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UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Divination & Decision-Making: Ritual Techniques of Distributed Cognition in the Guatemalan Highlands Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2v42d4sh Author McGraw, John Joseph Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Divination and Decision-Making: Ritual Techniques of Distributed Cognition in the Guatemalan Highlands A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology and Cognitive Science by John J. McGraw Committee in charge: Professor Steven Parish, Chair Professor David Jordan, Co-Chair Professor Paul Goldstein Professor Edwin Hutchins Professor Craig McKenzie 2016 Copyright John J. McGraw, 2016 All rights reserved. The dissertation of John J. McGraw is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ Co-chair ___________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2016 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page …....……………………………………………………………… iii Table of Contents ………………….……………………………….…………….. iv List of Figures ….…………………………………………………….…….……. vii List of Tables …......……………………………………………………………… viii List of Maps ………………………………………………………….……….…. ix Acknowledgments …..………………………………………..………………….. x Vita .………………….………………………………….………..……………… xiii Abstract of the Dissertation ..……………………………………………………. xv Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION …….………………………………..................... 1 Theoretical Background …………….…………..….……………… 2 Distributed Cognition ….……...………………………………. 12 The Ecological Perspective …………....…………..…............... 15 Fieldwork …………………..……………………….……….…….... 18 Fieldsite ….……………………………………….………….…….. 22 San Pedro La Laguna .….…..………………...……...….……… 24 Methodology ……….…………….………...…………...........................………………………... 31 Cognitive Ethnography ………....………………………….…… 32 Multimodal Interaction ………..………………………………... 33 Person-Centered Ethnography ….…..………………………….. 35 Summary of Goals and Outline of the Dissertation …..……….......... 37 iv Chapter 2: DIVINATION AND DECISION-MAKING ..……………...…….. 39 A Brief History of the Anthropological Study of Divination ..…....... 41 Divination and Stochastic Processes ….….……………………........ 50 Cultural Decision-Making …..………..…………………………… 53 Conclusion .………………………..………………………..…....... 62 Chapter 3: RELIGION AND RITUAL OF THE HIGHLAND MAYAS …....... 63 . Introduction …………………..………………………………........ 63 Syncretism and Hybridity …….……………………………………. 70 Key Themes in Maya Spirituality ….…...…………………………... 86 Special Beings: The Maya Pantheon …...………………………… 94 Ahaaw …………………………………………………………… 95 El Mundo …......…………………………………………………. 95 Dueño del Cerro ………………………………………………… 96 Maximón (Rilaj Mam) …………………………………………….. 98 Nawales ………………………………………………………….. 104 Sustaining the Gods: Reciprocity and Ritual …...…………………. 118 Equilibrium, Disequilibrium, and Disease …...………………… 121 Ceremonia Maya (Xukuleem, Mejeleem) ……………………….. 123 Cruz Maya, Cardinal Points, Colors ……………………………….. 129 Special Places, Special Things ….…………………………………. 133 Tz’ite’ and La Vara …...………………………………………… 134 Quartz Crystals …..……………………………………………….. 136 Stones …………………………………………………………… 141 Religious Specialists ……………………………………………….. 143 Ajq’iij …...………………………………….…………………… 144 Iyoom …...……………………………….……………………… 150 Time, Destiny, and Maya Calendrics ……...……………………… 153 Suerte …………………………………………………………… 154 Cholq’iij …………………………….………………………….... 158 Systems of Destiny ………...……………………...……………… 160 Three Nawales …………………………………………………... 162 Serpiente Emplumada …………………………………………... 165 Ri Kajtz’uk ………………………………………………………. 168 v La Cruz ……...……………………………………..…………… 170 Q’ijalxik ………………………………………………………… 172 Ritual Ecology ……...……………………………………………... 174 Chapter 4: CASE STUDY—Jose’s Job ………………………………………. 177 Soloneem, Pajooneem, and Pixab’axik …………………………… 177 Tz’ite’ Seed Divination ….………………………………………….. 179 The client—José ….………………………………………………... 187 The context—José’s Job …..……………………………………...... 190 The ajq’iij—Don Francisco ….……………………………………. 192 Case Study—José’s Job …………………………………………... 199 Case Study—First Follow-Up Interview with José ….……………. 211 Case Study—Second Follow-Up Interview with José …..…………. 220 Case Study—Mediators and Information ….……………………….. 228 Case Study—Analysis ….………………………………………….. 231 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION …….………………………………………............. 242 Introduction... —In Search of a System ….……………………….…... 242 Conceptual Blends and Material Anchors ...………………………… 245 Randomization and the Distribution of Agency…………………………. …..………………… 248 Persons and Minds in Context ……………………………………..…………………… 250 …………… Decision Ecology …...