The Title of Totonicapán

The Title of Totonicapán
Author: Allen J. Christenson
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2022-11-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1646422643

This work is the first English translation of the complete text of the Title of Totonicapán, one of the most important documents composed by the K’iche’ Maya in the highlands of Guatemala, second only to the Popol Vuh. The original document was completed in 1554, only a few decades after the Spanish Conquest of the K’iche’ people in 1524. This volume contains a wholly new translation from the original K’iche’ Maya text, based on the oldest known manuscript copy, rediscovered by Robert Carmack in 1973. The Title of Totonicapán is a land title written by surviving members of the K’iche’ Maya nobility, a branch of the Maya that dominated the highlands of western Guatemala prior to the Spanish invasion in 1524, and it was duly signed by the ruling lords of all three major K’iche’ lineages—the Kaweqib’, the Nijayib’, and the Ajaw K’iche’s. Titles of this kind were relatively common for Maya communities in the Guatemalan highlands in the first century after the Spanish Conquest as a means of asserting land rights and privileges for its leaders. Like the Popol Vuh, the Title of Totonicapán is written in the elevated court language of the early Colonial period and eloquently describes the mythic origins and history of the K’iche’ people. For the most part, the Title of Totonicapán agrees with the Popol Vuh’s version of K’iche’ history and cosmology, providing a complementary account that attests traditions that must have been widely known and understood. But in many instances the Totonicapán document is richer in detail and departs from the Popol Vuh’s more cursory description of history, genealogy, and political organization. In other instances, it contradicts assertions made by the authors of the Popol Vuh, perhaps a reflection of internal dissent and jealousy between rival lineages within the K’iche’ hierarchy. It also contains significant passages of cosmology and history that do not appear in any other highland Maya text. This volume makes a comprehensive and updated edition of the Title of Totonicapán accessible to scholars and students in history, anthropology, archaeology, and religious studies in Latin America, as well as those interested in Indigenous literature and Native American/Indigenous studies more broadly. It is also a stand-alone work of Indigenous literature that provides additional K’iche’ perspectives, enhancing the reading of other colonial Maya sources.

Parallel Worlds

Parallel Worlds
Author: Kerry M. Hull
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
Total Pages: 510
Release: 2012-05-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1457117533

Despite recent developments in epigraphy, ethnopoetics, and the literary investigation of colonial and modern materials, few studies have compared glyphic texts and historic Maya literatures. Parallel Worlds examines Maya writing and literary traditions from the Classic period until today, revealing remarkable continuities across time. In this volume, contributions from leading scholars in Maya literary studies examine Maya discourse from Classic period hieroglyphic inscriptions to contemporary spoken narratives, focusing on parallelism to unite the literature historically. Contributors take an ethnopoetic approach, examining literary and verbal arts from a historical perspective, acknowledging that poetic form is as important as narrative content in deciphering what these writings reveal about ancient and contemporary worldviews. Encompassing a variety of literary motifs, including humor, folklore, incantation, mythology, and more specific forms of parallelism such as couplets, chiasms, kennings, and hyperbatons, Parallel Worlds is a rich journey through Maya culture and pre-Columbian literature that will be of interest to students and scholars of anthropology, ethnography, Latin American history, epigraphy, comparative literature, language studies, indigenous studies, and mythology.

The Myth of Quetzalcoatl

The Myth of Quetzalcoatl
Author: Enrique Florescano
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2002-11-29
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780801871016

In this comprehensive study, Enrique Florescano traces the spread of the worship of the Plumed Serpent, and the multiplicity of interpretations that surround him, by comparing the Palenque inscriptions (ca. A.D. 690), the Vienna Codex (pre-Hispanic Conquest), the Historia de los Mexicanos (1531), the Popul Vuh (ca. 1554), and numerous other texts. He also consults and reproduces archeological evidence from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, demonstrating how the myth of Quetzalcoatl extends throughout Mesoamerica.

The Great Encounter

The Great Encounter
Author: Jayme A. Sokolow
Publisher: M.E. Sharpe
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2003
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780765609830

By putting the story of the native Americans and their encounters with Europeans at its centre, this work explores a new history in which the indigenous peoples become vibrant and vitally important components of the British, French, Spanish and Portuguese empires.

In the Language of Kings

In the Language of Kings
Author: Miguel Leon-Portilla
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 762
Release: 2002-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780393324075

The first anthology in any language to represent the full trajectory of this remarkable literature.

Where in the Americas Are the Lands of the Book of Mormon?

