ANTHROPOS 100.2003: 173-191 Xbalanque’s Canoe The Origin of Poison in Q’eqchi’-Mayan Hummingbird Myth H.E. M. Braakhuis Abstract. - This article explores the origin of disease and intrusive magic in the context of Q’eqehi’-Mayan Sun and Moon myth. The mythological imagery is shown to be intimate ly connected to the shetoric of disease-fighting. The Q’eqe theory of disease shares a basic assumption with an earlier ‘Yucatee tradition, in that sexual excess is seen to provoke the birth of disease agents. Finally, one of the myths cote images. viz, the “Fever Vessel,” is uaved back to the Classical Period fof the Mayas, [Mesoumerica, Mayas, disease, iconography: menstruation, mythology. sorcery] H.E.M. Braakhuis, Utrecht University, studied anthropology and ethnohistory atthe universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht with Rudolf van Zantwijk, ~ Previous articles treat various problems of Mayan iconography’ and (herojmythotogy’ see also References Cited To Mario Enrique de la Cruz Torres 1 Introduction In the study of Mayan mythology, the Quichean “Popol Vuh” is usually taken as the definitive source. In some respects, this is quite justified However. it is important to realize that the scope of this particular mythological narrative is restriet- ed since it is largely limited to the interactions of its two heroes with the powers of the under- world — and that within the narrow framework of the ball game. In the everyday life of the tra- ditional Mayas, the powers of nature that grant fertility occupied the forefront, and man’s “inter- actions with the surrounding landscape” (Wilson 1995) were paramount. These interactions have traditionally been expressed through another type of myth, shared by many ethnic Mayan groups and most completely transmitted by the Q'eqchi's (for an overview, see Thompson 1970: 355 fl). In this myth, the carth is considered under various basic aspects, primarily those of an aggressive, cannibalistic adoptive mother, an authoritarian pa- triarch, and a desirable, nubile daughter.' In the interactions of these figures with the representa- tives of mankind, important rules of ritual conduct are established. In the Popol Vuh, sexual union joins an under- world woman with the hero's father. The relation- ship between the human and the nonhuman spheres is defined in terms of marriage. In the episode of the tellurian myth that is the focus of this article, the earth is alternately viewed as a potential father- in-law and as a potential wife. The hero attempts to marry the daughter of the male earth, either through bridal service, or (as in Q’egchi’ myth) through elopement. Stereotypically, the hero's in- teraction with the earth is instigated by love magic, acted out by the hero transforming himself in- to a hummingbird and the woman picking it up (for this sort of magic, see Quezada 1984: 101 f.. and corresponding notes). Therefore, I will at times refer to this episode, which also occurs as an independent tale, as “Hummingbird myth.” T would not agree, therefore, with Wilson when he asserts (1995; 66) that the female earth (the earth which is culti- vated) does not have “any conceptual distinetion from the individual mountains.”14 In early Qreqchi’ versions of Hummingbird myth, the male protagonist is not referred to with the usual Saq’e or “Sun,” but is called Balamke (Wirsing, in Dieseldorf 1966, 1967), or Xbal- amké (E.P. Dieseldorif 1926: 1 will use the spelling Xbilanque), the figure that in the Popol Vuh functions as the protective comrade of Hu- nahpu, Xbalanque can thus be seen as a trait union between the “subterranean” mythology of the Quichean narrative and the tellurian mythology of the Q’egehi’ tale? In Q’egehi* Hummingbird myth, however, Xbalanque stands alone, without Hunahpu. Xbalanque also appears as an indepen- dent figure in colonial writings from the 16th and 17th centuries. Las Casas, for example, situ- ates “Exbalanquen” in the Q’eqchi area, describ- ing him as & native of the Verapaz (Las Casas 1967/1: 650 = Bk. 3 Ch. 124) who reemerges from a cave near Coban after his war against the un- derworld (Las Casas 1967/1: 650; 1967/11: 506 Bk. 3 Ch. 235). In Q’eqchi’ Hummingbird myth, Xbalangue is deer hunter, or. in other words, a military invader. This is made explicit in the Ixil versions of the myth, in which the char- acter receives the name Oyew Achi or “Fierce Warrior” (Braakhuis 2001: 394; ef. Akkeren 2000: 427-431). ‘The episode of Qreqchi’ myth that is central to this article is concerned with the destruction and regeneration of the Young Earth Goddes: In Qreqchi’ myth, after the killing of the Young Earth Goddess, her blood changes into snakes and insects, before she finally becomes the Moon. This is a very different outcome than that described in other Hummingbird myths. In the Cakchiquel version summarized by Thompson (1970: 365 f.), for example, the remains of the Young Earth Goddess change into honey bees: in an Ixil_ ver- sion, they change into all sorts of game; and in a Pogomehi version, also known (© the Q’egchi's, her body becomes maize seed. The relationship of man to the earth and its bounty can apparently be viewed as an affinal relationship, or, rather, as a permanent state of being a suitor (see Braakhuis [2001] for further references). In this way, the “game woman’ is sought after by the hunters, the “bee woman” by the beekeepers. and the “maize woman” by the farmers. Such a manner of viewing the relationship between man and earth suggests 2 I believe the Popol Vuh and Hummingbird myth should teach be understood in its own right, without reducing the fone fo the other. In particular, it does not seem productive to try to equate what I call the Young Earth Goddess with ‘he more specific female character Xquic (Blood Woman) from the Popol Vuh, HEM, Braakhuis that the “snake and insect woman” should also be important to the members of an occupational group Taking the lead from an observation by Pablo Wirsing (in Thompson 1939: 143) that “Kekchi shamans recite the legend of the sun and moon .. when effecting cures.” [intend to demonstrate that the principal concer of the Q’eqchi’ episode is disease and curing, and that both are inextricably entwined with disease-casting and sorcery. The generality of this view will be demonstrated by relating the basic concepts of the Q’eqchi” episode with those of the “Ritual of the Bacabs” (Roys 1965; Arzipalo Marin 1987). Finally, a new inter- pretation of the Classic Mayan icon, the “Jar of Darkness,” will be introduced. In Thompson's (1970) overview, the main source for the episode of Moon's elopement, de- struction, and regeneration is the tale Thompson collected himself among Qvegchi” and Mopan Mayas (1930: 119-140) in what was then British Honduras. However, two other full-length vari- ants, those of Pablo Wirsing and Mario de la Cruz Torres (both of whom had full command of the Qregchi’ language) were not included in the overview. The Wirsing text is especially important because it is the earliest extant version of the myth, collected in 1909, and its text is accompanied by the original Qvegchi” of its narrator, Juan Caal (it was translated into Spanish and published by H.Q. Dieseldortf 1966, 1967. and is included in Estrada Monroy 1990: 106-141). It should be not- cd that the Thompson text is generally quite similar to the earlier Wirsing one. The other main text not referred to by Thomp- son, that of Cruz Torres, was published in 1965 by a distinguished member of a plantation-owning family of Senahu, Alta Verapaz, as part of a collec- tion of Q’eqchi’ folktales and sketches. Although obviously not written by a professional anthro- pologist. it fully deserves to be taken seriously as an ethnographical source’ As will be made apparent, its rendering of Q’eqchi” myth cla important points in other, better known variants. In addition to the just-mentioned sources, I make use 3 J.E.S, Thompson (1970: 370). who otherwise emphasized the myth's importance, harbored some doubts as to whether ‘what he called the “Pandora's box episode.” represented truly indigenous tradition, [intend to demonstrate that the episode is entirely consistent with traditional Mayan and ‘Mesoamerican ways of thought and attendant imagery: 4 Eta Becker-Donner summarized the myth and drew atten- tion to its possibilities for Further research (1976). She also recognized the theme of menstruation in the episode of Moon's destruction (126), Anthropos 100.2005Xbatlanque’s C: of important ad less known variants. onal information gleaned from 2. Origin of Menstruation: Terrestrial and Aquatic Filth The theme of disease makes its first unmistak- able appearance in the myth when the deer hunter elopes with the Earth Deity's daughter. This Earth Deity is called Tzuul-Takaj, or “Mountain-Valley,” by Wirsing (as well as by E. P. Dieseldorff and Wilson; I will use the spelling Tzuul-Taq’a). The invading warrior (Sun; Xbalanque in the earliest texts) takes a woman without having paid for her in the form of bridal service. Using his magi- cal mirror, the infuriated “king” locates the cou- ple, and with a blowgun, attempts to suck them back. Mirror and blowgun ~ or rather, jicbil pub (sucking tube: Cruz Torres 1965: 35, 362) - serve to characterize the Earth Deity’s role here as a shamanic one: The first instrument is commonly used to locate objects intruded into the body (e. g.. Redfield and Villa Rojas 1934: 140, 170, 175: Hanks 1990: 340), the second to remove them from the body (&. g., chon 1969: 224). This implies that, within the body system of the Earth, the hero and his wife have become equated with disease agents and the Old Man is in the act of removing them. However, in using the blowgun and the mirror, “Mountain-Valley” is affected by the pepper put inside the tube and the red dye