An Annotated Translation of a Colonial Yucatec Manuscript:
On Religious and Cosmological Topics by a Native Author

(God as Creator)
ms. p.164-169

God’s goodness is abundant and overflows like the waters of a spring, leading to His creation of the world, of everything visible and invisible. In this version, God first creates the heavens, layer upon layer. Next He creates the four elements: fire, air, water and earth. When He has done this, He creates light, and the sun, and the angels to inhabit the heavens. He creates the varied fishes that dwell in the oceans, the rivers and the cenotes. He creates the trees and the plants, "green-hued their leaves on this earth." Then He creates the four-footed and the winged creatures and the snakes that wriggle on the earth. All these things in the heavens and the earth are created, "by our Redeemer alone" simply by His word, rather than by God the father (ms. p. 167). When God creates man, He uses handfuls of His best earth. The author follows the creation story in Genesis to some extent. Then, however, God spits in His hands and anoints the ears of the clay image He has made, as Christ anoints the ears of a deaf man with saliva in a miracle described in Mark 7:34. Finally, the author draws on the famous "dry bones" passage in Ezekiel 34:5-7, when he tells how Adam’s bones become strung together, and skin and veins grow on the bones of first man.

V oxpeDz U Dzibal. licil U paatcaantabal.
The third chapter of writing in which is expounded,

Vchcij U sihsabal caanob. y. luum =
the occurrence of the creation of the heavens and the earth,

y chican bayx ma chican. tumen Dios. Uchuc tumen tusinile¹⁶⁴ =============
and the visible, and thus the invisible by the doing of God the all powerful.

Ta uubahi tac. U nucul. U chun = yt. aclic. ca santo. hun yuk olal loe:
You heard already the meaning of the origin and foundation of our holy universal belief,

heklay yan tij kuil miatz =
which is that there exists within divine wisdom,

yoheltabal =yt. U kuultabal huntuli Dios = oxtul personayle =
to be known and to be worshipped, only one God in three persons,

heklay tun. a cha. ta uol. lic U chacanhal. tu uich =
which then you learn by memory when it becomes apparent to the eyes,

Ua Dzaan a uol a xoce tamuk. a xocic Dziban =              [p.165]
if you have given your attention to reading, while you read what has been written,

Dziban ti huun lae hij bic U hach yamail Dios. U sihsah Uinicilobe =
written on this paper, how God has really loved His created people,

ti mayx tumen U yanali = halili tumen yutzil Diose = tu hunale =
and not because of anything else; it is only because of the goodness of God alone.

ohelte tun helel lae = he utz tulacale = hach sil ol tuba ma cocij =
Now know this, this good, all of it;¹⁶⁵ really abundant in itself, not scarce,

mayx tech U luksic Uba utz = ti hijmac katice =
the good will never remove itself from whoever wants it,

manan yet kin = yet ppizan. yutzil Dios yokol cab y. tu yanal cabe¹⁶⁶ =
without equal and parallel, the goodness of God on earth and in the other world,

yoklal tu hunal. paynum yokol tulacal =
because He alone is greatest above everything,

yoklal. lay tab lic Utz = tulacal =
because it is He who is the source of all good;

bay tab lic yoc haa = tal ti sayabe =
like the source of a river, which comes from a spring,

ti licil U tulancil ha. likul ti sayabilee
from which water overflows, thence from that spring.

layx tahmen hach sil ol tuba = U top chicancunnah =
And because of His abundance within Himself, He quickly made manifest,

U Dzoclukanil Dios - U yutzile = ah tepale =
the perfection of God, the goodness of the ruler,

tijx ca u xot tumtah ti yol. U sihes = ti hach paathaan tulacal =
then when He resolved in His mind to create it, really complete, all of it,

hij bahun yan Uay yokol cab = yt. tu yanal cabe = heklay lae =
whatever exists here in this world and in the other world, which is this:

tu payanbeil = U sihsah caanob = ti tas un tase =
in the beginning He created the heavens, layer by layer,

ca tun U sihsah kak = yt. yk = yt. haa = yt. lume =              [p.166]
and then He created fire and air and water and earth;

ca yalah = ca utzac sasilil =
then He said, "May there be light;"

cu than = mayx xanhi yutzhal xan.
He speaks, and it did not delay coming into being also;

ti Dzocan tun lae =ca u sihsah kin =
when this was finished, then He created the sun,

yt. angelob = U balinte = U cilich otoch ti caan =
and the angels to inhabit His blessed home in heaven,

cayx U sihsah = ma xocben = ti helan helantac = cayoob =
and then He created the countless, varied fishes,

ychil kaknabob = yt. ychil yoc haob. bayx ychil Dzonotoob xan -
within the oceans, and within the rivers, and thus within the cenotes also,

cayx U sihsah cheob = yt. xiuoob = yaxhulen U leob. yokol cab lae =
and then He created the trees and plants, green-hued their leaves on this earth,

cayx U sihsah. ti helan helantacob tuba. xacnalob. yt. xik.nalob =
and then He created, varied among themselves, the four-footed and the winged creatures,

bayx caanob. cu bibikacilobe =
and thus the snakes that wriggle,

bayx tulacal cuxanob. lic U ximbalobe = yokol cab lae =
and thus all the living beings which walk on this earth;