Where in the Americas Are the Lands of the Book of Mormon?
Author: Eldon V. Guymon
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 104
Release: 2018-06-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1546243445

The Book of Mormon was published in 1830. This book tells us that Lehi and his family sailed from the cost of Arabia after 600 BC. Supposedly, Lehi landed in Peru, and his descendants colonized Columbia and later moved northward through a narrow pass. The Isthmus of Panama has been assumed to be the narrow pass. The land to the north of Panama was supposed to be the land of Desolation. Warfare was common between two groups—Nephites and Lamanites. Roughly AD 400, the Lamanites destroyed the Nephites at the Hill Cumorah, which is said to be in New York, USA. Historic “church” leaders are quoted to support the historic theories. However, the church today has no position on the location of the lands in question, so one may choose for himself where the lands were located. Quoting historic “church” leaders proves nothing. Scientists associated with the historic Archaeological Department of Brigham Young University have presented Mesoamerica as the lands of the book. Mormon told us that the river Sidon ran north to the sea (1981, B of M Index p. 730). The Mississippi runs south and is not the river Sidon. Mormon also told us that the people of Zarahemla (Mulekites) crossed a salt ocean landing at the land of Desolation. Hence, the land of Desolation bordered a salt ocean (Alma 22:30 and 63:5). These facts discount several theories, including the heartland theory and great lakes theories. However, historians quote early “church” leaders as prophets and continue to hold to traditional beliefs. The Book of Mormon is the position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The lands in question must fit with this book regardless of traditions. The book fits in Mesoamerica. Because people in 1830 had little or no knowledge of the cultures of Mesoamerica, Joseph Smith could not have stolen the book from other authors and the early Mormons could not have written the book. Read Where in the Americas are the Lands of the Book of Mormon” to find out what the Book of Mormon tells us about the lands in question.

Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volume 3

Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volume 3
Author: Victoria Reifler Bricker
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2010-07-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0292791747

The sixteen-volume Handbook of Middle American Indians, completed in 1976, has been acclaimed the world over as the single most valuable resource ever produced for those involved in the study of Mesoamerica. When it was determined in 1978 that the Handbook should be updated periodically, Victoria Reifler Bricker, well-known cultural anthropologist, was elected to be general editor. This third volume of the Supplement is devoted to the aboriginal literatures of Mesoamerica, a topic receiving little attention in the original Handbook. According to the general editor, "This volume does more than supplement and update the coverage of Middle American Indian literatures in the Handbook. It breaks new ground by defining the parameters of a new interdisciplinary field in Middle American Indian studies." The aim of the present volume is to consider literature from five Middle American Indian languages: Nahuatl, Yucatecan Maya, Quiche, Tzotzil, and Chorti. The first three literatures are well documented for both the Classical and Modern variants of their languages and are obvious candidates for inclusion in this volume. The literatures of Tzotzil and Chorti, on the other hand, are oral, and heretofore little has been written of their genres and styles. Taken together, these essays represent a substantial contribution to the Handbook series, with the volume editor's introduction placing in geographic perspective the five literatures chosen as representative of the Middle American literary tradition.

The Indian Christ, the Indian King

The Indian Christ, the Indian King
Author: Victoria Reifler Bricker
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 579
Release: 2014-03-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0292757808

Victoria Bricker shows that "history" sometimes rests on mythological foundations and that "myth" can contain valid historical information. Her book, which is a highly original critique of postconquest historiography about the Maya, challenges major assumptions about the relationship between myth and history implicit in structuralist interpretations. The focus of the book is ethnic conflict, a theme that pervades Maya folklore and is also well documented historically. The book begins with the Spanish conquest of the Maya. In chapters on the postconquest history of the Maya, five ethnic conflicts are treated in depth: the Cancuc revolt of 1712, the Quisteil uprising of 1761, the Totonicapan rebellion of 1820, the Caste War of Yucatan (1847-1901), and the Chamulan uprising in 1869. Analytical chapters consider the relationship between historical events and modern folklore about ethnic conflict. Bricker demonstrates that myths and rituals emphasize structure at the expense of temporal and geographical provenience, treating events separated by centuries or thousands of miles as equivalent and interchangeable. An unexpected result of Bricker's research is the finding that many seemingly aboriginal elements in Maya folklore are actually of postconquest origin, and she shows that it is possible to determine precisely when and, more important, why they become part of myth and ritual. Furthermore, she finds that the patterning of the accretion of events in folklore over time provides clues to the function, or meaning, of myth and ritual for the Maya. Bricker has made use of many unpublished documents in Spanish, English, and Maya, as well as standard synthetic historical works. The appendices contain extensive samples of the oral traditions that are explained by her analysis.