smeared on the mirror by the hero. In this way. eyesore, whooping cough Gji'c; Cruz Torres 1965: 38), and also, in some variants, toothache (e.g. Avila 1977: 23), originated. This conversion of a “cure” into its opposite is a prelude to the pursuit which now begins, and which results in the couple fleeing towards the sea (pala, also lake) and hiding in turtle, crab, of armadillo? In the sea, not far from the shore. the lightning, of the Earth Deity strikes the carapace of the crab (Thompson 1930: 128; Cruz Torres 1965: 39) that serves to protect his daughter, and destroys it, Sun sees “the water dyed with the blood of X"t'actani’ (Thompson 1930: 128), Her blood “spattered down on the water of the sea,” and “all of her blood painted the water of the sea red” (Cruz Torres 1965: 39). Alternatively, the Earth Deity’s daugh- 5 Having the flecing couple hide ina turtle, crab, or armadillo ‘could be a reference to imprisoning disease agents in such containers as a conch (Ritual of the Bacabs fols. 166, 170. in Roys 1965: 56) oa cistern (Hanks 1990: 348) Anthropos 10,2005 175 ter hides in an armadillo carapace® which is struck by lightning on the shore of # lake. Subsequently, er blood descended over the water” (Wirsing, in Dieseldorff 1966: 182). Dragonflies collect the blood. and take it to the hero, who puts it in jars. By running in circles over the surface of the water, lizards gather the blood for the dragonflies to scoop it up (Cruz Torres 1965: 39). Blood is the ceniral element of this part of the story, rather than the shreds of flesh, which may also be mentioned.’ In comparison, versions of this myth dealing with the origin of game do not focus on the woman’s blood, but on her bones (Braakhuis 2001: 394-396), In the case of the maize woman, her origins are apparently so close to human origins that no violent fragmentation and no bloodshed occur at all. Instead. in a Pogomchi tale, red flowers are strewn into the sea to de- ceive the pursuing Earth Deity (Bicaro Moraga 1991: 70). The heavy emphasis on spilled blood in the Q’egchi” tales clearly needs an explanation, Since it is only in these tales that the Young Earth Goddess becomes the Moon, the first thing that comes to mind is the strong association existing between the Moon and the menses, both common- ly referred to by the same word (Q’eqchi" po; Sam Judrez et al. 1997: 260), the menses being more particularly known as “moon sickness” (Q'eqchi’ yajel re po; 425).8 ‘The hypothesis that the myth refers to the origin of menstruation is confirmed, at least in part, by a little known variant of the episode, contained in @ study of Qreqchi’ ideas concerning tooth decay (Avila 1977). Here, the primordial Moon had apparently found no hiding-place at all, and received the full blow of her father’s lightning sttike. The dragonflies now gather her body, and it is Sun himself who recovers her blood from the Earth: 6 Estrada Monroy (1990: 244, note 303) compares the ar- ‘madillo sheltering the future Moon Goddess tothe atriadil- lo basket of the Qreqchi” midwife containing her imple ments, particularly those for treating the umbilical cord, ‘The Classic Mayan plate K3876 is siggestive inthis respect (node woman squatting in armadillo basket and flanked by aquatic symbols). 17 The first Gosdon variant (1915: 117) is rather exceptional in omitting any mention of the blood: it concentrates instead fon the reconstitution ofthe flesh hy a school of small fishes. a task which the Avila variant (1977: 24), again unusually. assigns to the dragonflies, 8 Also in view of the fact shat Spanish flor (ower) ean denote menstrual bleeding (cf. Paul 1974: 298), the delicate Pogomchi image of the ted flowers strewn into the sea would appear to be a veiled allusion 0 the origin of ‘menstruation176 ‘The dragonfly only found remains of the body, gathered these and handed them to the sun, and therefore the dragonfly is standing in the air, But the sun bad not found the blood and began to search for it. He had to root up seven layers of earth and finally he found it. and therefore it remained in the earth [por eso en la tierra quedé} that women should see the menstruation each month. The woman starts to receive the menstruation at the age of thirteen or fourteen years. That was in those times, but nowadays they receive it at the age of fifteen (Avila 1977: 24; my trans) ‘This fragmentary tale (told by a farmer, not by @ woman) ends here. Given that the blood of the Earth Deity’s daughter when absorbed into the earth comes to signify menstrual blood, the lunar blood coloring the sea in the other variants is likely to have the same meaning. In further arguing this, 1 will concentrate on the female quality which often in Mesoamerica is assigned to bodies of water, including both lakes and the sea (both covered by the Q’eqchi’ palan), In referring to the blood and particles of Moon's body floating on the water, the Wirsing vari- ant (Dieseldorff 1966: 183) uses an uncommon Qregchi’ term, viz, mul ha (aquatic filth). Thi suggestive term has a Nahua equivalent, which, significantly, belongs to the vocabulary of curing rituals. Nahua shamans on the Gulf Coast rec- ognize a “water filth wind” (apantlasole ejecatl). fa disease agent “found in the filthy scum that forms on the surface of water (Sandstrom and Sandstrom 1986: 94). ‘That this scum should ~ at least in the context ‘of Qreqchi’” myth ~ be interpreted as a sign of menstruation can be argued by taking into con- sideration the indigenous conception of “sea and lake” (pala) among other Southern Mesoamer- ican groups. The Pipiles of Izalco, El Salvador, justify their belief in Moon's predominance over the sea not by referring to tidal movements, but in the following way: “Because it is apparent that it Ithe sea] gets indisposed just as women do: on its shores it excretes blood and foam” (Schultze Jena 1935: 79) ~ that is, what both Q'eqchi’s and Gulf Coast Nahuas call “aquatic filth.” ‘One should also take into consideration the case of the Lencas of western Honduras, who extend the view of menstrual waters to other terrestrial waters as well: “There are also lakes the waters of which are attributed the property of changing ‘9 The image of red “aquatic filth” floating on the water could conceivably refer to the occurrence of toxic “water bloom, for “red tide,” caused by phytoplankton, H.E.M. Braakbuis into blood and even to have periods similar to the menstrual cycles of women" (Rivas 1994: 52). In the Mayan area, lakes, usually seen as female, are intimately associated, and, indeed, identified with the Moon Goddess (Thompson 1970: 244: Milbrath 1999: 33). Having lakes menstruate, or produce “aquatic filth,” is a logical, albeit extreme, consequence of this identification." In a broader perspective, the way Mesoamer- ican Sun and Moon myth explains the origin of menstruation can be seen to vary according t0 Moon's gender. If Moon happens to be male, as among the Tarascans or the Chatinos of Oaxaca, there is little sense in the dramatic Q’eqchi’ sce- nario. Instead, Moon is then made into a woman- izer whose first visit initiates menstrual bleeding (cf. van der Loo 1987: 146—148)."" But if Moon is female, then the fact that her menstrual blood, once enclosed in jars, changes to living creatures (snakes and insects), is consonant with an appar- ently widespread view of conception. According to this theory, pregnancy implies the accumula~ tion of menstrual blood: the foetus grows “due to the nourishment from the mother’s menstrual blood which is retained for that purpose” (Guiteras Holmes 1961: 103, Tzotziles; cf. Paul 1974: 294, ‘Tzutyjiles). 3. Lunar Cycle and Menstrual Cycle: Water Jar and Blood Jar ‘The origin of menstrual bleeding in Moon's de- struction and reduction to blood is a necessary prelude to the periodicity of menstruation so in- timately connected to the lunar cycle. However, even though the goddess is commonly denoted as “the Moon” (li Po) throughout, one should remain aware of the fact that the lunar cycle has, at this point of the myth, not yet been instituted. There- fore, we have little reason to expect the mythical images to remain entirely faithful to celestial me- chanics. ‘The annihilation of the primordial Moon, the spreading reddish color of the blood, and the sud- 10 The red sea (or lake) is akin to what the Aztecs called Ciuatlalpan, the western “Region of Women.” i.e. those ‘who had died in the childbed. The Gulf Coast Totonaes of EI Tajin still see the West as “a great lake full of blood, stemming from those who died in childbirth” (Kasburg 1992: 170, note 152). and where the souls of deceased midwives dell (170). 11 Qregchi? myth conteadiets van der Loo’s assertion (1987: Tas, 150) that the mythological origin of the menstrual ceyele presupposes a masculine Moon, Antheopos 100,205Xbalanque's Ci woe den onset of darkness, all are suggestive of a lunar eclipse, an event which invariably occurs during the full moon. It is curious that a solar eclips appears {0 occur at the same time as Sun ae away in his turtle carapace; as noted by the text (Dieseldorff 1966: 182), when Sun hid in the depths of the lake “the sunlight disappeared, and darkness descended on the world.” The muteness (Ulrich and Ulrich 1971: 177) and lameness (ibid.; also Driick, in Termer 1930: 492) of the regen- erated child Moon could also be interpreted as being due to a lunar eclipse.'