies hunters who use the bow and arrow rather than warriors. Ah Cehob could also mean the men of the Ceh family.
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.