Tulan and the Other Side of the Sea: Unraveling a Metaphorical Concept from Colonial Guatemalan Highland Sources
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Mesoweb Publications Tulan and the Other Side of the Sea: Unraveling a Metaphorical Concept from Colonial Guatemalan Highland Sources Frauke Sachse, University of Bonn Allen J. Christenson, Brigham Young University Colonial K'iche'an texts from the Guatemalan Spanish. But their interpretation still remains highlands reflect a high degree of poetic opaque, even though we might not be well aware of complexity and exquisiteness. In particular, the it when analysing the sources. And as we shall show text of the Popol Vuh from the mid-16th century in this paper, it is particularly challenging to relates the mythology and history of Postclassic distinguish metaphor from literal meaning. highland Maya culture in the form of continuous Metaphorical language is to date one of the parallel couplets, complex stylistic constructions lesser-studied fields in Maya studies and Mayan and symbolic language. But the other preserved linguistics, notwithstanding the incredible potential texts as well, the títulos, testaments, etc., are rich insight into precolonial Maya culture that is in figurative concepts and metaphors. encoded in metaphorical speech – be it Colonial or Translations of these Colonial texts have to contemporary. It should therefore be of foremost account for the difficulties that arise when interest for us to try and unravel the meaning of the rendering this figurative metaphorical language concepts underlying poetic phrases and semantic into formats and concepts that are couplets to arrive at a more profound under- understandable in the chosen reference standing of Maya culture in past and present. It has language. In this, some translations are certainly become a habitual practice to draw on the text of the more interpretive, while others are deliberately Popol Vuh and on other Colonial sources to find the literal and very close to the text, thus reflecting keys for the interpretation of cultural elements from the beauty of the poetic language and style. With the Classic or the modern ethnographic record. This respect to the semantic interpretation and "habit" certainly requires reliable translations and abstraction of the text, translations often deviate interpretations of the text sources. In our search for from each other, and we may have to concede continuities, we should always be cautioned against that a wide range of literal concepts simply undue optimism when weaving ethnographic and eludes our proper understanding. linguistic evidence from Colonial and contemporary The K'iche'an sources are teeming with times into a single line of reasoning with different metaphorical concepts, the meaning of which types of evidence from the precolonial era (i.e. from still remains quite opaque. Many of those archaeological, epigraphic and iconographic metaphors have not survived in modern sources). Spatio-temporal divergence has to be taken K'iche'an languages or have never been recorded into account when attesting continuity. And with in the Colonial dictionaries. Moreover, it has to respect to metaphorical analysis, the "lumping" of be allowed for that the modern meaning of evidence from different times and regions – and in specific phrases or word images that continue to particular even from different languages – seems to be used might not correspond to their Classic be an especially questionable undertaking. usage – and, indeed, there are many examples of The subject-matter of this paper is an attempt to semantic reanalysis in modern Maya languages combine evidence from such various types of that would not match with their Colonial sources in order to uncover a metaphor from the dictionary entries. In other instances, ideas and Colonial highland sources that remains hitherto concepts persist in contemporary oral traditions, largely unrecognized because a presumed or we find them as literal translations into literalness has obscured its metaphorical 2005 Tulan and the Other Side of the Sea: Unraveling a Metaphorical Concept from Colonial Guatemalan Highland Sources. Mesoweb: www.mesoweb.com/articles/tulan/Tulan.pdf. 2 interpretation as a fundamental concept of the fathers, originated from somewhere "across the sea." Maya belief system, i.e. the concept of the “other We shall take a look at the relevant passages. side of the sea.” Presenting ethnographic, Classic The Popol Vuh states repeatedly that the and comparative ethnohistoric evidence, we will progenitors Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah show that this phrase functions as a metaphor and Iqui Balam came from ch'aqa palo "across the for an otherworldly place of creation. sea," releb'al q'ij "where the sun emerges," that is Although the concrete narratives may vary from the east. within the Maya area and throughout time, creation is the