? More generally, the eclipsed moon is seen by the Mayas as a frightening portent of sickness and of mass death as a result of sickness." These implications of a lunar eclipse are bore out in the remainder of the myth. The water jars, gourds, and ritual ceramic bot- les in which the menstrual blood of the eclipsed Moon is collected," are likely to derive from the common Mesoamerican metaphor of the rain- bringing moon, that of a water jar that is cyclically being filled and emptied out. This is especially clear in the Cruz Torres variant (1965: 43), where the thirteenth jar is expressly identified with the aquatic Moon: when this jar is opened, the nude woman it contains is found to be “squatting in the water." The phases of the Moon, which are seen by the Mayas as the changing tilt of a lunar jar, are connected (0 rainfall as well as to the menstru- al cycle. The Chortis, for example, believe that “woman is full during the full moon phase and then, analogous to her patron, she pours out her contents in the menstrual flow, and after that she remains ‘dry’ for the remainder of the month” (Girard 1948: 80). Menstruation would thus coin- cide with the waning moon, and “dryness” could 12 For the Quichés (Tedlock 1992: 184), a child's mateness or lameness is the result of the mother having been exposed to a lunar ectipse. For the child's limbs being affected by ‘8 lunar eclipse, cf. also Reina (1966: 259, Pokoman) and Nash (1970: 201, 203, Tzeltab 13 E-g,, Bunzel 1967: 428: Tedlock 1992: 184; Nash 1970: 201, 23 14 The sources include the following terms: Ciie (water jar Dieseldortf 1966: 183): rinaja (water jar: Gordon 1915) 121); su (tecomate; Drick, in Termer 1930: 491); punt (sce Dieseldortf 1966: 184, for the 13th jar: see Cruz Torres 1965: 40-43, for every jar). The word purie derives from Spanish bonja (cf Haesesiin 1979: 5... 15 In another episode, dealing with Moon's liaison with the Rain Deity, the empty water jar left on the river's shore sig~ nals, and its emptiness symbolizes. Moon's disappearance {o the sky of the vultures (Cruz Torres 1965: 59; Ulrich and Ubrich 1971: 170, Anthropos 100.2005 7 in principle be visualized as the empty jar of the reborn moon. In most variants of Qveqchi’ myth, the blood is collected and stored in thirteen jars for thirteen days. Although we have no native exegesis for these numbers, it would make sense if we took the thirteen jars to represent a series of thirteen consecutive manifestations of the waning moon, i.e. of the inclined lunar jar signaling the outpour of menstrual blood. The jars could consequently be viewed as receptacles for the blood lost during waning moon and as the dark. chthonic “negatives” of the lunar jar. However. the moment for menstruation is some- times postponed until the conjunction of moon and sun. The Mopan Mayas associate this newmoon phase with a general predominance of wetn menstruation included (Fink 1987: 403). Accord- ing to some Tzoiziles. the Moon herself men- struates during this phase (Milbrath 1999: 32), Consequently, among the Tzotziles of Larrainzar, the majority of women are believed to menstruate during new moon, and “the period of new moon is considered especially unfavorable with regard to accidents resulting in injuries, since during period, bieeding is very copious and cicatrizing very slow” (Holland 1978: 78). From the above, one might, in any case, con- clude that the thirteen jars with menstrual blood ‘gestating for thirteen days refer to the second half of the lunar cycle, from waning moon to new moon. The temporal position of the thirteenth jar, however, remains ambiguous; it would rather seem to belong to the waxing moon, and in one source, the woman reborn from it is represented by a crescent (Mayén de Castellanos 1980: 132). It is hard to decide if an exact correlation between the thirteen jars and a series of thirteen moons has ever been intended. On the other hand, “thirteen’ recurrent in all sorts of curing and disease-casting rituals, Hummingbird 4 Rhetoric of Soul-Loss: The Dragonflies “Blood” is one of the core concepts for traditional healers. In the context of cures for the overall de- bility, and especially pallor, caused by soul-loss, or “fright” (susto), one comes upon expressions such as “my blood is frightened” (navicwac in quig'wel, Haeserijn 1979: s. v. xiuac), that is, actively struck by fright illness. This expression is to be under- stood in the context of the diagnostic practice of taking the pulse, in which the blood is interrogated and asked many specific questions as to the where-178 abouts of the lost “shadow.” or soul (Cabarnis 1979: 66). In another, more significant, formula tion, the task of the healer in recovering the lost shadow is stated to be to “look for the blood and collect the bones, the hairs” (Cabarnis 1979: 47) Here, the elements traditionally believed to car- ry the vital essences (¢.g.. L6pez Austin 1980: 241-243)! have been transferred to the landscape. Which is also the situation presented by Q’eqchi? myth Fright illness results from a break of the moral code guarded by the Tzwul-Taq’a, or “Mountain- Valley.” The angered Earth Deity is often held responsible for accidents occurring in rivers, well or ravines that lead up to soul-loss (Cabarnis 1979: 48) and, in the rhetoric of healing, for the stumbling and resulting fragmentation that appear to go with it, Furthermore, the Qreqchi’s are likely to have known the concept of “lightning fright” familiar to Chortis (Wisdom 1940: 337) and Pokomanes (Reina 1966: 239), lightning being the main instrument of Tzuul-Taq'a’s castigating pow- er (Sapper 1897: 282; Carlson y Eachus 1978: 42, 44), One can understand, therefore, that a mere mentioning of the word tzuu! (mountain) suffices to denote the spiit-loss in which a wily moun- tain “grabs the blood and plays with it” (Wilson 1995: 147." Returning to the episode at hand, through the action of Mountain-Valley, the daughter — con- demned for having betrayed her father — is hit by lightning and her blood and body particles are dispersed in the sea, Q'egchi” healers are like- ly to have interpreted this as an extreme case of fright and its attendant fragmentation. Fur- thermore, among the defects of the Young Earth Goddess reborn in the last of the thirteen jars is the muteness (Ulrich and Ulrich 1971: 177) which characterizes fright More specifically, it should be noted that the task of the dragonflies (fulux) — or, in the Avila variant, of the hero himself ~ is strikingly similar to that of the healer restoring the lost soul by looking for blood and collecting bones and hairs. Support for this interpretation comes from a still 16 The “blood. bones, and hairs” that denote the lost soul or shadow of a patient recur in curing text of the Ritual ofthe reabs (Arzipalo Marin 1987: fol. 231) as yax bac ~ yar ‘oore ~ ya olom ~ yax kik “vax bone ~ hair ~ cosgulited ‘blood — blood.” Yax bak is defined by the Cordemex dictionary as “descolorado, hinchado, enfermizo” (Barrera Vasquez 1980). 17 Here, cut! would seem to refer to the seizute rilom fftcaul seen by the mountain” (cf, Cabarnds 1979: 66, 71, and Hacserin 1979: 169: sv. iow) H.E.M, Braskhuis practiced Cahab6n ritual for restoring the soul (Parra Novo 1997: 138f.) wherein the dragonfly is called upon to assist in recovering and reinte- grating the lost soul, or “shadow” Gnuhel): | invoke you, holy Hill, holy Valley! From the spot where you [i.e the lost shadow. EB] have fallen, from the stones, on the wees, under the depths of the waters. 1 have put you there, little creature (dragonfly, PN), so that you may call his “shadow” (unutel, PN) and recover it Task you, please go and bring his power! Come, X. arise in this moment, in this very moment! Come, come, T want you to come (the pulse is taken, PN), one holy blood, one holy water. one holy bone. Your veins. your arteries, T want to know what happened to you. Let us recover your shadow! | will reintegrate it, so that there is once more one single body. united, whole. Healers are also potential black sorcerers, and this ambivalence seems to hold for the dragonflies as well. Haeserijn (1979: 333), who made use of notes by Wirsing, explains ma’-nulux as “the persons who changed themselves into their nahuals, dragonflies, in order to collect the blood of Moon.” Although one notes the honorific ma’, the nahual transformation suggests sorcerers. The Wirsing variant (Dieseldorff 1966: 183) uses the word ah tulun instead of ma°-tulwx and translates this first as “dragonflies” and then, more appropriately, as “sorcerers” (brujos), the usual form of which would be alt tulfanel] (Sam Juarez et al. 1997: sv). Dragonflies are, indeed, suitable shapes for powerful healers as well as for black sorcer- ers.!® As insects with an uncanny power of aerial motion and a proclivity for territorial fighting. they are among the most effective predators of the insect realm." In any case, it seems reasonable to conclude from the above that, in trying to make his wife whole again with the assistance of the dragon- flies, the hero is in fact acting as a healer treating soul-loss, fers collecting unclean blood. the dragontlies ‘would be akin to Cuchumaguic “Blood-Gatherer.” one of the Quichean lords of the underworld. In collecting and Urinking blood spilt through injury and disease. this igure js. in recent lore, on a par with the “Evil One” and his helpers among the Q'egchi’s (et, D.Tedlock 1996: 338; Criz Torres 1965: 151-161). 