Xbalanque's Marriage : a Commentary on the Q'eqchi' Myth of Sun and Moon Braakhuis, H.E.M
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Xbalanque's marriage : a commentary on the Q'eqchi' myth of sun and moon Braakhuis, H.E.M. Citation Braakhuis, H. E. M. (2010, October 20). Xbalanque's marriage : a commentary on the Q'eqchi' myth of sun and moon. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/16064 Version: Not Applicable (or Unknown) Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral License: thesis in the Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/16064 Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). XBALANQUE‘S MARRIAGE A dramatic moment in the story of Sun and Moon, as staged by Q‘eqchi‘ attendants of a course given in Tucurú, Alta Verapaz (photo R. van Akkeren) XBALANQUE‘S MARRIAGE A Commentary on the Q‘eqchi‘ Myth of Sun and Moon Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. mr. P. F. van der Heijden, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op woensdag 20 oktober 2010 klokke 15 uur door Hyacinthus Edwinus Maria Braakhuis geboren te Haarlem in 1952 Promotiecommissie Promotoren: Prof. Dr. J. Oosten Prof. Dr. W. van Beek, Universiteit Tilburg Overige leden: Prof. Dr. N. Grube, Universiteit Bonn Dr. F. Jara Gómez, Universiteit Utrecht Dr. J. Jansen Cover design: Bruno Braakhuis Printing: Ipskamp Drukkers, Enschede To the memory of Carlos Roberto Coy Oxom vi CONTENTS Contents vi Acknowledgement x General Introduction 1 1. Introduction to the Q’eqchi’ Sun and Moon Myth 21 Main Sources 21 Tale Structure 24 Main Actors 26 The Hero The Older Brother The Old Adoptive Mother The Father-in-Law The Maiden The Maiden‘s Second Husband 2. The Early Life of Sun and His Brother 41 The Old Adoptive Mother and the Age of Cannibalism 43 Cannibalistic Appropriation of Children Adoption and Denial of Ancestry The Tapir Connection 50 The Voracious Partner Killing the Partner The Myth Mirrored: An Adultery Tale Confronting and Subduing Old Woman 59 Sexual Antagonism Warlike Antagonism Destinies of the Meat Cannibalism‘s Confinement vii 3. Sixteenth-century Sacrificial and Cannibalistic Motifs in the Adoption Episode 75 Kidnapping Babies: Child Sacrifices 76 Eating the Tapir Lover: A War Ritual 80 Guarding the Trophy Tree: Headhunting 85 Eating Old Adoptive Mother: ‗Cannibalism by Trickery‘ 88 4. Hummingbird as a War Lord and Mountain Mover 93 Xbalanque 93 Pre-Spanish War God Xbalanque Demonized Oyew Achi 97 Quiche Uinac in the ‗Rabinal Achi‘ Kaqchikel and Tz‘utujil Intruders in the ‗Quiche Uinac‘ Dances The Quiche Uinac in the Poqomchi‘ ‗Ma‘Muun‘ Dance Oyew Achi (Quiche Uinac) in Folklore Fierce Warrior and Hummingbird Tales Compared 108 5. Hummingbird as a Marriage Candidate 110 The Meaning of the Hummingbird Transformation 111 Petitioning and Bridal Service 116 General Features Bridal Service in Hummingbird Myth Hummingbird Myth in Petitioners‘ Speech Bridal Capture 132 General Features Bridal Capture in Hummingbird Myth Syncretism: The Blanca Flor Tales 139 Blanca Flor‘s Generative Powers Bridal Service and Peonage 6. Transformations of Woman: Game, Fowl, and Honey Bees 149 From Prospective Human Wife to Animal Wife 149 Hunting for a Partner 155 Male Role: Courting the Game Female Roles: Seducing and Welcoming the Game The Owner of the Game as a Father-in-Law 163 viii The Taboo on Adultery Sexual Regeneration of the Bones Role Reversal: The ‗Grandfather among the Deer‘ 169 The Owner of the Game as an Adversary 172 Transference of the Deer‘s Fertility: Q‘eqchi‘ Hummingbird Myth 174 7. Transformations of Woman: Harmful Animals 184 Origin of Menstruation 185 Terrestrial and Aquatic Filth Lunar Cycle and Menstrual Cycle Rhetoric of Soul Loss: ‗Looking for the Blood‘ 192 The Crisis of Gestation 197 Empowering Snakes and Insects 199 Herbal Substitutions 201 The Curing Ritual of a ‗Serpent Master‘ 203 Sorcery and Intrusive Magic 206 ‗Biters and Destroyers‘ ‗Fever Vessels‘ Another Pregnancy The ‗Lust of Creation‘ and the Origin of Disease 212 8. Transformations of Woman: Maize Seeds 215 Hummingbird Myth as a Maize Mountain Myth 215 The Storage Chambers of the Earth 216 Between War and Alliance: A Perspective from Cobán 224 The Status of the Tale The Role of the Mountains The Expanded Maize Mountain Myth of Cobán The Parallel Gift of the Mountain The Farmer‘s Marriage to the Soil and the Maize 234 Human Procreation and Agricultural Ritual The Watchful Parents-in-Law Repentance: A Ritual Theme Parallelism of Hunting and Maize Cultivation 242 9. Transformations of Woman: The Immutable Wife 246 Restoring Immortality to Mankind 246 ix Regenerating the Gophers 249 The Death God as an Owner of Animals Founding an Immortal Patrilineage Nuxi as a Caretaker of Souls 256 The Violet Hummingbird: Final Comparisons 261 10. The Older