central paradigm in Maya keje' k'u kisachik Thus was the disappearance mythology. The basic ideas and cornerstones of kima'ixik and end of the Maya ideology of origin seem to be Balam Quitze Balam Acab Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, consistent from the late Preclassic period Mahucutah Iqui Balam Mahucutah and Iqui Balam. through the Spanish conquest (Coe 1989, Taube e nab'e winaq They were the first people 1993, 1996, 2004; Freidel et al. 1993, Schele & xepe chila' who came from Mathews 1998; Saturno et al. 2005). We under- ch'aqa palo across the sea stand that in the Maya world view all creation chi releb'al q'ij where the sun emerges. involves the underlying concept of birth from a ojeroq ke'ul waral Anciently they came here. primordial sea in darkness. The world came into ta xekamik e ri'j chik They died in their old age, being because the earth and the mountains arose e ajk'ixb' ajk'ajb' kib'i'nam they who were called bloodletters and from the sea and the sky was lifted up from the sacrificers. water. Creation thus involves "dawning." The (Popol Vuh, fol. 48r)1 dawn of the world as much as the dawn of humanity finds an analogy in the concept of the maize sprout that shoots out of the ground, from Earlier in the text, it is described how the first the dark watery underworld into the light. The mother-fathers, and thus humankind, were created life cycle of the maize plant is the archetypal in Paxil Cayala and how these people multiplied metaphor for Mesoamerican creation mythology; there "where the sun emerges," before they decided it pervades modern Maya oral traditions and to leave that place and move to a mountain named finds expression in precolonial Maya Tulan Suywa (Tulan Zuyva), Wuqub' Pek Wuqub' iconography in the form of the narrative that Siwan (Vvcub Pec Vvcub Zivan) "Seven Caves, Seven pictures the death, rebirth and resurrection of Canyons" to obtain their gods (cf. Christenson the Maize God (see Taube 1985, Carlsen & 2003:193-210). While the Popol Vuh first clearly Prechtel 1991:28). distinguishes the East as one location and Tulan Suywa, Wuqub' Pek Wuqub' Siwan as another, a The following argument is just another proof later passage refers to both places as a point of that the creation story is one of the most central departure: elements of all Maya narrative and ceremonialism. It will be pointed out that the concept of "the other side of the sea" as a They came in crowds from the East. They were alike in reference to a place of creation may even be a the hides that they wore as coverings, for their dress was very poor. They had nothing of their own, but they pan-Mesoamerican idea, with allusions to this were enchanted people in their essence when they metaphor being found in Yucatec as well as in came from Tulan Zuyva, the Seven Caves and the Aztec sources, which should encourage us to re- Seven Canyons, as they are called in the ancient account. (Christenson 2003:213) think in particular our understanding and interpretation of the so-called Mesoamerican migration myths. Equally, the Título de Totonicapán merges Paxil and Tulan as the place of origin, the paraíso terrenal named Wuqub' Pek Wuqub' Siwan, Siwan Tulan, A phrase across sources Panparar, Panpaxil and Panc'aeala' (Carmack & Mondloch 1983:174). The text describes that the All of the major Colonial K'iche'an sources – leaders of the wuqub' amaq' "Seven Nations" were the Popol Vuh, the Memorial de Sololá, the Título de Totonicapán and several others – are quite consistent in relating that the K'iche'an nations, 1 All English translations and orthographic modernizations of or more precisely the mythological founder- K'iche' and Kaqchikel texts are by the authors if not stated otherwise. 3 nawal people with great capacities who arrived de Sololá, Otzoy 1999:158). The Memorial de Sololá ch'aqa choo ch'aqa palow "across the lake, across specifies that the people traveling from Tulan came the sea" from Tulan Siwan. from four directions and that there were four Tulans – one in the east, one in the west, one called "Xib'alb'ay" and another one which is the abode of ta xkik'uxlaj When they remembered K'ab'owil: kipetik their arrival, e nawal winaq' they were nawal people. naj xopam wi kimuqub'al Far away arrived their vision … kecha' Q'aq'witz Saqtekaw … Q'aq'awitz and Saqtekaw said: chi kaj chi ulew in the sky, in the earth. kaji' k'a xpe wi "It was four (locations), mawi k'o ta kujunamaj There was nothing equal winäq pa Tulan where people came from Tulan: ruk' xkimuquj to what they have seen chi releb'al q'ij jun Tulan in the east is one Tulan; ronojel xe kaj all below the sky. jun chik k'a chi Xib'alb'ay another one there in Xib'alb'ay; e nimaq' etamanel They were great "knowers," jun chik k'a chi ruqajib'al q'ij another one there in the west, e k'amol ub'e ronojel they were leaders of all seven chi ri' k'a xojpe wi the one where we come from wuqamaq' tlekpan nations of Tecpan.