19 Given that the fishes who collected Moon's particles from sea became the Milky Way (Gordon 1915: 117) it acho did the same, had well, The Lacandons, for their part, distinguished a “Red Dragon Fly” star and identified Iu wwith Betelgeuse (Milbeath 1999: 39). Along this same Tine, the arte might well correspond to stars in Gemini or Orion. an astronomical correlate Anthropos 100.2005,Xbalanque’s Canoe 5 The Hero's Absence: Invocations Following the collection of the blood and the storing of the jars with one or two guardians, a frightening process of gestation sets in which, paradoxically, seems to be equated with decom- position, When, in a variant from Belize, one of the containers is untimely opened, it is discovered that “inside there is a frog covered in thousands of flies and the frog is rotten” (King a.d.: 33). In an Ixil version dealing with the origin of game (Colby and Colby 1981: 182), this untimely opening is presented as a fatal interruption of a process which would otherwise have resulted in a return of the woman to her original, human form. Therefore, the husband should not have left the jer. In most Q'eqchi’ variants, the hero is absent for the period of gestation. The reasons for this absence are usually not made explicit. Only the Cruz Torres variant (Cruz Torres 1965: 40) has inserted some lines of vital importance here. The text states that after storing the remains of his wife, the hero “went to the thirteen mountains and thirteen valleys to plead for his beloved, and to use all his abilities in this (se fue a los rece cerros y trece valles a rogar por su amada, ya hacer sus habilidades).” Immediately before ‘opening the thirteenth jar, the “lords of the thirteen mountains and valleys” are, again, invoked: “May your powers and mine make my beloved reappear in the 13th jar” (Cruz Torres 1965: 42) This last invocation, in particular, contains an appeal that strongly parallels the sort of coopera- tion between the powerful mountains and the curer which is sought in ritual incantations such as the following (Burkitt 1902: 447 f.) A green hill, a green valley! [One Blue-green Hill- Valley!] a litte of thy might, a little of thy power, shall 1 borrow, And a few lines further: Thirteen hills, thirteen valleys! Thence cometh thy poison [may, also tobacco and medicinal herbs}, thy poison [id.}, over a mighty sea; I blow in thy mouth {se. of the patient}, [ blow in thy face, with thisteen hill: with thirteen valleys, with potent blood. with potent nph.” Although the Old Earth God is called C’agua Aatan in the Cruz Torres variant (corresponding to T’actani in the Thompson variant). he is called, more broadly, Tzwul-Tag’a “Mountain-Valley” in the earlier Wirsing and E. P, Dieseldorff variants. In the curing text quoted above, Mountain-Valley Anthropos 100.2005 179 is alternately regarded as one and as manifold Thus, it seems reasonable to conclude that the hero is in fact invoking the Old Earth God when he ritually addresses the “Lords of the Thirteen Mountains and Valleys” while opening the thir- teenth jar. The previous visit (or visits) of the hero to the “thirteen mountains and thirteen valleys” apparent- ly served the purpose of establishing the conditions for a successful cure: That of reaching a truce and establishing cooperation with his angered “father- in-law.” Such an agreement was also sought in the parallel myth about the origin of the maize woman shared by Pogomchis and Qveqchi’s. There, the hero’s absence during the pregnancy of his wife (a true pregnancy, in this case) is explained by his desire to notify his father-in-law of the impending birth, and to make peace with him (Schumann 1988: 214). Alternatively, however, we might assume that because the hero has fled to another territory, he could well be invoking a different Tzuul-Taq'a In this case, the snakes and insects could be seen as the punishment meted out by the first, hostile Tzuul-Tag’a, and the restored woman as the blessing of another, benevolent Tzuul-Taq’ 6 ‘The Canoe of Xbalanque: Empowering Snakes and Insects Prior to the opening of the thirteenth jar, men- tioned above, an important episode of the myth occurs in which the other containers are opened. Their contents are revealed to be a variety of small, almost invariably poisonous creatures, including, foremost, snakes and insects, but also. worms, lizards, spiders, scorpions, and toads.?? The extant variants of the episode show several differences in the manner of introduction of these creatures to the earth. In some of the variants, the opening of the jars is preceded by specific preparations. In a short variant from the beginning of the last century (Gordon 1915: 121), the hero orders masons to construct a “fountain” for the water jars to be emptied into, It is the much later Cruz Torres tale (1965: 40) which makes clear why the contents of the jars require such a containment. In this variant, the “fountain” is a wooden canoe filled with water 20 The emblematic picture introducing the section dealing with the “Divine Women” in the Cadex Borgia (1976: 47) is rather suggestive of the Q'egehi' opening of the first ‘containers: a representative of the group is bom from a bowl, together with four centipedes. five snakes, and a scorpion, See also note 10.180 and crushed tobacco leaves, and it is by being immersed in this liquid that the creatures from the jars receive their poisons. The other main difference in the sources con- cerns the treatment of the creatures once they have emerged. In most cases, including the Wirsing and Thompson variants, they are viewed as pests. Which, being inherently poisonous and dangerous, are to be immediately thrown into the sea, but i stead escape (Dieseldortf 1966: 185). “Before this, there had been none of these pests” (Thompson 1930: 129). In contrast, Cruz Torres (1965: 40~ 42) has the hero purposely set the creatures free, after having given them their proper dosages of poison. “The Cruz Torres variant is arguably the more authoritative version on this point because it ad- dresses the relation of tobacco to animal poison and the origin of the latter, whereas the other variants take the poisonousness for granted, The fact that it is the hero rather than a demon who ‘empowers the creatures is at first sight enigmatic. argue that this action can best be understood as fitting within the native logic of shamanic curing and disease.2! In this regard it is relevant that the Wirsing and E. P. Dieseldorff variants call the hero Xbalanque. As early as the 17th century, Fuentes y Guzman described Xbalanque as a god imbuing arrows and spears with war power (1969: 764. = Bk. | Ch. 6 finsert]). Q’egchi” myth has apparently extended this patronage to include the stings of what I shall generically call “snakes and insect animals which are of great importance to curers and sorcerers alike. Another reason for the hero's involvement in the release of the snakes and insects is the fact that together — notwithstanding their frightening aspect — these creatures constitute the body of the hero’s lost wife, the nubile Earth, The snakes and insects born from the menstrual blood in the jars are, in this respect, fundamentally the same as the game animals and bees that are regenerated from the female bones contained in the jar of Ixil Hummingbird myth; animals which, when ques- 21 1 use the term “shaman” (or *Shamanic”) to emphasize the visionary quality of Mayan curing. Following Kihler’s systematic treatment of the issue (1990: 261-271), what is loosely called Mesoamerican shamanism coincides with “classic” Siberian shamanism in the following main points: soul-loss and “perils of the sout” of the patient: a “sacred ‘seography" of celestial and infraterrestrial layers centered fon an axis the assistance of animal companions; shamanic ‘warfare; and dream vocation. Not clearly represeated ethno~ iphically is the ecstasy during which the shaman sends ‘soul on a guest to the beyond H.B.M, Braakhuis tioned by the hero, proclaimed themselves to be his wife (Colby and Colby 1981: 182:cf. Braakhuis 2001: 394 f.). Just as the Ixil hero lovingly gave the deer their hooves and the rabbits hair on their feet for masking their scent, thus enabling them to escape from the hunters (Colby and Colby 1981: 182), the Q’eqchi’ hero provides the snakes and insects with their own means of defense, their poison. The reason why this poison should stem from tobacco is probably that, for Mayas generally. tobacco is the main apotropaic substance (cf ‘Thompson 1970: 103-123; Robicsek 1978: 11~ 43). For human beings, then, the juice of tobacco is the closest approximation to the viscous poison of certain animals.”? At the same time, 2 foundation is being laid for what is essentially a homeopathic medical system in which like is cured with like. Treatment with tobacco and tobacco juice, sub- stances recognized as poisons. belongs to the stan~ dard procedures of healing. In Q'eqchi’, this line of reasoning can be formulated very succinctly: The word for tobacco, may, happens to have the additional meanings of “pain” and “poison.” In the myth, through may the creatures received their ‘may, and through may their may can be undone again, As to the canoe in the Cruz Torres episode, its use as a trough for preparing chewing tobacco (pil ico) — with its magical properties ~ has been not- ed in Tzeltal Cancuc (Guiteras Holmes 1992: 61) ‘Among the Lacandons, the canoe was used for preparing alcoholic beverages. To strengthen such a brew, tobacco could be added (Gage 1969: 225), as well as poisonous creatures such as wasps (Riitsch 1985: 63-69) and even toads (Gage 1969: 225). The Qregehi” myth is original in that it turns this practice around: Rather than having the creatures invigorate the brew, it has the brew invigorate the creatures. The hero's care for his transformed wife casts him in the role of an unwitting helper to his father-in-law by providing the Old Earth God with the animals, specifically, the snakes and insects, he needs to carry out his verdicts and bring disease over offenders (snakes: Sapper 1897: 282; insects and snakes: Carlson and Eachus 197: 44), ‘The fragmentation by lightning of the Earth God's “This can explain the parados thet, at times, she eurer seems to imitate a serpent spitting venom, A Tzotzil shaman, for example, is stated to spit tobacco juice t0 a serpent (Laughlin 1975-241: s.v. may a Chorth curer sprays tobacco-impregnated saliva onto the patient's body “with sound through his teeth” (Wisdom 1940: 349), Anthropos 100.2005,Xbulangue’s Canoe daughter can be viewed as a primordial