hach cenbesan yokol cab tun = tumenel Dios.
really the earth was adorned then, by the doing of God,

ti hach Dzoclukan = ti hach paathaan =
really perfected, really complete,

Vchcij U sihsic lae. hun hunppel. tuba. helan helantacil =
when it occurred that He created these, each and every one among them different,

tulacal loe tu thanix Dios. tuhunal. U sihsici. tulacal loe =
all of them by the word of God alone, that He created them all,

yoklal. lay halic yutzhal = ca utzhij
because this which He said to come into being, then it came into being,

ti mayx tacan U yanali = yt. yuchucil hij macie =              [p.167]
without His having been allied with anyone else, and the power of anyone,

tu hunali Dios sihes tulacal loe =
by Himself God created all of that.

tuchij ca yilah Dios. hach utzil. y. hach patanil = U sihsah balil. tulacal loe =
Then when God saw they were really good and really complete, all of His creations,

ca u cicithantah - ca u Dzaah Uchucil tiob = cuxantacobe =
then He blessed them, then He gave power to them, the living things,

bay caye = yt. xiknalobe = yt. cheob. yt. xiuoob -
like the fishes, and winged creatures, and trees, and plants,

Uchebal U Dzacpahalobe = U yaahobe yokolobe
so that they could multiply because of it.

V canppel U Dzibal. licil U cantabal. yax sihsahcij =
The fourth (part) of the writing in which is told that they were first created,

yax anom. aDan = yt. eva = U chuplil = tumen Dios = ==
first man Adam and Eve, his woman, by God.

ta xocahi tac hij bic chabtabcij = yt. sihsabcij. caanob = yt. luume =
You read already, how they were created and given birth, the heavens and the earth,

heklaobi chicaan = yt. ma chicantacob. tulacal. tumen cah lohil. tuhunal =
these which are visible and invisible, all of them, by our redeemer alone.

Dzocan tun. U sihsic tulacal.
When He had finished creating everything,

ca yoltah U sihes = ah pixan. yokol cab U yumilte =
then He wished to create a being with a soul on earth to have dominion over it,

tialtic U sihsah babalil = tulacale =
to possess His created things, all of them.

hach nanaoltaben. tumen yan U cux yol = ti vinice =
It is really worth of contemplation, because man has judgment,

hij bic mananil = babal sihsabcij =
in a way lacking in the (other) things that were created,

[sih]ci¹⁶⁷ tumenel Diose =              [p.168]
that were born because of God,

hex ca u sih¹⁶⁸ yax anom. aDane. yoltah U sihes ti luum =
but when He created first man Adam, He wished to create him from earth,

ca u chaah = cayx cayx¹⁶⁹ U hoDzaah. DzeDzec = U yutzil luum =
so He took it, and so He took by handfuls a little of His good earth;

ca yalah. Dios. c utzcin Uinic. tac Uinbailane = yt. tac hochbilane =
then God said, "Let us make man in Our likeness and in Our image,

tialtic. y. yumiltic. cayob. yan ti haae -
that he may possess and have dominion over the fishes that are in the water,

yt. xiknalob. yt. xacnalob. yetel tulacal babal =
and the winged creatures and the four-footed, and all the things,

lic U manelob = ti bibikancilob¹⁷⁰ = yokol cab =
which pass there creeping on the earth."

tu[c]hij ca Dzoc yalic Dios - thanob lae =
Then when God finished saying these words,

ca hopp u U patic = U uinicil yax anom. aDan = ti lum. hoDzaahe =
then He began to form the body of first man Adam from earth He took by handfuls;

ti hach Dzoclukan U uich. yt. U kab = yt. yooc = bay xane =
when his face and his hands and his feet were really perfected, thus also,

ca tun yustah Dios = aDan = ti yikal cuxtale = ca cuxlahij =
then God blew into Adam with the breath of life; then he lived,

cayx U tubah. U tan U kab = Dios = ca u nabsah -
and then God spat in the palm of His hand; then He anointed him;

ca U Dzaah tu xicin tan tan xele =
then He placed (saliva) in his ears, both of them,¹⁷¹

cayx hoppi U Dzaic U yoxou. U chi = yokol U pat Uinicil lae =
and then He began to place the moist breath of His mouth on this clay image of man,

yetel ti hach cichcelem = ca yutstah = cayx tun cuxlahij =              [p.169]
and it is really handsome, so He breathed into it, and then it lived,

ti hach Dzoclukan = U cichcelmil = U uinicil = U cucutile =
really perfect, the beauty of his form, of his body,

cayx oth hij = yokol. ca yanhij U pucsikal. cayx sashij U uich =
and then it grew skin; then his heart came into being, and then his eyes brightened,

cayx tablahij U bacel =
and then his bones were strung together,¹⁷²

ca yanhij U cuchil kik = heklay nohol U kabae =
then came to exist the place for blood, for which vein is the name;

ti bay huntul. xiblal Uinic =
thus he is, one male person,

heuac potmanal U hach Utzil = yetel U cichcelmil =
but his real goodness and his beauty is surpassing,

yokol Uincob = tulacal = yan helel lae = ======
above men, all of them, who exist here now.

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