Two Yucatecan Mayan Ritual Chants
(published in Mexicon in September, 1982)

In the western culture we think of ritual as being something which has a set formula which is written down or memorized and which is to be "religiously" followed when being performed. It now seems apparent that for the Mayan H-Menoob (shamans) this is not the case as can be seen in the bee chants which follow. While it has come to my attention that there are a couple of H-Menoob who do read from books when performing rituals, this is certainly an exception to the normal practice of the H-Men performing ad lib.

From various conversations I have had with people in Yucatán (H-Menoob and people with strong interest in the tradition which the H-Menoob represent) I feel it can be said that there are certain ideas and themes which should or must be incorporated within any given type of ritual (santiguar - a curing ceremony, cħa chac - a rain ceremony, u hanlil col - a thanksgiving ceremony, etc.), but other than that there is no set criteria which must be met.

Indeed, the rituals of the H-Menoob for the most part seem to be very personal. By that I mean that such things as the names of the people sponsoring and involved in the ritual, the place where the ritual is taking place, and the day and even the hour are frequently included in the ritual itself. While such personalization is not included in either of the following chants, perhaps because both of them were performed for anthropologists, the cantor Don Felipe normally does included such personalization.

The two chants presented here are chants by Don Felipe Paz of Tecoh, Yucatán, México, recorded on tape by two different anthropologists about a decade apart. The first one was done for Carol Leonard in about 1964 with William Folan in attendance. The second chant was done for Malcolm Shuman in 1972. While obviously therefore neither chant represents "field conditions", since these are the only set of recorded chants done by the same H-Men for the same purpose available to me they were chosen in preference to other chants and complete ceremonies done in field conditions also available to me but not done for identical purposes.

In both instances Don Felipe explains in Spanish the purpose of the bee chant. Briefly stated, the bee hive has come under attack from various pests and diseases and the hive owner has failed in his efforts to ward off the attacks. The H-Men is called in to alleviate the situation. It is the job of the H-Men to call on the various spirits which will aid the bees to overcome the distressed situation. While no mention is made by Don Felipe in his discussions of other actions taken by either the H-Men or the hive owner, it should be noted that physical remedies as well as spiritual ones are taken also. (eg. if the xulab ants are attacking the hive then the appropriate steps are taken to make the hive inaccessible to the ants.)

For the bee chants presented here there are these following points which are common in both:

1. certain deities must be called upon, namely colel cab, colel peten, colel holo, and colel ek tun;
2. certain trees which have good flowers for bees are called upon to open their flowers to the bees;
3. the deities called upon above should aid in keeping away the various pests which are destroying the bee hive.

Beyond these points there seems to be no set rule. The first chant is sung in it entirety. The second chant parallels the first in the sung part in the presentation of ideas, but then Don Felipe has added a chanted section which recapitulates the themes except that he leaves out the idea of keeping the pests away.

Just as the words in the sung parts are different, so too are the melodies. In still other examples of Don Felipe’s melodies (in a Cħa Chac - rain ceremony - for example) still other melodies are used. How a melody is arrived at is something which I have yet to learn.

Of the deities called upon here at least two are spirits associated with definite places:

X-Colebil Ek Tun (Lady Black Rock) is a site in the Progresso township lands a few kilometers northwest of the Hacienda San Ignacio which is situated on the road from Merida to Progresso. The site consists of several early classic or late early period platforms (visual observation by E. Wyllys Andrews V), the highest and most important of which is not over two meters high and roughly 20 meters square. To the southwest corner of the largest platform there is a plain unfaced stela roughly 20 cm thick, 1-1.5 m wide, and above the actual ground level about 2.5 m high (visual observation). This stela is the actual X-Colebil Ek Tun. The face of the stela is roughly north-south. Around the base of the stela is an altar of rock and rock rubble of about 2 m square and 70-80 cm high. The stela area is covered by a tin roof supported by four chacah trees which seem not to have any particular world direction as alignment. On the altar, particularly on the south side of the stela, there are various offerings including the remains of vigil candles, flowers (both real and plastic) and tin cans and tin lard cans (five gallon size) of various ages containing various types of offerings. One of these cans sometimes contains monetary offerings, but this cash may be used by a visitor in case of need!

The people of Kom Cħeen (five km south of X-Colebil Ek Tun) and the vicinity use the spirit of X-Colebil Ek Tun mainly as an aid for deer hunting since in part it is from this site northwards into the Koxol Ac (mosquito grass - savanna) that the deer hunting area begins. Most of the offerings (mainly candles) are offered without any prayers or chants, but it is mentioned that knowledge of the proper words would certainly enhance the offering. No use of the spirit of X-Colebil Ek Tun for aiding bees in Kom Cħeen has come to my attention.

It should be noted that the normal water level in this area is only 2 meters below ground level and that there are several small dzonots about the site. Some are covered over and seem to be sources for zuhuy ha (virgin water) for H-Menoob.