punish- ment from which several other punishments took their origin, The first of these is the punishment ‘of menstruation; through this affliction, a whole class of other punishments, the agents of disease. is unleashed. However, owing to the tobacco juice prepared in the hero's canoe, the poisons of these creatures are of such a nature as to be susceptible to treatment. The idea that the antidote to poison is inherent in its origin can be expressed in various way the gradation of the containers’ contents in the E. P. Dieseldorff variant clearly shows (1926: 5). The first four containers hold variously-colored bees (probably of the aggressive, undomesticated sort), the next ones contain wasps and hornets, but then, before the restored goddess is discovered in the twelfth and (in this variant) last container, two of, the containers turn out to hold two different species of medicinal herbs. In the end, thus, the poison is, replaced by its herb, and, according to Haeserijn’s Qegchi’ dictionary (1979: 221), both can be called by the same name, may. As a consequence, the restored Earth Goddess comes to symbolize the healing effects of medicinal herbs which can be viewed as an alternative form of her body. Thus, the invocations of the hero not only result in the cure and restoration of his wife, but in a cure for mankind as a whole. ‘The existence of a variant with a mix of poi- sonous beasts and medicinal herbs leaves open the possibility that a variant exists in which the jars contain only herbs. The existence of such a variant is suggested by stereotypical incantations such as the following one from a Tzotzil bonesetter: “Thir- teen devils [pukuj], thirteen swellings, thirteen fractures, thirteen resins of pine, thirteen resins of vine, thirteen. medicines, thirteen mendings, thir~ teen curings!” (Holland 1978: 1781.), Similarly, in the Ritual of the Bacabs, disease symptoms are countered with thirteen jars full of hailstones, against fever (Roys 1965: fois. 139 f., 180), or with thirteen jars filled with the “blood”, that is, vegetal juice, of trees and bushes, to “replace” the affected 23 The two herbs concerned. tzoloj-quen (Bidens warszevies- jana) and ruj-max (Sanicula mexicana), are used “against swellings of the glands. usually resulting from infection ‘due 1o an injury of the feet, sgainst itching eczema. and for purifying the blood” (Dieseldorf? 1926: 5). This last, more ‘general application is most related to the episode treated here, anthropos 100.2005 181 blood of the patient (Arzipalo Marin 1987: fols 227-229). A sequel (o the canoe episode, provided by an informant commenting upon a Mopan version of the myth, indeed comes close to such a substi- tution of herbs: “The sun god told the man [the guardian of the jars} to watch what each animal ate and then teil him, for. whatever plant each animal eats is the medicine to be used by herb healers to treat anyone bitten by the animal” (Ul- rich and Ulrich 1971: 179, note 6). Both among the Q’eqchi’ and among the Yucatec Mayas, one notes that the herb curing a disease is often named after the animal causing it. That herbal medicine is indeed a central con- cern of the Q’eqchi’ version of Hummingbird myth is nowhere more apparent than in the conclusion of the myth as recorded by Cruz Torres (1965: 67 f.). In this variant, after the escape of the hero and his wife from the town of the vultures and their ce- lestial ascent and concomitant transmutation, Sun and Moon can neither speak nor move. Following the logic of disease and healing, this stagnation is apparently diagnosed as a sort of paralysis. Curers great and small congregate, apply hetbal and incense cures and collect their fees, all to no avail. But then, the chief curer, Cosmas (ie., the Catholic patron of physicians, companion to Dami- an), arrives. This unusual entrance is paralleled in a traditional Cahab6n prayer for restoring the shad- ow in which Cosmas is the first one to be addressed (Cabarriis 1979: 47; cf. Parra Novo 1997: 134). In the myth, Cosmas succeeds in restoring health to the celestial bodies by having them smell the fragrance of the flowers of certain trees and lianas, thereby releasing them from their paralysis. The perspective of healing clearly dominates over that of war and human sacrifice. Rather than sacrificial blood, as in the Mexican tradition, the scent of flowers performs the miracle of starting the Sun on his orbit. 8 A Text for Curing Snake Poisoning Pablo Wirsing’s observation that Q’eqchi” myth was recited during curing rituals should, in all likelihood, be taken to mean that relevant passages were brought forward as the occasion demanded A curing text containing such a reference has been 24 This test from the Ritual of the Bacabs is only in the ‘Arzipalo Marin edition (1987). Since 1 disagree with Arzipalo Maria's way of translating the text, | depend here ‘on my own translation.182 recorded by Burkitt (1902: 447 f.), The words are for curing snake poisoning, an important part of the task of the healer, who is therefore often called aj k'anti® (serpent master; Cabarris 1979: 66). The incantation can be broken down into four segments: (1) the healer states his position and mentions the origin of the disease; the healing power of the Old Earth God. Tzuul-Tag’a; and (4) proceeds to his healing action. Let us first consider the two initial sections (Burkitt 1902: 447): Son of mine is the small bolay|-snake] and the great bolay|-snake}, I have power [K/i], 1 have poison [may]: Tam thy mother, I am thy father, to quench thy fires, to extinguish thy fires, to annul thy power and thy poison, Where wast thou begotten for conceived, p.450]}, were wast thou born? Under the white sea, the bluel-green] sea, Where gottest thou thy little power (ii), thy little poison [may]? In the canoe of the demon of the cold [xbalant ke} ‘The bolay mentioned in the first section is among the snakes born from the containers, and includes the black icbolay?5 and the red chacbolay (Cruz Torres 1965:41), of which the first one is the more poisonous. Bolay appears to be the generic name for venomous, viperlike snakes from the Crotalidae family, such as the fer-de-lance (Both- rops atrox) and the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus). With these ferocious snakes, the ham- mock of the Tzuul-Taq’a is tied to its poles; they are also sent off to deal death to serious offenders (Sapper 1897: 282). The “fire” of the snakes probably refers to the spreading pain of the poisoned blood and to fever. For ic"bolay poi- soning, the corresponding herbs are ic'bolay k’een (icbolay-herb), ie’bolay cam —(icbolay-liana:; Haeserijn 1979), and these may be supposed to have been among the herbs which, according to the Mopan variant discussed in the previous section, were originally prescribed by the hero upon opening the containers. ‘The mythological origin of snakes appears to ‘occupy an important place in the snake handler’s mind. In one of Cruz Torres’s ethnographical sketches, for example. a “serpent master” taming a menacing icbolay addresses it as ralal lish quiguel li poo, or “daughter of the blood of the Moon” (Cruz, Torres 1965: 333; cf. 309f., in a context of black sorcery). The second section of the Burkitt incantation is another example of the 135 Gordon 1915: 121; Cruz Torres 1965: 41; Dieseldonf 1966: 184, H.E.M, Braakhuis value the myth once must have had as a frame of reference for serpent masters, It is of particular interest, because it directly refers to the canoe of Xbalanque. thus confirming the authenticity of the myth as rendered by Cruz Torres, and, in a watered-down form, by Gordon.” Burkitt however, does not appear to have recognized xbalamke as a name (the Popol Vuh not yet having attained its present renown), and, by analyzing constituent elements, arrived at the misleading translation “the demon of the cold.” Since the curer also mentions the sea as the origin of the snakes and the canoe as the place where these received their defenses, there is basic agreement between the ritual text and the myth. Burkitt's text (1902: 447 £) now repeats part of the first section (“I am thy mother, Iam thy father ...”), and then proceeds: A green bill, a green valley! [One Blue-green Hill, One Blue-green Valley!] a litle of thy might (Ki) a litle of thy power {ki}, shall I borrow. Thirteen potent water courses! to quench the fires of thee, to quench the fires ‘of thine, in the holy day, in the holy time-of-light, that Teast out thy power [k/i] and thy poison (may). Thirteen hills, thirteen vatleys! Thence cometh thy poison [may], thy poison [may], over a mighty sea: 1 blow in thy mouth, [blow in thy face, with thirteen hills, ‘with thirteen valleys, with potent blood, with potent “lymph.” Finally, the actual fulfillment of the task set in the initial section is announced: “I quench thy fires, 1 extinguish thy fires, I annihilate thy power and thy poison.” “One Blue-Green Mountain-Valley” is coupled to the twice-repeated word, k’7 (might or power), and “Thirteen Mountain-Valley" to the twit repeated word, may (poison). Since “power” and “poison” are also claimed by the shaman in the first section of the text. this repetition shows his identi- fication with the tellurian powers. At this point in the healing procedure, however, the couplet could equally be rendered as “abundance and medicine.” which would clarify the text's intention? Burkitt 26 Actually, this last text is not ceally Gordon's. Thompson (1970-343) ascribed the Gordon 1915 tales to Robert Burkit: Elin Danien, however, informed me that the real source was Mary Owen, a friend of Gordon (as will be set ‘out in ber fortheoming reedition of the Museum Journal tales) 27 Burkitt's rendering of the stereotypical couplet k!i ~ may fas “power ~ poison” scems open 10 debate, Both Haeseriin (1979) and Sam Juérez et al, (1997) render &'7 (formerly spelled q's) as “geovth, abundance,” whereas may has the ‘opposed meanings of “poison” and (following Hacserija) Anthropos 100.2005Xbalanque’s Canoe n hills enter into the doctor, and with their magical fluids of life [blood and lymph, EB] he breathes on the sickness and anni- hilates it” (1902: 450). Since there is no cure out the consent of Tzuul-Taq’a (Mountain-Valley). Xbalanque, too, had to appeal to his authority before opening the thirteen jars. 9 “Biters and Destroyers": Sorcery and Intrusive Magic Normally. a Qveqchi® curer (ilonel/banonel) or “serpent: master” (aj anti’) is also a sorcerer (ah tullanel}), able to practice countersorcery in any form, defensively or aggressively (Cabarrits 1979: 66f,). In fact, the words for ensorcelling are stated to be the first thing taught to appren- tice healers (Parra Novo 1997: 124f.)28 Although the Q’eqchi’ shaman thus has two complemen- tary roles, he is likely to petition Tzuul-Taq’a in both (Cabaris 1979: 70), A sorcerer conjuring the powers of death, for instance, can in the same breath invoke Tzuul-Taq’a to assist in punish- ing the prospective victim and making him sick (Burkitt 1902:445). The evil creatures set free by Xbalanque are summoned for this purpose. ‘The sorcerer calls on the powers of disease and death to mobilize not just snakes, but all animals — snakes, toads, ants ~ that have poison: “Let all their poisons (may) collect themselves!” (Burkitt 1902: 445). In the Wirsing text (Dieseldorff 1966: 184), the evil creatures are called aj tionel — aj sachonel (biters — destroyers), terms with a strong con- notation of black, or “destructive” sorcery (re li sachoc tiilac; Cabarris 1979: 65). Indeed, with the formula rin tiw a txot!x ain (I [shall] bite this earth!; Burkitt 1902: 445), the sorcerer acts as a “biter” himself. This equating of black magic with what amounts to cannibalism is not restricted to the Qveqchi's. A term for the black sorcerer among the Tzotziles of Ch'enalho is ti’hal (biter, devourer: Guiteras Holmes 1961: 219), which corresponds “medicine.” Furthermore, in some ritual texts (Burkitt 1902: 443; Cabarnis 1979: 66), £7 (abundance) is replaced by Ai" (sweetness) In every case, however. the felerence is te some powerful agency 28 Thompson remarked about the sorcerers (pulyar oF disease throwers) of southem Belize that “throughout the ares even in the Maya-speaking village of San Antonio (where ‘Thompson's variant of the myth was recorded] they are Kekehis” (1930: 68). For a large part, these Q'eqchi's came from Cahabén (354), which up umtil recent times had a reputation for sorcery (Cabarnis 1979: 62:ct. Cruz Torres 1967: 281), Amthropos 100.2005 183 to Yucatee ah chi’bal (one who bites or stings), a term repeatedly used in the Ritual of the Bacabs to refer to insects causing disease. Many Mayan groups believe that evil sorcerers can either enlist, ‘or convert themselves into, certain animals (vay- ob) in order to attack and kill the protective animal ‘companions and devour the associated souls of the members of the community, who thereby fall ill and die. Alternatively, the person who loses his soul (cit’ulel) becomes like “meat” (1i'bol) to the devourer (bal; Guiteras Holmes 1961: 219). Thus. within a context of black sorcery, the victim is attacked and devoured from within by the paral- lel action of animal companions and evil creatures (cf. Hermite 1970: 110 f). Worms and flies in particular are feared as transmitters of disease, directed by the action of evil sorcerers. Indeed, “the future sorcerer (Zlutuhil], aj its, Sp., brujo) comes into the world with worms or flies clutched in the fist” (Paul and Paul 1975: 708). In Yucatan, the fies are among the “pets” of the evil sorcerer, a term reminding one of the affectionate treatment of the snakes and insects by the Qveqchi’ hero They spoil the food of a victim with their eggs (Redfield and Villa Rojas 1934: 178). Among the Tzowziles, the blow flies belong to the agents of sorcery directed against hostile communities, damaging their livestock with worms (Laughlin 1977: 60-63; Holland 1978: 142), The concept i widespread. Among the Chortis, “The Fly King of Hell”, Ah Yacax, is invoked by evil sorcerers to send worms and flies into the nasal cavities of their victims (Wisdom 1940: 405 and note 52. of. 341). In the Cruz Torres variant (1965: 40-42), the poison (may) applied by the hero is material: It is made to enter the teeth of snakes, the sting of the scorpion. the skin of the toad, the legs of the flies, and so forth. This does not imply. however, that these creatures always cause disease cctly, or that the diseases are only those that modern medicine would predict. Speaking gener- ally, the main means by which sorcerers transmit disease is magical intrusion, either into food or directly into the body. The intruding animals are of the same sort as those born from the first twelve of the thirteen jars. For the Tzotziles of Ch'enalho, for example. Guiteras Holmes lists var- ious sorts of poisonous snakes, ants, wasps, Scot pions, and, secondarily, armadillos, frogs, toads, and rats.” 29 Guiteras Holmes 1961; 135:¢f. Hermite 1970: 110: Nufiez de fa Vega, in Brinton 1894: 19,184 In Ch’enalho, “Thirteen” is a name for dis- eases caused by intrusion, because “thirteen is the number of items put by magi¢ into the victim's body” (viz. the animals just mentioned, plus a prickly grass: Guiteras Holmes 1961: 135).%° The use of thirteen objects in intrusion magic seems to have been widespread. For example, an early-18th- century Cakchiquel curer specialized in undoing evil sorcery is reported to have performed a cure in which tadpoles, toads, and beetles ~ together with inanimate objects such as strands of corn silk and cords ~ were ritually extracted from the patient's intestines and orifices. The creatures and objects, numbering thirteen in all, were subsequently burnt (Hill 1992: 103-105, ef. Wisdom 1940: 350f.). ‘The parallel of these practices to the thirteen jars and the various classes of animals contained in them is clear, and this must have made the reap- pearance of the restored woman in the thirteenth jar all the more dramatic. In various Q’egchi” variants, worms (Diesel- dorff 1966: 184; Gordon 1915: 121) and caterpil- lars (Thompson 1930: 129) are mentioned among the evil offspring of the Young Earth Goddess. Consistent with the presence of caterpillars in the containers, Wilson (1995: 328) includes but- terflies among the creatures born from the men- strual blood. Amongst other evil creatures, Tzotzil black sorcerers invoke butterflies to cast disease (Holland 1978: 250 ff.). Conversely, one finds « Yucatec curer from Dzitas who makes a butterfly leave a swollen navel, and then burns it. In another . worms, butterflies, insects, and a snake leave the swollen abdomen of a seemingly pregnant woman (Redfield and Redfield 1940: 76 f.). For a Dutch woman, to have “butterflies in the belly” is a well-known metaphor meaning that she has fallen in love: to a traditional Mayan woman, however, it would be a frightening experience urgently need- ing the expertise of a curer. In the Thompson (1930: 129) and Wirsing vari- ants (Dieseldorff 1966: 185), the jars holding the “biters and destroyers” are, after their opening, handed to a_man who is to throw them into the lake or sea.*! These containers are like the gourds or other containers holding the evils extracted by a 30 One might have expected the numer nine here, but Guite ras Holmes is emphatic. In Chenalho, “thirteen” also refers to poisonous snakes (1961: 293), and to manifestations of evil sorcery generally (223, 227) 31 Disposal in the sea was a common procedure, The worm, responsible for toothache, for example, was thrown out into the sea and tied to aquatic plants by a crab (Gordon 1915: 112) or imprisoned in a conch (Ritual of the Bacabs. in Roys 1965: fols. 166. 170) H.E.M, Braakhuis curer, which are inevitably to be discarded some- where outside the area of human habitation. If they are not discarded, the contagion will spread ev- erywhere. This is precisely what happens in most variants due to the unhealthy curiosity of the man charged with casting the biters out? 10 Another Pregnancy: Reappearance of the Biters and Destroyers ‘The theme of equipping black sorcerers for casting disease, inherent in the birth and empowerment of “biters and destroyers,” is further elaborated upon in the mythological episode of Moon’s abduction by the black vultures and her subsequent cohab- itation with their king. This king is called by an evasive term for the Devil Ma-us-ajcuink (Not- Good Man; Cruz Torres 1965: 55 ff.; Dieseldorff 1967: 72 ff.). For some, he can assume the shape of a king vulture (Thompson 1930: 130).¥ In all likelihood, Ma-us is a god of evil sorcery In the myth, he is also called Aj Tza’ (Dieseldorff 1967: 75), a common term for the devil which Burkitt renders as “The Enemy” (1902: 446). As such, this figure is invoked in rituals of black sorcery (Burkitt 1902: 445). Moreover, Ma-us has & counterpart among the Nahuas of the north- er mountains of Puebla, viz. Ahmo-cualli (Not- Good), who is represented by owls and vultures. This deity is invoked by shape-shifting sorcerers and sends mortal diseases to his vietims (Signorini y Lupo 1989: 143-145) Owls and vultures are also the most important shapes of the Tzouil evil sorcerer (Holland 1978: 250 ff.), and once flanked the statue of the grim Tzeltal deity Higal Ahau (Black Lord) in 17th-century Oxchue (Nuiiez. de la Vega, in Brinton 1894: 21). 