receive the paintings of Tulán, the paintings, as these were called, in which they wrote their histories.[346]
Then, having arrived at their town called Hacavitz, all the people of Tamub and of Ilocab assembled there; all the tribes were assembled and were filled with joy when Qocaib, Qoacutec, and Qoahau arrived, and there they again assumed the rule of the tribes.[347]
[345] It is extremely difficult to interpret the names of the gifts of Nacxit because they belong to the archaic Quiché and Maya tongues. I believe, however, that I have made some progress in identifying these ancient objects, decreasing in number the unknown names which the venerable first translator of the Popol Vuh left unexplained.
"Canopy" corresponds to the Quiché muh, which is also the word for the royal mantle.
"Throne," galibal, a high seat where the king or principal lord was seated.
"Flutes of bone" is the literal translation of zubac.
Cham-cham, another flute, says Ximénez; drums, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Seler, and Raynaud; and in this case it brings to mind the African tom-tom.
Yellow beads, titil canabah. The Diccionario Cakchiquel interprets canabah as the yellow paint with which the Indians painted their bodies. According to Ximénez, the expression of the text is equivalent to chalchihuites, or beads of stone, usually green or yellow serpentine. In Maya the selected beads, jewels, or stones which were used in divination and as ornaments are called tetil kan, "fruit pits or stones which the Indians used as money and for necklaces," according to the Diccionario de Motul.
Puma claws, jaguar claws, tzicvuil coh, tzicvuil balam, through analogy with the text of the Título de los Señores de Totonicapán which mentions "nails of the puma and the eagle, pelts of other animals, and also stones, sticks, etc." Seler gives the same interpretation here.
Holom, pich queh, literally translated, are the heads and feet of the deer.
Canopies, macutax. In Cakchiquel, macamic is a tent or pavilion; macom, mat, like a canopy; macubal, canopy. (Diccionario Cakchiquel). The Título de los Señores de Totonicapán enumerates the canopies or pavilions assigned to the lords. The Ahpop had the right to use four canopies over his head; the Ahpop Camhá, three; etc. The newly created honors, according to the same document, were those of Galel-Tem, Atzivinaquil-Tem, Nim-Chocohil-Tem, Gale-Yamhail-Tem, Nima-Yamolah-Tem, four Ah-Tohil, three Chocobib, three Utzam-Pop, three Yacolhá, and Pop-Camhá.
Snail shell, tot, sea-shells.
Tobacco, quz; little gourds, buz, by resemblance with the Maya words of Yucatán, the country where Nacxit lived. In Maya, tobacco is cuz and kutz. Buz may be the Maya bux, little gourds for keeping ground tobacco, according to the Diccionario de Motul. The Maya used tobacco in their incantations and sorcery. In Maya, kutz is also the magnificent wild turkey, Meleagris ocellata, which may very well be another gift worthy of princes. It is interesting to recall here that, according to the Crónica Mexicana by Fernando de Alvarado Tezozomoc, the Aztec upon giving the royal investiture to Moctezuma, fastened around his neck a tecomatillo (small gourd) in which to keep piciete [tobacco] "which is strength for the roads."
Parrot feathers, chiyom. This word is found in the Vocabulario Kakchiquel by Father Francisco Barela. With the green feathers of the common parrot of the Peninsula of Yucatán, ornaments were made for the finery of the princes and warriors; but here is meant the bright red and blue feathers of the macaw, also used for the same purpose.
Royal heron, aztapulul. This word is taken from the Aztec aztapololli, a derivative of aztatl, large white herons, very white like snow, says Sahagún, who adds that the feather workers made "standards with feathers of the royal heron."
I have been unable to interpret the words tatam and caxcon.
[346] U tzibal Tulán. The paintings which the Tolteca had brought from faraway Tula and in which they preserved the stories of ancient times. Although the paintings of the Quiché have not been preserved, there is a reliable proof of their former existence furnished by the Oidor Zorita, whom I have mentioned various times; he says that In Utatlán he found out "through the paintings which they had of their antiquities of more than eight hundred years, and by very old people, that there used to be among them, In the time of their paganism, three lords, and that the principal one had three canopies or mantles of very rich feathers on his seat, the second had two, and the third, one." Those paintings "of more than eight hundred years" in 1550 could well have been the paintings brought from Tulán.
[347] The Título de los Señores de Totonicapán speaks of two journeys which the Quiché princes made to the East. Chapter III of that manuscript says that the same Balam-Quitzé said to his companions: "it is time now to send ambassadors to our father and Lord Nacxit; that he may know the state of our affairs, that he
Please email us if you are interested
in a PDF of any of the posted books.