(For further information see Shuman, 1974; 303-305)

X-Colebil Hol (Lady Hole) as a site is a dzonot in the Calkini region. Since I have not seen it personally the following is a description from various local sources. The dzonot is a "large" one, meaning, I think, any dzonot over 3 meters across. The water is deep (over 5 meters?) and at the bottom on good days the actual stone image of X-Colebil Hol can be seen (imagined?). Some people of Kom Cħeen know of X-Colebil Hol, but no particular power has yet been described to me.

While most people who know of X-Colebil Hol have located her position as above, one idzat (H-Men apprentice) told me that she is a round stone column in the town forest of Dzilam Bravo.

The Transcriptions:

The following transcriptions were made only with the greatest difficulty. The chants are done at quite a rapid pace, and there seems to be a certain amount of sliding over words without fully forming them. The second chant in particular has given me great difficulty. I have played it to my wife, a native of Ticul, and to various neighbors of ours in Kom Cħeen. Despite these people’s help several things remain unclear. Interested persons may get a tape of these chants available either through MEXICON or myself to verify (or improve as the case may be) the readings presented here.

Translations:

Note: in making the following translations the Mayan texts were followed as closely as possible. This renders a rather tortured English text, but this seems at this stage preferable to giving a neatly translated text which would then make it difficult to follow the Mayan texts word for word.

Notes

1. recorded by Carol Leonard, 1964.

2. seemingly a meaningless phrase, probably an imitation of the sound of the bees.

3. see the note about X-Colelbil Ek Tun above in the introductory text.

4. oxhun, the short form of oxlahun, means thirteen, but since the Mayan number system above five is almost completely unknown by the modern Mayans, this number as a number would not be understood. It has though retained its magical powers, and is used in that way here. Oxhuncabalac is composed of the number oxhun, the adverb cabal meaning down, and the suffix -ac indicating completed action.

5. see the note about X-Colebil Hol above in the introductory text.

6. Peten means the land of Yucatán.

7. undetermined words.

8. zebalmil is unknown to me. This could be Dze Balamil (little jaguar) but that would still be an unknown plant name.

9. X-Ppo Balam gives lady wash jaguar. I have not heard anything about her.

10. xulab is a stinging ant which also causes much damage to the bee hives, among other things.

11. perhaps zil uoh, a small lizard, is meant.

12. recorded by Malcolm Shuman, 1973.

13. cilich is today a little used word in normal conversation, and many people don’t know the meaning of the word. It has been associated by some people with cichcelem (male beauty and goodness) and cichpam (female beauty and goodness) (both words are part of the normal modern vocabulary), and in fact there is a historical basis for this association as evidenced by some of the colonial dictionaries. In the Akademische Druck edition of the San Francisco dictionary for example there is the entry "cich; ciich; cilich; hach: cosa buena y santa, (son tambien superlativos). The word "holy" has been used here although there is reason to believe that in the minds of the user the correct word should be "wonderful", "beautiful", or something of that nature.

14. undetermined words.

15. sounds of the bees humming.

16. undetermined words.

17. there seems to be a confusion between "kab" (hand) and "kaba" (name) here. Both are quite frequent in rituals, but in connection with the word "dios" these are the two usual formulas:

    ich kaba dios mehenbil dios etc. (in the name of god, the son of god, etc.)

    tu noh kab dios (to the right hand of god)

    Since the word "noh" is at the beginning of this phrase I have assumed that "kab" and not "kaba" is meant. The alternative translation, i.e. translating the phrase as stands, would be "to the great holy (13) name of god send you to lady bee".

18. bacab is given as representative or agent in the Motul Mayan-Spanish dictionary, but is evidently some sort of deity as well, as evidenced by "Ritual of the Bacabs". In an effort to gain information of the various deities mentioned in these chants as well as in others I have talked to various people including H-Menoob such as Don Antonio Hau of Teabo and Idzatoob such as Don Elutario (Last name not known to me) of Kom Cħeen about these deities, but on the whole I have only received the information that these things are "ikoob" (literally "winds" but here meaning "spirits") without any precise definition of who they really are and what their individual or collective powers are. It is interesting to note that the "x-" is added to "cilich", making this deity presumably a female.

Don Felipe Paz’s Death

Sometime between the date of the second recording and 1976 Don Felipe was killed by a neighbor in Tecoh with a shotgun. The neighbor was pardoned, so the story goes, because what he thought he was shooting was a cat which was prowling about on his kitchen’s roof in the evening. He contended that he had no way of knowing that the cat was in fact Don Felipe in the form of a uay miz (were-cat) until the animal transfigured itself in its death throws. (This material is second hand from various local sources. Malcolm Shuman has also received similar information.)

Sources Cited

David Bolles
davidbolles@att.net

Other contributions by David Bolles

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