Brother as a Renouncer of Woman 265 Xulab and the Origin of the Hunt 266 Xulab and the Initiation into the Hunt 271 Xulab as a Lord of the Woods The Lord of the Woods as a Tutor Modalities of the Hunt: Elder and Younger Brother 279 11. Moon’s Love Affairs 286 Moon‘s Adultery with the Older Brother 287 Ritual Harmony Disrupted Moon‘s Bathing Place Moon‘s Water Jar Moon‘s Alliance with the Vultures 294 The Vultures as the Original Owners of Fire The Vultures as Assistants to the Devil The Vulture Lord and the New Sun General Conclusions 308 References Cited 316 Appendices 368 App. A: Synopsis of the Q‘eqchi‘ Sun and Moon Myth 368 App. B: Synopses of Hummingbird Myths 392 App. C: Agriculture and Rain in the Tapir Episode 406 App. D: The Old Adoptive Mother: Aztec Parallels 413 App. E: The Spelling of Mayan Words 418 English and Dutch Summaries 420 Curriculum Vitae 431 x ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Like the myth it is based on, this dissertation evolved over many years. A first version resulted from my work as a research assistant from 1990 to 1995. In the hospitable surroundings of the Institute for Cultural Anthropology, Utrecht University, my good friend Rob de Ridder had the ungrateful task of keeping me on the right track. The resulting text, despite its unmanageable proportions, still missed data that I felt were necessary for the interpretation of the core episode of the myth. After a hiatus during which I took up language teaching, I began to publish articles based on the work completed at Utrecht. My inspiration to resume work on the dissertation came from trips to the Alta Verapaz in 2003 and in 2005. During my first trip I was kindly received by Dr. Mario de la Cruz Torres, the author of several intriguing studies of traditional Q‘eqchi‘ culture, and guided around the Senahú plantation of his family. Visits to the Dominican Centro Ak‘ Kutan in Cobán, an unexpected friendship with an elderly Q‘eqchi‘ catechist, as well as the excellent Q‘eqchi‘ language lessons of my teacher, Rigoberto B‘aq Q‘a‘al, strengthened my resolve to finish the dissertation. Reorganizing and rewriting a thesis so many years after its inception, and while not being fully a part of academic life, is certainly a challenge, and I doubt if I would have succeeded without the intellectual and moral support of a number of good friends. Discussions with Ruud van Akkeren and Roswitha Manning, both anthropologists expert in Mayan culture, kept the fire burning. Ruud in particular was my lifeline to Guatemala. Addie Johnson and Michael J. Watkins showed extraordinary readiness to help. Their intellectual rigour and sensitivity to shades of meaning were a great example to me. What flows in the text, probably stems from them. I had the good luck of finding a congenial supervisor in the person of Jarich Oosten, whose cautious approach to the data and incisive comments I soon learned to value. His tenaciousness enabled me to transform a voluminous exposition into a doctoral dissertation. Wouter van Beek, who already in my period at the Anthropological Institute in Utrecht had shown a lively interest in my research subject, shared his great knowledge of myth and ritual with me and encouraged me by his kindness. Finally, I wish to acknowledge my great debt to the person who introduced me to Mesoamerican ethnohistory and the Nahuatl language, served as supervisor for the first version of this dissertation, and most importantly, gave me the vivid and never forgotten experience of being able to penetrate the marrow of an archaic culture and think and feel within its categories, Rudolf van Zantwijk. I consider myself privileged to have been one of his students. GENERAL INTRODUCTION This thesis presents a comparative study of a myth, originally called the ‗Legend of Sun and Moon‘, that stems from the Q‘eqchi‘s, a Mayan population living in Guatemala and Belize. The main protagonist of the tale is what has been called a ‗culture hero‘ (Thompson 1970: 355), a character whose daring transforms the world by introducing new and indispensable elements. The Legend‘s hero displays, at the same time, a trickster-like deceit. Although even in its earliest version, the myth dates back only to the turn of the twentieth century (1909), many of its themes and motifs reach back into the pre-Spanish past. It is an important myth, if only for its detail and complexity. Mainly because its principal actors finally change into Sun, Moon, and Venus, it has been called a ‗creation myth‘ (Thompson), which assigns it to the same class as the Aztec myth of the Fifth Sun (made famous through the so-called ‗Calendar Stone‘), and, more importantly perhaps, puts it on a par with the Twin myth of the 16th-century K‘iche‘s (part of the ‗Popol Vuh‘), whose protagonists also change into Sun and Moon.