32.8 very similar disposal episode is part of Gulf Coast Maize Hero myth, There, the ashes of the cannibalistic (Old Adoptive Mother, on being unpacked, are converted into various sons of evil creatures, usually inseets (e.g chon 1969: 259), but at times including snakes and other creeping animals e. g.. Elson 1947: 202). In Oaxacan Sun and Moon myth, itis the ashes of a man-eating animal, rather than those of the old woman herself. which are to be cast out but change into biting insects (e. ., Mixe: Lipp 1992: 75), 33 There are reasons to believe that this episode was already known during the Classic Period. when it served to dra- Imatize the “poisonous days” concluding major calendricat periods (Brazkhuis 1987) 34 The abduction of Xochiquetzal by the arch-sorcerer, Tez- catlipoca, offers a parallel for the abduction of the Young Earth Goddess (Mufoz Camargo 1978: 155); in both cases, the goddess was first the consort of the Rain Deity (for the Qegehi's, see Dieseldortt 1967: 71-72). Anthropos 100.2005Xbalangue’s Canoe Only a Mopan variant (Ulrich and Ulrich 1971: 178) has explicitly drawn the obvious con- sequence from Moon's cohabitation with the Evil ‘One: her pregnancy. Sun violently causes her to abort by kicking her belly, and the goddess gives birth to snakes. toads, lizards, and scorpions. The “piters and destroyers” have thus reappeared, but now exclusively as the offspring of an evil sorcer- er, and only to be immediately killed off.* ‘There is a similarity between the goddess” preg- nancy and the pseudopregnancy of the bewitched Yucatec woman from Dzitas noted in the preced- ing section. Apparently, sexual intrusion resulting from cohabitation with a (generally female) victim can be seen as a specific form of the generation of disease by intrusion. A Tzotzil example from Ch’enalho Guiteras Holmes 1961: 254) connects pseudopregnancy directly to cohabitation with a sorcerer. A woman suffering from pains in the abdomen and with dif in defecating has frightening dreams in which “a baby appears who then turns into a man with whom she copulates.” Her husband tells her that “it is Tentacién", re- sponsible for the maladies, “Temptation” being just another word for the Evil One. In a similar vein, a Yucatec sorcerer asks a client about his prospective victim: “Do you want me to make her shit snakes? ... Do you want me to make her give birth to a gopher?” (Burns 1983: 136), ‘The line separating pseudopregnancy from true pregnancy is not always a sharp one: “If a pregnant girl or woman denies having had sexual inter- course, it is thought by many Pedranos that the pregnancy was caused by evil sorcery” (Guiteras Holmes 1961: 102), and abortion is induced by a healer (105). Conversely, women may bewitch men, When a man dreams about women soliciting men on the marketplace to make them marry them, this signifies danger to the soul, for “we know that woman is illness” (271). The obvious parallels with European witch beliefs concerning succubus and incubus should not deceive us into considering these stories to be extraneous to native ways of thought. To the contrary. they are firmly bound to traditional indigenous perceptions about the relations between the sexes, the nature of woman, and the role that sexuality can play in connecting the human sphere to other, nonhuman ones. 35 Among the Tzclales, “when the power to work evil came from the devil, sorcery was illegitimate, and the sorcerers were liable to be killed. It was said that such evildoers descended from a woman seduced by the devil” (Nash 1973: 221; ef. Holland 1978: 153) Anthropos 100.2005 185 11 The “Lust of Creation” and the Origin of Disease Although the Q'eqchi” myth about the origin of poison and disease does not seem to have been preserved among other groups. it shares its basic notion of a sexual origin of disease agents with the most important early colonial collection of Mayan curing rituals, the “Ritual of the Bacabs” (Roy 1965: Arz4palo Marin 1987). This manuscript, written in Yucatec, opens with a series of eleven rituals for tancas (fols. 1~90), a term usually re- ferring to seizures and epileptic fits. Whatever the specific name of the rancas, in each case the actu- al disease agents mentioned are snakes, lizards, wasps, and ants, The next series of six rituals (fols. 90-115) mainly concerns K’ak (fire, fever, inflammation), a term specifically referring to skin diseases. Again, the symptoms are all caused by the same sort of smail animals. Accordingly, more recent names for k’ak diseases largely refer to snakes, wasps, and similar creatures (Roys 1931, in Thompson 1972: 50), Both in Qvegchi” myth and in the Ritual of the Bacabs, these disease agents are the ultimate outcome of sexual excess. In Q’egehi’ myth, an illegitimate sexual union, brought about by love magic, precedes the birth of disease. The resulting pregnancy takes the form of gestation in womblike containers, with the husband playing only a ritual role, On the other hand, in the Ritual of the Bacabs, the evil creatures appear to be the direct results of sexual lust, with the mother being the focus of attention. Thus, in the context of the origin of the disease or rather its agents (as on fols. 171~172), one ‘comes time and again upon expressions such as u col ch'ab u col akab (with its variants, coo! of coil) rendered by Roys as “lust” (or lewdness) of [male] creation and [female] darkness’ (1965: xv)."” and mostly referring to, or directly addressing, the disease agents. As Roys (1965: xii) notes, the shaman “recounts its [the disease’s} parentage 36 The late Mexican anthropologist, Maria Montoliu Villar ‘male an attempt to link the Qreqehi” myth to the Ritual of| the Bacabs by way ofa folktale om Izamal, Yucatan, while ‘emphasizing the notion of sexual transgression leading 10 the ofigin of disease (Montotia Vilar 1990), Apart from its conclusion, the [zara tale is a faithful narrative expression of the "Plumeria seizure” described in the Ritual of the Bacabs (fols, 30-31, in Roys 1965: 11, 76). “Three pairings are recurrent: kin—akab (day — nigh, ch'ab — sihil (creation — bieth), and ch’ab ~ akab (ere ation ~ night) It should be noted that kin ~ u (sun ~ moon) is nowhere found to substitute for one of these pairs186 often only on the mother’s side.” If a father is mentioned at all, he is in most cases called by what would seem to be a title of the upper god in his punitive aspect (cf. Roys 1965: xvii). On the other hand, for the mother — or, more often, mothers ~ there is an amazing array of different female names and titles; and consequently, it is primarily on this side that the specificity of the disease is being established. As to the aetiology of disease, both the specific notion of intrusion (of snakes into the belly, wasps into the head, worms into the teeth), and the more general one of “bite” or “sting” (chibal) are prevalent. As in the Qveqchi” myth, the idea of poisoning is implied in both cases. Terms for “heat” or “power” with the primary implication of “poison” and a secondary one of “medicine” are common (kinam, cabil, dzacal). In addition to this, the disease agent is stated to receive its poison from a deity. It “falls” in a certain direction, at the place of the deity, and there vomits, Ticks blood or froth, and takes its poison (e. g., fols. 7-8, 66-67). The “viscous poison” (cabil) in particular was believed to stick to the back of spiders and creeping creatures (Motul dictionary, in Barrera Vasquez 1980: 278. s. v. kab), a belief which well harmonizes with the way they received their poison in the Cruz Torres tale. Moreover. at the beginning of a short incan- tation for the cure of @ spider bite, one finds an aetiology (fol. 157) closely approximating the canoe scene itself: “Three days were you apart in the trough {or canoe, chemil] of the earth. Ab Uue-ti-cab [Lord Seven-Earth]; then, how [thus]. you took the viscous poison of your back.” Con: ering the fact that, in the Cruz Torres variant, the poison came from tobacco juice, making its cure with tobacco possible, it is instructive to compare the canoe of Uue-ti-cab, filled with poison, to another canoe filled with tobacco juice mentioned in a cure for asthma (fols. 64-82). The word used is again chem(il), meaning both canoe and trough. The disease agent gets its poison by falling to various places in the east, the last of which is a canoe (fols. 66-67). It remains virulent until it arrives, at the end of @ ritual circuit, at the canoe in the south (fol. 80): “Then he entered to the front of the trough [or canoe], its front. For four days he would drink the juice of the red tobacco, the white tobacco, the black tobacco. Then he would be asleep; then he would be curled up.” sthma ritual, see Rasch 38 For an insightful discussion of the und K’ayum Ma‘ax (1986: 137 ff) HEM. Broakinis Finally, the “marginal area” of the seashore where the evil creatures are born from their con- tainers and where they should have been cast back into the sea is also found in the Ritual of the Ba- cabs. In this case, the shores of sea and lagoon are repeatedly mentioned as the place where disease nts “fall down” to cause damage.” It seems safe to conclude from the above paral- lels (co which the thirteen ritual jars mentioned in section 7 also belong) that Q'eqchi’ myth, especially in its Cruz Torres rendering, offers a variation on themes and motives already present in early Yucatec curing rituals. At the same time. these parallels make clearer the various ways in which the myth may have been embedded in ritual practice. 