………………………………………………. 260 Appendix: Comparative Compendium of the Nawales …....…………………… 263 Glossary ……………………………………………..………….……………….. 289 Endnotes …….……………………………………………………………………. 297 References .....……………………………………………………………………... 301 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: The northern entrance to San Pedro La Laguna ….……………… 47 Figure 3.1: The altarpiece of Santiago Atitlán ...…………..…..……………. 81 Figure 3.2: A sample of Maximón products ……………………..…………. 99 Figure 3.3: Offerings to Maximón in Zunil ………….……………………..... 100 Figure 3.4: Procession of Maximón in Santiago Atitlán ..….………………… 104 Figure 3.5: Materials for a ceremonia Maya ...……………..….…………….……………. 126 Figure 3.6: Ceremonia Maya on 8 B’aatz’ ..……………………………….…. 129 Figure 3.7: Cruz Maya ..………………………………….…………………... 132 Figure 3.8: Tz’utujil diviner’s bundle .….………………………...………….. 136 Figure 3.9: Crystalmancy …………………………...…...……….…………… 140 Figure 3.10: A collection of ritual stones …………………..…………………..…….. 143 Figure 3.11: Ajq’ijaa’ in Sololá .….…………….………………………….…... 148 Figure 3.12: Nawales of the Cholq’iij ..…………………………..………….… 161 Figure 3.13: Three Nawales ………………………….....…….…...……………………….. 163 Figure 3.14: Three Tonalli ………………………...…..…………………………….. 164 Figure 3.15: La Serpiente Emplumada …………………..………..….…………….. 167 Figure 3.16: Ri Kajtz’uk/Cuadrante ..……………………………....……………….……....…. 169 Figure 3.17: La Cruz ...………………………………………………………..…………………… 171 Figure 3.18: Q’ijalxik ……………………………..………………………….…… 173 Figure 3.19: Ritual Ecology of Maya Spirituality ...………………………...….. 176 Figure 4.1: Don Francisco and his altar ….………………………………….………………………….. 194 Figure 4.2: Don Francisco’s ceremonial fire ……….…………………….…. 196 Figure 4.3: Don Francisco’s altar ……………………………………………. 200 Figure 4.4: Question 1, Reading 1 ………………………………………….. 203 Figure 4.5: Question 1, Reading 2 …………………………………………... 203 Figure 4.6: Question 1, Reading 3 …………………………………………... 204 Figure 4.7: Question 2, Reading 1 …………………………………………... 208 Figure 4.8: Question 2, Reading 2 …………………………………………... 208 Figure 4.9: Question 2, Reading 3 …………………………………………... 209 Figure 4.10: Jose’s home …………………………………………………….... 212 Figure 4.11: Jose’s home altar …………………………………………………. 213 Figure 4.12: Mediators and Information ………………………………………... 229 Figure 5.1: Conceptual blend of tz’ite’ seed divination .….….……………….. 247 Figure A1: Nawales of the Cholq’iij ………………………………………….. 267 Figure A2: Maya numbering system ..….……………………………………... 268 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Fact Sheet for San Pedro La Laguna ....……………...…………… 30 Table 4.1: Ethnographic examples ..…….….…….………………...….……. 180 Table A: Comparative descriptions of the nawales ...……………………… 269 viii LIST OF MAPS Map 1.1: Guatemala …...………………..……..……..…...……………… 28 Map 1.2: Lake Atitlán ……………………………………………………. 29 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The pursuit of a doctorate—especially in a field as broad and engaging as cognitive anthropology—is marked by moments of excitement, discovery, and communitas, but I have to admit often feeling abandonado while walking this path. The discipline requires this, I think, and gains from it. And while it may be true that solitude can lead to insights of, I dare say, a spiritual nature, it can just as often lead one to the edge of an abyss. And as Nietzsche taught: “…when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you” (1989). Thankfully, I had a generous and wise advisor, Steve Parish, who no matter what the funding institutions or others thought of my work, stood by me and ladled out praise just when I thought I might fall while peering downward. My close friends also were helpful throughout this challenging process. While I was doing research abroad, my cousins, Cullen McGraw and Christopher Smith, my friends Mike and Rebecca Wood, Mark Huising, and my father and stepmother all came to visit at some point during my 18 months in Guatemala; they made my time there all the more special with their visits. My friends Mike DiGruccio and Greg Penny were always just a phone call away to enjoy a joke or discuss imponderabilia. And my mother, Belinda Posey, supported me in every way. In 2011, I began a three year postdoctoral fellowship in the Marie Curie training network, TESIS: Towards an Embodied Science of Intersubjectivity. While the bulk of my ethnographic research was completed by that time, my colleagues in TESIS, particularly Andreas Roepstorff (Aarhus University), greatly advanced my understanding of issues that helped to further refine and frame my studies. I would like x to thank Andreas, Dimitris Xygalatas, Sebastian Wallot,