12 The Classic Period: “Fever Vessel” and “Jar of Darkness” Since the similarities between Q'eqchi myth and early Yucatec curing ritual probably spring from fan ancient, all-Mayan tradition, it is not unlikely that specific connections could be found between elements of the myth and Classic Mayan icon raphy. I will explore one of these possible links by first focusing on the role of the jar in black sorcery land warfare and then relating this to images of @ jar in Classic Mayan scenes. Not only the “biters and destroyers” themselves but also the jars in which, according to Q’eqchi myth, they originated, were put to use in shamanie warfare. A Chamula Tzowzil tale, for example, has a sorcerer putting worms, bats, and smoke in a pot, locating it alongside a road, and causing his enemies to come upon it and suffer the impact of its contents (Gossen 1974: 269, Text 29). The stratagem is similar to an incident from the early wars of the Quichean ancestors in which four jars. filled with stinging hornets, wasps, and snakes, were uncovered to bring a decisive defeat over the Seven Tribes.° ‘The fact that itis the women of the tribal leaders, who are made responsible for opening these jars probably significant. In a political context, char- acterized by alternating wars and marriages, the 39 The beach is mentioned, in the Roys edition (1965), on fols. 37. 38 (arantulafever! fols. $3, 60 wasp-seizure) fos. 64-85 (asthma); fols. 109, 112, 113 (red uleers) fol. 118 (snake-pulsation in the abdomen): Fol. 131 (snakes and worms in the abdomen): and fol. 140 (wasp-poisoning) 40 Titulo de Totonicapsin fols, H1v-12v, in Carmack y Mond loch (1983: 179 and corresponding notes); cf. Chonay and Goetz (1978: 1734) Amthropos 100.2005Xbalanque’s Canoe poisonous snakes and insects appear to symbolize a refusal to make the female womb available for marriage and human reproduction. Such & denial of fertility, viewed from another angle, is also inherent in the Young Earth Goddess’ destruction and terrifying regeneration from jars — the four jars of the Quichean ancestresses being particularly reminiscent of the four jars with bees in the E. P. seldorff variant of Q’eqchi’ myth (1926). That this specific, archetypal, symbolism of the jar as a biological weapon is not just an inferred one, can be shown by briefly considering the case of the Desana Tukanos of Colombia. In discussing the banishing of disease agents among the De- sanas, Reichel-Dolmatoff (1977: 95) describes the “throwing” of a vessel similar to the one holding intoxicating beverages, but filled with mosquitoes. Since the vessel is considered to be female, this practice is best understood in the context of ¢x- ogamic marital relations: “A vessel full of disease isa well-known metaphor among the Desana and, generally, represents a forbidden marriage partner Sometimes it is said of an evil payé [shaman] that he will hide such a vessel near a maloca [commu- nal house] or the landing place of an enemy, who then will be ‘stung by mosquitoes.’ The explicit symbolism of the Tukano “fever vessel” largely coincides with the one implied by Q'eqchi” myth. In Qeqchi” myth, a forbidden female marriage partner is transformed into a vessel full of dis- case, thus making mévalfiance into the origin of death. The jars of Qveqchi” myth in their role as transformers of corrupted blood into agents of disease and death may offer a clue to the meaning of the so-called “AK’bal-jar” in Classic Mayan art. This is the jar with the hieroglyph for ak’bal (darknes i) painted on its belly, The jar’s dimensions vary from « small vessel held by @ handle to a large container. Stereotypically, if the jar is in an inverted position, a conventionalized snake is seen to emerge (Fig. 1). In some cases. however. the snake is replaced by winged insects (Fig. 2)! leading some researchers (e. g.. Kerr 2004) to view the jar as a beehive. If, however, we take our lead from Q'eqchi’ myth, the Ak"bal-jar with its connotations of “night” and i ~ and the snakes and insects — can be seen as a prototype of the twelve jars of Q'eqchi” myth. The iconographic context in which the jar is usually placed is consistent with an interpretation 41 Other examples of figures holding jas and fying insects are 6508. a dancing sorcerer (variant of K2042), und K3924, 8 youth with a headband. one of a series of “co-essences. Amtbropos 100.2005 187 Fig. 1: Deer with spider monkey tail and Jar of Darkness ‘ornament (detail from K2023; also in MVB2) of the jar as a “fever vessel.” “Were” death gods, and spooks, hieroglyphically denoted as the counterparts of powerful human beings (or an overview, see Grube and Nahm 1994), may be depicted as simply holding the jar, or as emptying its contents. More often, they are depicted with a miniaturized and inverted jar ornament dangling from a sacrificial collar? The contexts in which these beings operate can be characterized as those of black sorcery, head-hunting, and human sac- rifice. A clear example (K2942; also in MVB3) is a dancing figure, swaying the Jar of Darkness, who clutches a large black insect in his fist, quite like the Tzutuyjil sorcerer who is assumed to have been born in this way (see section 9). Significantly, the insect has a counterpart in the sacrificial knife with which a second dancer seems about to sever his own head,** and in the menacing stone held 42 In the sphere of the deer hunt, these miniature Jar of Darkness ornaments have their counterparts in. miniature coneh-horn ornaments 43. The phantasm of self-decapitation is not restricted to the ‘Mayas and appears to belong to the field of black magic ‘and nahvalistieteror. In contemporary Mayan demonology. severing one’s own head (like dropping one's flesh) can precede a nahualistic transformation and initiate a bunt for human victims (2. 2.. Thompson 1930: 158),188, by the remaining one.** Similar parallels include a trident (K6508), a raised jaguar paw (K3924), and a spitting, ferocious serpent (K2284).*° Taken together, they strongly suggest that the jar with its “biters and destroyers” is an instrument of shamanic aggression. Particularly in the cases in which the Jar of Darkness is depicted as a miniature ornament, the wearers of the ornament are likely to be mam- mals such as the spider monkey, deer, and jaguar whose features are to a certain extent inter- changeable ~ and also the gopher. All of these animals are denoted with a hieroglyph which, reading way, is to be understood as “co-essence” (Monaghan) — either in the sense of a man’s companion spirit, or in that of his transforma- tion through witchcraft (Houston and Stuart 1989: 3-6). In the Ritual of the Bacabs, the names of spider monkey, deer, and jaguar enter into the names of tancas (seizures; Roys 1965: fols. 4, 6, 10), while in various documents the names of spider monkey, armadillo, and gopher enter into 44 The stone is likely to refer to another magical procedure. A. sorcerer can east disease by empowering a puppet to throw stones at his vietim (Tompson 1930: 74f,), or by throwing stone himself at an effigy of his victim (Bunzel 1967: 368, 386-388), In a similar way, the Tzuul-Tag’a attempts to get Fd of the intrusive huramingbird by hitting it with a Stone (King n.d. 32). The eesulting disease would probably bbe diagnosed as mahbenal (blows) by the Tzotziles (ct Fabrega and Silver 1973: 246). 45 On this vase (K2284), the serpent forms a loosened knot around the neck of a Jaguar Star (.e., @ very powerful “co-essence"). In Tzeltal lore, a serpent tether restrains a demonic turkey cock which pecks at the souls of those arriving in the underworld (Stross 1977: 7), The untying of| a dangerous Jaguar Star would parallel the freeing of the Insects from the jar. H.E.M, Braskhuis Fig. 2: Death God AY imper- sonator emptying Jar of Dark- ‘ness (detail from K2284; also in MVB2, the names of kak (fevers; Thompson 1972: 50). Therefore, the distinctive jar ornament may serve to indicate the animals’ role as bringers of disease. On this premise, the Jar of Darkness could justly be called a Classic Mayan “fever vessel,” and be considered a precursor of the twelve jars of Qegchi’ myth. The final images of immediate relevance for the proposed interpretation of the Ak’bal-jar as a fever vessel are the cases in which Xbalanque (K1892), Hunahpu (K8654), or the Twins together are seen emptying the Jar of Darkness into the primeval wa- ters. These scenes, in which various other figures ‘can participate, are of a more narrative charac- ter than the ones discussed thus far.4® Whatever the precise meaning of each configuration, the heroes’ action in it is reminiscent of the incident in Qreqchi’ myth in which a man is instructed by Xbalangue to throw the jars with snakes and insects into the lake or sea (Dieseldorff 1966: 185). In most retellings of the myth the creatures escape, but in at least one case (Mayén de Castellanos 1980: 132), the hero removes the evil creatures from the earth himself, directly casting them back into the sea, There, they change into marine crea- tures, thus decisively separating themselves from the area of human habitation 46 The scenes referred 10 are connected 10 the emergence of the Tonsured Maize God from the underworld. At the same time, they seem 10 evoke the Twins” stay there. In this context, emptying the Jar of Darkness has been interpreted as “watering the maize” (Taube 1985; 175), Water would rnot, however, account for the notion of “darkness” in- volved, which instead points to the underworld from which the Maize Deity rises, and to the female death god A impersonators that can accompany Xbalangue to render homage to the Maize Deity (as on K6979), Anthropos 100.2008Xtal This article has greatly benefited from the critical acumen of Addie Johnson. Ruud van Akkeren and Erik Boot provided helpful comments on an earlier version of the article. The drawings were kindly made by Janneke Hovtzager-Muas. Abbrevations K Ker Maya Vase Archives MVB Maya Vase Book (see Kerr 1989~ 1997) References Cited Akkeren, Ruud van 2000 Place of the Lord's Daughter. Rab'inal, its History, Is Dance-Drama, Leiden: Research School CNWS. School fof Asian, Aftican, and Amerindian Studies. (CNWS Publications, 91) Arzipalo Marin, Ramén 1987 El ritual de los Bacabes. 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